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Saturday, December 20, 2014

The Sunday Mini-Challenge ~ In Other Words

The Christmas Special Edition!

Our word substitution mini-challenge for the month of December, must inevitably turn to the titles of well-loved Christmas tales. However, this would not be the Imaginary Garden if there were not a dash of the unconventional. The object of this exercise is to consider the role of words in titles and how nuance and meaning can be changed by the slightest adjustments.




John Updike and Tim Burton are way ahead of us in substituting words into the titles of favourite carols.




Although I am not familiar with the following title, Christopher Moore seems to have been rather innovative in his approach to the traditional Christmas Tale.



If you prefer the quirky and humorous or would like to explore the underside of the festive season, then choose from the titles above and substitute your own nouns and adjectives, or select your own Christmas title (something well-known) and work your magic on it.


  • The Twelve _________ of Christmas
  • The ________ Before Christmas
  • The ________ Angel


However, if your would like something more traditional, then use the title of O. Henry's beloved tale.


  • The Gift of the _________
  • The _________ of the Magi





These titles were sourced HERE, and there are more to choose from on that site.

For those who are celebrating Hanukkah, here is a range of titles from Goodreads

If the spirit moves you to participate in this challenge, I hope you will have a lot of fun with it. 


9 comments:

  1. Kerry--this looks like a great prompt. I am just getting to the Mephistopheles one, which I am linking to that post. Thanks for all your wonderful creativity and supportive comradeship. K.

    ps - I've not gotten any copies of Nice sent out. It's been a busy time for all I guess. k.

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  2. Mine turned out to be less like fun than I had first imagined when devising this prompt. Can't escape my innate cynicism but I hope to be treated to many delightful poems from participants.

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  3. I did have fun with this. I do have eight grandsons and it does get old to see all the plays... but love those boys.

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  4. Ah.. I could find one idea.. a very busy evening from poetry point of view.. and now bed time.. I will get back to read tomorrow morning.

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  5. Couldn't miss your last prompt of the year, Kerry--not very traditionally Christmas-y perhaps, but all I had. Thanks for an amazing year of inspiration here at the Garden.

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  6. Finally! it took all day, but i wrote something!

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  7. i wrote! late entry! i cannot explain this... sometimes you just start one place and end up someplace else. oh, well.

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  8. Merry Christmas Everybody!!!! Great prompt Kerry, had a hard time though, you know I am not so light with the touch!!!

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  9. A belated Merry Christmas to all - I'm drive-by posting for now ... finally finished the poem I started last week but I'll be back to read and catch up or jump in on current challenges. :) Warm holiday hugs to all!

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