Say, why don’t you apply for Hey, Hotshot!, 20×200’s photo competition? The deadline is 8 p.m. Sunday, and didn’t I see something like this on your Life List? You were meant to do this.

The photo above is Jacks by Katie Baum, a previous Hey Hotshot winner, and it’s currently available in four convenient sizes.

I wanted to collect a few of my favorite #lexicon responses here. But first things first. The winner is…

@KASalomon!

Is that you? Hooray for you! I’ve DMd you, but please comment if you have no idea how to use Twitter, because it seems like you may have set up an account just for this contest. As it turns out, that was worth it, no?

Now for the rest of you. Did you follow the #lexicon thread? It was good. I went to collect my favorite responses, but after about three hours of collecting, I decided enough was enough. So if you don’t see any of your responses here, it’s because I never cared for you.

Good Words

haberdasher, moxie, @talulattdh
troglodyte @kristenekelly
balderdash @aliceRTmiller
Jejeune! @superdumb
*unguent* – more serious than ointment with a good dose of urgent, but not as calm as balm @ChiefWrangler
‘faffing about’- british slang, messing around, wasting time.usually used as ’stop faffing about and let’s go’. fun to say too. @sunguru24 (Ed note: Faffing sounds like an unpleasant sexual encounter. And that is how I will use it henceforth.)
Besmirched @allinblack
dulcet @alfieri
penury @CaleeL
Dodgy @gwentropy
akimbo and the phrase ‘on a lark.’ @Kikkiland
whirlygig @MomOfDavidIsaac
fabulist @whoamell
comeuppance @TeenSleuth
zaftig @TeenSleuth
Gumption @deepthoughts78
peckish, onomatopoeia @ALundgren
blast! @CBJbookoflists
Jiggerypokery @jill_y
“peeved,” for its ability to make an angry situation more lighthearted. @4thmonth
leviathan, dupe, caddywhompus @SassafrasMama
sluice, whorl @mriggen
expunge @sainmyownmind
compunction, shebang @thegastronome
foist @emilyluce
taciturn @missfinncrisp
knackered @okimusso
simonize @catibasmati
nebbish @jessicaroberts
bloviate @i_scrap
aces @kristense

Words I Had to Look Up

transmogrify @JastasticSF
crepuscular @lisalou2
Concatenation @margism
peradventure @clayahh
taradiddle @noisyoyster
prestidigitation @talulattdh
skulduggery @betherin
doolally tap @lizzielou68

Wait, Maybe I Should Include Definitions

lucubrate — to work, write, or study laboriously, esp. at night. @JessWalker9
cromulent — fine, acceptable @slnoonanj
dogsbody — a menial worker; drudge @aek1974
eleemosynary — of or pertaining to alms, charity, or charitable donations; charitable. @editrix
mulligrubs — ill temper; colic; grumpiness @editrix
esprit d’escalier — (staircase wit) thinking of a comeback when it’s too late @editrix
malkin — untidy woman @editrix
folderol — mere nonsense; foolish talk or ideas @megastore
uxorious — doting upon, foolishly fond of, or affectionately submissive toward one’s wife. @hannahmaec (ed note: I love this.)
perspicacious — having keen mental perception and understanding; discerning: to exhibit perspicacious judgment. @mirielmargaret
etiolated — 1. to cause (a plant) to whiten or grow pale by excluding light: to etiolate celery. 2. to cause to become weakened or sickly; drain of color or vigor.@bridgejr
sylvan — of, pertaining to, or inhabiting the woods. @sarahbrown
psithurism — A whispering sound @jenkinkn
lollop — 1. British Dialect. to loll; lounge. 2. to move forward with a bounding or leaping motion @bookgeekgirl
clamjamfry — mob, rabble, crowd @bachelorgirl
foofaraw — a great fuss over something insignificant @Victoria_Etc.
clapperclaw — to fight and scratch; to abuse with the tongue, scold @Victoria_Etc.
toodle-pip — humorous British goodbye @piehands
Petrichor — the smell of rain on dry earth. @dzandone (ed: So good)
pfui — Alternate spelling of phooey @katharsisjones
farrago — which is a confused mass of objects or people. Also known as “the Internet.” @sarawr
mizzle — rain in fine drops @amy_m_eller
syzygy — 1. Astronomy. an alignment of three celestial objects 2. any two related things, either alike or opposite. @chemmefatale
whinge — whine @doobleveh

Made Up Words, and Onomatopoeia

Sweaky (when you have a fever/ are sick and feel all sweaty and icky) @soukii
Wurrow (whir-row) – (v.) to luxuriate amidst fluffy blankets in bed (burrow/wallow) @suburbanal
ignoration, whorepaint @MsYuppieScum
bazinga @laurenbrown
Toebug. Toebug. Toebug. Man, I love that word… just wish there was a way to use it in an everyday sentence. @jenniferjune
Splooie @nowsexyrobot
kerflummoxed @peprallytoday
limerence– an involuntary cognitive + emotional state of intense romantic desire for another person @lmdupont
lasterday — any time before right now @carliches
kookamarook — crazy person @jlcs621
jackety — my nephew’s made up word for off-kilter, junky, or not-quite-right. As in- “My old car is really jackety.” @katiemfree
oobleck @deodand
Ugglesome @thejiffer (ed note: a kinder derivative of ugsome?)
explorganize — what toddlers are doing when they take things out of a container, inspect them, then put them back @krotondo
nelphric, which I dreamed, but sounds like it could be real @ptrae
flouncy – as in “I hung my clothes on the line to dry today, including my flouncies.” @gillh
woobly — a wonderful made up onomatopoeia for an upset tummy @sarahjlyons

Multiple Entries

Finally, many, many of you wish we’d use the following terms more often:

kerfuffle/kerfluffle
defenestration
fisticuffs
plethora
thank you

Speaking of which, thank you for playing. You are smart.

So! When we were pulling together gift bags for the Broad Summit we set one aside to give away, and it is magnificent.

This is a Twitter contest, and the theme is words you wish people would use more often. To enter follow @Maggie and send me a reply tweet with the word (or words) you love. You can include #lexicon if you want other people to be able to search on your answer, but that’s optional.

Here’s what’s up for grabs:

A huge, zip-top tote from Lands End. (Yours will not say Porter.)

Tech

Two Flickr Pro accounts. If you don’t already use it, Flickr is an excellent photo sharing service. (I use it to store all my photos.) Flickr also threw in a handy lens cloth that attaches to your camera strap.

An invitation and one-year subscription to Typekit, the new service that helps you use a variety of fun fonts online without having to serve them as images. Pretty! (You may remember that my husband is one of the founders, and that he is adorable.)

Media

Chronicle Books threw in three of our favorite titles:

Apartment Therapy Presents by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of ApartmentTherapy.com.

Listography Journal: Your Life in Lists by Lisa Nola of Listography.com.

And, appropriately enough, The Cheese Tasting Party Kit by Janet Fletcher

The folks at McSweeny’s provided:

Comedy by the Numbers, a compendium of 169 secrets of humor and popularity.

But wait! There’s more:

Fray Issue #1, Busted personal stories and original art compiled by Derek Powazek, creator of Fray.com.

A free six-month membership to Maghound Magazine Membership Service.

A Moment’s Peace, guided meditation CD by Elizabeth Irvine.

A three-pack of cutie notebooks courtesy of InStyle Magazine.

Bath and Body

DDF wanted to include some of their products, but they work better if they’re personalized, obviously. So if you win, I’ll send a note to DDF, and they’ll contact you with a quick skin care survey you can fill out to let them know your needs. Then they can send you a separate care package that you’ll actually use. Nice, right? I think so too.

Zicam put together a mini travel wellness kit that contains: Zicam Healty Z-ssentails with Echinacea, Zinc, and Vitamin C, a vanilla jasmine travel candle from Voluspa, green and white whole-leaf tea from Tea Forte (which is great tea, by the way), a mini Frais hand sanitizer, Birch Soaps gardenia solid perfume and cuticle balm, and Eos honeysuckle lip balm in a cute round package. Tuck it all into your dopp kit for your next trip.

Handmade

Crazy good Ritual Roaster’s Helsar de Zarcero coffee beans from Costa Rica. Ritual Roasters is the coffee shop where I wrote my book (free WiFi!), and their coffee convinced me to give espresso a try. It tastes the way coffee beans smell. Purrr.

The aforementioned limited-edition Broad Summit print from 3 Fish Studios.

And of course, the epic felt earrings from Feisty Elle.

All that, plus a reusable red grocery tote from Toyota. I didn’t add it up, but I’m pretty sure this is a zillion dollar giveaway, possibly a jillion — I’m no mathematician.

For those of you scratching your heads over how to enter, here’s a more detailed how to: Go to Twitter.com. Are you there? Good. Now! Follow me, @Maggie, and send me a tweet reply with the word (or words) you wish people would use more often. It’ll look something like these:

@Maggie Bangarang! #lexicon

@Maggie Fictional, used to describe something so awesome that it doesn’t seem real. #lexicon

I’ll pick a winner randomly from the tweet replys, and send him or her a direct message on Thursday. I’ll also update the top of this post to let everyone know who won. This is my first Twitter contest, so let’s see if it works.

Fingers crossed that you win, because you are a goodie. Thanks for reading.

21. Daphne
113. Lee
151. Jenny
267. KTM
286. Ana
236. Ellen
73. Leah
175. Shera
114. Sassafras Mama
319. Stephanie
164. Elsie
232. Carolynn

Congratulations! It’s fun to win things. I’ll send you a note shortly with info on how to get your book.

As I mentioned before, I’m amongst the judges, so I invite you to play on my heart strings. Stuff to remember:

-Deadline is October 6.
-Nominating yourself is just fine.
-Photos and video are good.
-Community votes are a factor.

I think that’s it. Now go win this, please.

1. Seals
2. Rhino
3. Sharks
4. Crocodile

Now.

I know, from that survey a while back, that lots of you are teachers, librarians, students, and parents. I’ve never done a sponsor giveaway before but holy crap, some of you are going to need this.

Intel is giving away $5,000 in brand new tech equipment to three people who post over here about why they need it (photos and/or video encouraged). They’ll also send over the guys from Hot Hardware to install everything and teach you how to use it. Nice.

Selection is based mostly on how compelling your story is — and you can nominate other people (!). The odds are pretty effing good, and you will be excellent at this. You will make the judges, laugh, cry, and bend to your will.

So what do you need that Intel has? They could make a tech station for your class. They could give you the ability to write and print term papers without fear of losing a month of work to a hard drive malfunction. They could provide a functional workstation so you could run a business from home and see your kids more.

Here’s more info, and here are the rules. I’m one of the judges, but please limit your persuading to the Intel site.

Do some good for yourself, your team, or someone who needs your help. I’m rooting for you, and I’ll tell you who wins.