We came up with this first challenge when we were thinking about how our current President came to occupy the White House, and thug politics, and we thought there must be a million other possibilities out there to come up with creative and (un)funny verb-age.

So here it is: come up with a contemporary word derived from a place, such as Shanghai (abduct by force, from Shanghai, China), Paisley (design, from Paisley, Scotland) or Timbuktu (metaphor for a distant land, from Timbuktu, city on the Niger River in Mali), along with a definition. We're looking for originality and wit.

Our attempt:

Chicago — to railroad (someone) INTO office.

We love this instant classic from Nijineko Prismaticpsion, since it's the perfect example of everything we want Uppityshirts to be about. And even though his wife's entry isn't exactly a toponym, it's pretty fantastic.

Knee-pawn, Knee-pawned: [nee-PAWN] [nee-PAWN-ed] (v) The act of buying existing technology, especially technology which is either unsuccessful or has reached a plateau where further growth seems unlikely, expanding upon the basic idea or concept thereof, and turning said technology into a great commercial success. Taken from the concept of "knee-to-the-groin" and "to pawn" meaning to dominate another party in a humiliating fashion, typically in a game of chance, skill, or exchange of wit. Can also be extended to circumstances involving the theft, reverse-engineering, or concurrent duplication of technology.

(Example: The purchase of technology and software from Atari by Nintendo, a playing card manufacturing company.)

From Nippon, [nee-POHN] an old name for Japan.

p.s. Oh, and at the request of my wife (an opera singer), a music oriented one:

virtualoso (n)— An individual incapable of singing properly without technical support and enhancement. Especially the national anthem.

Here's another favorite — Tripp C. of Newport, Rhode Island sent this excellent effort in:

Anchorage — to be married to someone who drags you down.

He's not going to come golfing with us tomorrow — he's in anchorage.

Graham Houghton honored us with this masterful entry:

glasgow (v) — to break a window

The brawlers spilled out of the pub onto the pavement and glasgowed several neighbouring shop windows.

Or this one from Michelle List:

phrank (n) — Honest but slightly derogatory phrase; to phrank out: to cause one shame by besting one in understanding, argumentation, or verbal agility

It really phranks him out that I can explain the significance of his project better than he can.

Stephen Baum sent this gem in from Phoenix, AZ:

frisco (n) — A city ordinance making illegal traditionally unregulated activity

frisco (v) — To enact such an ordinance

The frisco adopted by the City of Portland criminalizing the barbequing of red meat outdoors on Sundays was shocking even to English literature professors at Berkeley.

Doyle Marvin from Gresham, OR had us smiling with this:

gresham (v) — The inexplicable habit of entering or exiting through the busy door on the left when there is a perfectly unused and serviceable door on the right.

We got several very clever ideas from Hanan Sher of Jerusalem:

romants (n) — What are those things crawling around my hotel bed?

tarpon springs (v) — Look at that fish jump!

Robbie Barendse couldn't sleep until he sent us in an impressive and very erudite list. Here are the best two:

las vegassed (v) — to be swindled or fleeced of one's money while drinking

When he finally woke up he realized he'd been las vegassed.

moscow (v) — a bad attitude; foul demeanor

The moscow in the thug's eyes was the last thing the kid could remember, nothing more.

Jamie Polichak first adds a comment about our toponym: "I lived for a good long time in Chicago. You don't get railroaded into office, that implies that the person being put in office doesn't want to be there. In Chicago, you sleaze your way into office."

And then he gives his unique take on toponyms:

New York (v) — to swiftly walk through traffic, be it foot, bike, car, truck, bus, or (sometimes) train, without care for politeness or apparent personal safety.

He New Yorked his way out of that Metallica concert crowd.

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