Page 283 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

Enjoy Your Ageless Mental Agility • 267

paper. Each of the other players creates a fictional definition
for the obscure word on a separate piece of paper. Then Lex
collects the papers and shuffles the papers. Lex reads each
definition. Each player selects the definition he or she thinks
is correct. Scoring is based on how well you fool other play-
ers and how difficult the word is that Lex selects. Lex gets
one point for every player who did not choose the correct de-
finition. All players get one point for every player who chose
their definition, and one point if they guess the correct defi-
nition. That constitutes one round. Play enough rounds so
that each player has a chance to be Lex. There are hilarious
moments. Hearing people’s definitions for words about
which they have no clue can be a hoot. This game is sure to
help your auditory skills by practicing your concentration on
the reading of the definitions.
Some wonderful words spawn some clever, albeit incor-
rect, definitions. Here are a few real definitions:

bon’te bok, n. a species of purplish-red antelope of South
Africa
flot, n. scum, floating grease, as in fatty broth
moff, n. a light silk fabric woven in the Caucasus
my’ta cism, n. abnormally frequent or incorrect use of the
letter m

It would be very difficult to believe that these were the cor-
rect definitions for these otherwise normal-sounding words!
You will find yourself browsing the dictionary looking for the
best word to use the next time you play Wordsmith.

MAGIC MENTAL MINUTES
Building mental agility does not have to be an all-consuming
event. You can do many things that take just a minute and
will work cumulatively to increase your mental abilities:

• Look up a word in a dictionary. While you are reading or
watching TV, a word will come up for which you may not
know the meaning. Take one minute to look it up in the
dictionary.