Week 688: Making Short Work

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Ernest Hemingway famously wrought exquisite drama and poignancy in that six-word story. Almost as famously (judging from the number of people who e-mailed us), Wired magazine recently asked 33 well-known writers to try to match it. (The results are in the November issue .) They did okay -- it's a tough order -- but they didn't have the motivation of prize magnets the size of business cards. You can do better: You could be more topical, more local and, most of all, funnier. This week: Write a humorous six-word story.

Winner receives the Inker, the official Style Invitational trophy. First runner-up gets a flimsy metal lunch box promoting Living Dead Dolls, a pricey series of ghoulish collectible figures that we hope are made better than this. Just the thing for little Madison to take to preschool at the Nurturing Garden Institute.

Other runners-up win a coveted Style Invitational Loser T-shirt. Honorable Mentions (or whatever they're called this week) get one of the all-new lusted-after Style Invitational Magnets. One prize per entrant per week. Send your entries by e-mail to losers@washpost.com or by fax to 202-334-4312. Deadline is Monday, Nov. 20. Put "Week 688" in the subject line of your e-mail, or it risks being ignored as spam. Include your name, postal address and phone number with your entry. Contests are judged on the basis of humor and originality. All entries become the property of The Washington Post. Entries may be edited for taste or content. Results will be published Dec. 10. No purchase required for entry. Employees of The Washington Post, and their immediate relatives, are not eligible for prizes. Pseudonymous entries will be disqualified. The revised title for next week's contest is by Ken Gallant of Little Rock. The Honorable Mentions name is by Dave Prevar.

Report From Week 684

in which we asked you to spell an actual word backward and come up with a definition for the result. The Empress patiently read backward through thousands of entries this week; among the funny ideas that everyone thought of were "noisevelet: a loud device that takes care of children" and "tengam: a very attractive leg."

4. Ih: The standard response to people who cheerily say "Good morning!" at 5:30 a.m. (Steve Offutt, Arlington)

3. Evor: A cloistered madman's grotesque henchman, whose servile repetitions of "Yes, Master!" mask his own nefarious schemes. (Anne Paris, Arlington)

2. winner of the book "Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth":

Kazum: File-sharing software that nobody will use. (David Franks, Wichita)

And the Winner of the Inker

Atnas: The man who bears the weight of the entire American economy on his shoulders. (Tom Witte, Montgomery Village)

More From the Dyslexicon

Acacam: A device for filming a politician who behaves like a lower primate. (Anne Paris)

Aerok: The site of the latest foreign policy crisis. (John Doucette, New York)