Week 766: Think to Shudder

When you take your little girl to the circus and the Human Cannonball gives her an unexpected souvenir.

That guy in the dorm who is so tall that he sees over shower stalls without even trying.

Having dinner with your new girlfriend when your ex-girlfriend and her new girlfriend show up at the same restaurant (you, in this instance, are a he).

You are about to hook up with someone when you discover that he or she is the opposite sex than you thought.

A recent Washington Post investigation has revealed a term that today's students use all the time to describe awkward situations. The word is: "awkward." Though young people have broadened the term to refer to just about anything unpleasant or unlikable, the examples above (offered by University of Maryland students, except for the cartoon by the never-awkward Bob Staake) hew to the classic connotation of embarrassment. This week: Come up with scenarios that are even more awkward (and more imaginative) than the wincers mentioned above.

The winner gets the Inker, the official Style Invitational trophy. Second place receives a prize brought back from France by the Empress herself: an empty bottle of a carbonated lemon drink made by Perrier whose name is clearly meant to sound effervescent: "Pschitt!" Fill it with whatever you like.

Other runners-up win their choice of a coveted Style Invitational Loser T-shirt or yearned-for Loser Mug. Honorable Mentions get one of the 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, June 2. Put "Week 766" 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 June 21. No purchase required for entry. Employees of The Washington Post, and their immediate relatives, are not eligible for prizes. Pseudonymous entries will be disqualified. This week's contest was suggested by avid Washington Post reader John O'Byrne of Dublin, Ireland. The revised title for next week's results is by Tom Witte. This week's Honorable Mentions name is by Brad Alexander of Wanneroo, Australia, which is a pretty long way from his native Alabama.

Report From Week 762

in which we asked readers to take a two-term heading from the top of any page of any print dictionary (or the terms in reverse order) and define it as a compound word: As we predicted, hardly anyone cited a dictionary printed in the 21st century. We thought Marian Carlsson would win the Olde English prize, using a Winston Dictionary, College Edition, from 1949. But then we got Chris Doyle's entry citing Merriam-Webster's New International Dictionary of . . . 1909. Another clue that people are used to relying to electronic vocabulary assistance: A remarkable number of the words submitted were misspelled.

4.Gate-gavotte: The peculiar dance airplane travelers do while rushing out of the security checkpoint while putting their shoes back on and holding their pants up until they can get their belts fastened. (Stephen Litterst, Newark, Del.)

3.Urinalysis- Usherette: The absolute lowest rung of the medical profession. (Will Cramer, Herndon)

2. the winner of the book "Toilets of the World":

Viridian-Visine: Gets the whatever-the-hell-color- that-is out. (J. Calvin Smith, Greenbelt)