PARK CITY, Utah (Feb. 18, 2008) – The Addictionary is an online dictionary of user-created werds – a place where it’s understood that made-up words are sometimes better at saying it like it is than the ones approved by Merriam-Webster.

To help kill some time during the 2007-08 Writers’ Strike, because no one was watching TV anymore, The Addictionary staged a contest, the goal of which was to create the best new werds pertaining to the strike or screenwriting-in-general. The contest, dubbed the “Writer’s Block,” started on Nov. 19, 2007 and closed on the last day of the strike, Feb. 12, 2008.

After much serious and heated debate, the creators of The Addictionary have selected the winners. The top ten werds from The Addictionary Writer’s Block contest are:

1. describification (n) – The removal of creative writers from the entertainment industry’s talent pool, creating a marketplace void and subsequent explosion of brainless reality programming
2. penstationary (n) – the temporary psychological inability to begin or continue a piece of writing in New York
3. typograspical (adj) – of, relating to combating writer’s block by typing whatever comes to mind till the story comes out
4. dialogectomy (n) – the surgical removal of dialogue from a manuscript
5. manustrip (v) – the art of taking your 200K manuscript back down to the reasonable and expected 65K
6. pitique (n) – a kinder critique than merited for a poor piece of literary work
7. scriptease (v) – to write ‘bare bones’ type shows particularly suited to men
8. commarrhea (n) – the condition in which a writer excessively uses commas for punctuation
9. prodiecers (n.p.) – producers who have caused our favorite television shows to die due to lack of cooperation with writers
10. shitcom (n) – a television show whose network producers refused to pay the striking writers more money and thus were left to write the scripts themselves

The winning werd, describification, was submitted by Brandon Burt, a copy editor at the City Weekly, an independent guide to news, arts and entertainment in Salt Lake City, Utah. Burt wins “The “I survived the 2007 Writers’ Strike” prize package and a t-shirt featuring his werd.

“Woohoo!” exclaimed Burt, when he learned of his big W. “I entered the Writer’s Block Contest on a whim. Now I’m glad I did!”

About The Addictionary

The Addictionary is based in Park City, Utah. It’s creators aren’t as much into slang as they are genuine wordplay – not words, but werds. They built The Addictionary on a whim and continue their labor of love, providing lifestyle and niche versions to those who have their own lingo and want to share it: moms, pet owners, gamers, bloggers and more.

What’s your werd?