2020 was a bumper year for submissions. The lockdowns seem to have given both time and inspiration to the contributors, so we have expanded the list of winners to include the traditional Top 10 plus another 20 “Best of the Rest”, a selection of “Ringers” that don’t meet the rules but are worthy of recognition and marking the year by a section devoted to wordplay on the theme of the Coronavirus/Covid 19 pandemic.
Top 10 awards are restricted to one per contributor, which wasn’t actually a factor this year – the list emerged all by itself. Congratulations to Patricia Walsh for her Jesture and to the rest of the winners!
| Word | Definition | Name |
| WINNERS | ||
| Jesture | Jokes in Sign Language | Patricia Walsh |
| Coptimism | The irrational hope that the police car behind you is pulling over someone else | Charles Abbott |
| Xanadud | Not the utopia you expected | Mike Harcrow |
| Juggersnaut | Flat-chested | Anne DelCampo |
| Nubiquitous | The Next Big Thing | Gillian Winter |
| Palondrome | A private airstrip for friends who fly in. You can land and take off in either direction, regardless of the wind. | Doug Langmead |
| Indivisual | Selfie | Steve Cozzetto |
| Relephant | Hugely appropriate | Mia Debidin |
| Godsmacked | Having had an epiphany | H. R. White |
| Threatbare | Naked aggression | Geoff Williams |
| BEST OF THE REST | ||
| Myhopia | Short-sighted optimism | Steve Cozzetto |
| Nitprick | A jerk who finds minor faults with everything | Mark Summers |
| Boxtrot | Running with a late parcel delivery | Charles Abbott |
| Notarious | Rather shady paralegals | Geoff Williams |
| Smittens | Fingerless glovers | Doug Langmead |
| Blogorrhea | Excessive talkativeness in an online journal | Anne DelCampo |
| Comodian | An entertainer whose repertoire consists mainly of potty jokes. One of low humor. | H. R. White |
| Swoollen | A bloated sheep | Doug Langmead |
| Saging | The process of storing wisdom in wrinkles | Doug Langmead |
| Vapids | Maelstroms of insipidity | Doug Langmead |
| Derfraud | Das artifice | Jackin YOW |
| Pouchsafed | How a baby kangaroo feels after making the long post natal climb into its Mummy’s pouch | Geoff Williams |
| Toreadoor | How the bullfighter gets out of the bullring | Geoff Williams |
| Phantasmajoria | Dream scenes prior to one’s promotion to lieutenant colonel | Mike Harcrow |
| Serendopity | A chance meeting between two idiots | Geoff Williams |
| Discobobulate | To dance in an awkward and confused manner | Mike Harcrow |
| Tweaty | An agreement made by two politicians via Twitter | Geoff Williams |
| Manopoly | When one woman attracts all the men | Carol Philipson |
| Squalord | Rent collector in slums | Mike Harcrow |
| Nundane | Ophelia | Geoff Williams |
| RINGERS | ||
| Portlymanteau | Luggage designed for large-sized males | Steve Cozzetto |
| Gentrifugal Force | The outward-expanding unaffordability of a previously modest neighborhood after the first house has been remodeled and sold for five times the amount it was worth the previous year | Amacker Bullwinkle |
| Applelexy | The fit one has when their cell phone battery goes dead in the middle of a conversation | H R White |
| Ginko Balboa | Explorer who was lost to history as he could not remember where he’d been | Mona J. Shapiro |
| Lacu na | Gap analysis | Doug Langmead |
| Out-of-sink | Bad timing, as when the water stops when you put your hands under an automatic faucet and restarts after you’ve pulled them away | Steve Cozzetto |
| Rancorman | Resentful or malicious newscaster | Mike Harcrow |
| Tourvill’s Syndrome | An intellect that skates effortlessly over the frozen ponds of everyday discourse. | Doug Langmead |
| Wells Phargoah | An Egyptian pyramid scheme | Doug Langmead |
| Carpe Diemo | Seize the angst | Michael de Silva |
| Caviar Emptor | Fine print seen on a seafood menu | Steve Cozzetto |
| Club Med-icare | An all inclusive senior assisted living Resort | Carol Philipson |
| Disavowel | The disdain felt by the British towards Americans for removing the letter “U” from many of their best words | John du Manoir |
| Specifishity | One’s seafood preference | Mike Harcrow |
| COVID | ||
| Croonavirus | Frank Sinatra Syndrome | Doug Langmead |
| Covicted | Sentenced to endless quarantines | Elaine Baran |
| Pundemic | Uncontrollable wordplay | Andrew Innes |
| Baggravation | The inability to open a plastic bag in the produce section of a supermarket because you are wearing a mask | Wayne |
| Corona-fide | A credible COVID-19 test | Steve Cozzetto |
| Perspextive | The view of many shopkeepers during Covid | Geoff Williams |
| Pisitivity | Taking the piss for positivity, a 2020 phenomenon. | Ruth Krause |
| Quaranroutine | When the act of quarantine becomes a consistent way of living | James B Neff |
| Elergy | A poetic lament for one’s excessive immunological response to seasonal, entomological, or pharmacological antigens | Jeffrey Krueger |
| Shituation | A crappy place to be, most likely in 2020 | Ruth Krause & Lindsay Sunter |
| Strepidation | The fear that your sore throat might be Stage 1 Coronavirus | Doug Langmead |
| Masqueraid | A new line of work where you help people put on their Covid masks as they enter a store | Geoff Williams |
| Ebowla | Online cricket | Geoff Williams |
| Choregraphy | Keeping daily statistics during the Covid crisis as you do endless meaningless little bits of work around your steadily shrinking abode so you can show your partner that you are actually doing something other playing dumb word games | Geoff Williams |
| ThanksLiving | A “New” holiday: The Day After Thanksgiving, to celebrate and give thanks for living through a pandemic | Carol Philipson |