From the Land of Elementary School, Kitty Is a Neologistic Winner

"You made my day!" gushed Kitty Boyan when I called with the news. But she had already made mine. Kitty's entry won first prize in the February edition of our monthly make-up-a-word contest.

The challenge that Kitty and about 3,000 fellow wordsmiths faced was:

What do you call the noise your car makes that always disappears in the vicinity of a mechanic but restarts as soon as you drive away?

Kitty's winning answer: Amnoisia.

I thought that captured the amnesia that afflicts ailing cars whenever a mechanic pops open the hood. Also the noise that always seems to return. Some months, my neologism contests don't produce a clear winner. There was no such problem this time.

Our winner is a fourth-grade teacher at Clarksville Elementary School in Howard County. She lives in Marriottsville, Md., just west of Baltimore. We tried to schedule our victory lunch before this column appeared, so I could get to know her better. But leisurely midday repasts don't fit too well with the life of a schoolteacher. We'll do dinner as soon as we can.

Congratulations to Kitty for an excellent coinage. More congrats to the authors of the following Almosts and Nearlies:

Exhaustperation: Earle Lerette, of Falls Church.

Discarbobulation: Celia Dubose, of Southeast Washington.

Mechanix: Jean K. Gill, of Herndon.

Trip Tic: Marca v. O. Piehuta, of Northwest Washington.

Hypochondri-clack: Jeffrey Rackow, of Bethesda.

Hallucienginic: Art Shaffer, of Springfield.

Dintermittence: Hank Wallace, of Northwest Washington.

Chicenginry: Myrna Byer, of Silver Spring.

Chi-car-nery: Robert Kassabian, of Riverdale, and Lisa Szymanski, of Vienna.

Missing Clink: W.S. Todd, of Fairfax; Dan Stevens, of Annapolis; Bill Wilkinson, of Mayo; and Ady L. Swiggard.

Hypoclunkria: Paul Tylor, of Silver Spring.

Neuroadsis: Rich and Carol Weaver.

Phantom of the Acura: Beverly and Jim Waldenfels, of Annandale.

Car-sinagain: Ted Halverson, of Gaithersburg, and David H. Morgan, of Springfield.

Drattle: Patricia M. Culpepper, of Silver Spring.

Carmeleon: Richard Fein.

Rattleusion: Margaret Roper, of Annapolis.

Carbingerr: Recent champ Ruth Ruskin, of Falls Church, and the team of William and Barbara Miller, of Alexandria.

Trans-omission: Frank Cumberland, of Fairfax.

Incartinence: Former champ Judy Stainer, of Columbia, and several dozen more.

Autiosyncrasy: Edith and Alan Stein, of Silver Spring.

Saab-version: Mary Ann Henningsen, of Hayward, Calif.

Recarcitrance: Marguerite and Joe Gaffney.

Carsicknoma: Gaby Zavala, of Baltimore.

Autogeist: Steve Doerflein, of Ellicott City, and Sharon Ferguson, of Glenarden.

Eknockma: Russell Smith.

Carrythmia: Recent champ Everett Rice, of Columbia.

Autoneuroticism: Mike Campbell, of Boston.

Sporattle: Jim Thompson, of Palm Valley, Tex.

And Engine Mock: Kathi Ann Brown.

Very well done, gang. We'll get to the March challenge in a jiffy. First, apologies to Delilah S. Foster, of North Bethesda, who writes to say that she, too, entered "supterfuge" in last month's contest and should have been declared a co-winner by no-good, disorganized Bob Levey. She hereby is.

On with your thinking caps:

You are attending a social or business event in some other city. A stranger asks where you are from. "Washington, D.C.," you chirp. "Oh," the person responds, with a sinking face, as if you've just announced that you have leprosy. Then, inevitably, out pours a flood of Marion Barry commentary, anti-Congress bile and questions about how bad crime really is there. This all-negative reaction to Washington and Washingtonians is called . . .

First prize is as consistent as anti-Washington diatribes: a free lunch, at a restaurant of the winner's choice, in the District or close enough to keep The Post's accountants happy.

Contest rules: You may enter as often as you like, on one piece of paper or several. Joint entries are welcome. So are faxed entries (202-334-5150) and e-mail entries (leveyb@washpost.com). Entries must bear day and evening phone numbers. All entries become my property. Entries will not be accepted by phone or returned. In case of duplicate winning entries, I'll choose the one I get first.

Please mail entries to Bob Levey, The Washington Post, Washington, D.C. 20071. Entries for the March contest must be received by March 31.