JEFF WARREN “SYNONYM TOAST”
As a writer, I often say frustratingly that I’m in the midst of an adjective problem. An issue. A conundrum. [get it?]
As a reviewer, and as a parent of a burgeoning reader and storyteller, I’m hyper aware of the need to find new ways of saying “this is great!” and “we had a fantastic time”. Enter synonyms. I’ve got Merriam-Webster bookmarked on my Firefox toolbar. And you should too.
Jeff Warren’s title track from his debut kindie album is a bluesy stroll through a pocket thesaurus that takes full advantage of a dramatic female backup singer. It’s no small feat, fitting words like lexicon, expeditious, and lethargic – even vocabulary is a mouthful! – but Warren manages to make a cornucopia of similar words sing-songy, catchy and fun. In short, this is great! We had a fantastic time!
Here’s a quick example of Warren’s verbosity on the title track “Synonym Toast”:
“So instead of saying big you’d say gigantic, tremendous or humongous or titanic /
Use jumbo or colossal when you can, and don’t forget about gargantuan.”
That’s wickedly awesome.
There’s also a Word Girl online game of the same name. Let your little wordsmith give that a spin while your spinning Jeff Warren’s “Synonym Toast”. I’m pretty sure this is exactly how William Carlos Williams got started.
*OWTK received a copy of “Synonym Toast” for review consideration. The opinions expressed above are unbiased and honest.
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