As one who makes use of words and phrases on an ongoing basis, I am intrigued by CAPTCHA.

CAPTCHA (an acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) was created to reduce spamming and to ensure an individual rather than a machine is making an online decision.

My encounters with the odd words and phrases usually come when being ripped off by Ticketmaster or, more often, when posting my blog to a web site.

Sometimes the phrases make sense like a recent request to type in “the Heisman.” Most do not, such as “elevate halstead” (although a town in England bears that name) and “smoggiest Rocke” (which might suggest mountaintop pollution).

When typing in “is Hinch,” I thought of former Major League catcher A.J. Hinch although he posted a mere .219 career batting average. Baseball was still on my mind when the CAPTCHA for the day was “after double.” (Bunt him over to third?)

My favorite, however, was a recent request to enter “lustiest committee.” One can only wonder how appointments are made.

OK, so I’m easily entertained. And drained from too many hours of putting words and phrases together for yet another publishing deadline. Substance will have to come later.

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