Now that the holiday season is upon us, let's post about some gifts that might be appropriate for our logophilic friends. I am sure there must be some books that some of you know about. How's Quinion's new book?

I found a couple of games highlighted in the Chicago Tribune that you might be interested in.

1) The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Game (ages 12+; $34.95; available at www.cartoonbank.com):
Trib Comment: "Match wits with the cartoonists from the New Yorker. Each card has a cartoon from the magazine, but you supply the caption. Correctly guess who wrote what caption or have your caption voted the funniest. Hearing what your friends come up with is hilarious.

2) The Irish Rhyming Game (ages 8+; $23.99; available at www.shopirish.com):
Trib comment: Roll a die, flip a card and pronounce words that rhyme with the word on the card - the number of rhymes equals the number that appears on the die - before the 30-second timer runs out. The game brought lots of laughter from our test groups, and one tester suggested adding a die to increase the challenge: Could you come up with 12 rhymes for "leather"?

That one ought to be played at the OEDILF convention, if they ever have one! Though, as I told CJ, they'll need about 6 dice!

3) Bubble Brain (ages 10+; $30; available at www.patchproducts.com)
Trib comment: Pick one of the 300 silly pictures; then everyone writes a caption for it. Correctly guess who wrote what caption. It's like "Balderdash," but "Bubble Brain" comes with stickers shaped like thought bubbles, so you can apply them to your family pictures for an even funnier game.

4) Zing! (ages 10+; $19; available at www.simplyfun.com)
Trib comment: Each tile has a word, and each player plays a tile to form a sentence. Write on wipe-off tiles to fill in gaps. Score points for tiles used. When the game is done, everyone has created a story. Entertaining and thought provoking.

5) Pick Two Deluxe (ages 8+; $15.95; available at www.tahdahgames.com)
Trib comment: Use your lettered tiles to spell words, and when a player uses all his or her tiles, he or she yells, "Pick two," and everyone grabs two more tiles. Be the first to get rid of your tiles in this fast-moving old favorite that's now back in circulation.

There were more, but these seemed to be the most relevant to word lovers.