Nude — [adj.] naked, bare, unclothed, skyclad.  Alternate spellings (used by the local high school Academic Challenge team boys) : nood, newd, knood, gnood, newed, noude,  knewd, knewed, noohd,  knude, gnude.   The occasion was big-screen NTN trivia in a sports bar where their coaches, my friends,  gathered them to compete in a weekly tournament as a fun way to practice their craft (about 25 years ago in another lifetime).  Trivia players had to sign in with a “handle” of six letters or less.  These were, of course, teenage boys, so the above choices afforded them a bit of extra entertainment, not to mention the opportunity to embarrass the trivia announcer, who happened to be a young woman.  Her job was to announce winners (pretty much always one of the Academic Challenge kids — intelligent teenage boys, but still…teenage boys) on the microphone to all the onlookers in the restaurant.  One of the young men who won A LOT began to sign in with the handle MYBALZ, for the sheer joy of attempting to embarrass the announcer.  When she had to figure out how to deal with this on the microphone, my friends and I, seeing her pending distress, beckoned her over and suggested the pronunciation of “Mibbles”, rhyming with nibbles and kibbles.  Hah!!  Take that, MYBALZ!!

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