It's been reported that etymologists worldwide are involved in a desperate race to find a word that rhymes with 'nincompoop'.
And that doesn't mean, of course, that they can use words like 'stoop', 'loop', or 'hoop', but the rhyming word must rhyme with the whole of the word 'nincompoop'.
This would be what is known as a 'perfect rhyme'.
To illustrate precisely what is meant by this, here are some examples of 'perfect rhymes':
'cat' rhymes with 'mat'
'bed' rhymes with 'red'
'flower' rhymes with 'power'
'bicycle' rhymes with 'tricycle' and 'icicle'
If there were such a word as 'sincompoop', this would be a perfect rhyme with 'nincompoop', but there isn't, so it's not really worth our consideration.
Word experts in Poland are hot on the case, however, and have promised not to give up until they have found the word that has, so far, evaded them.
One man who will be giving it everything he has in the attempt, is professional postage-stamp collector, Grigor Waszinckzscryz, with which nothing rhymes. He said:
"This is difficult. In all my years spent trying to find rhymes for words, this has to be the hardest one I've ever tackled."
Police are not investigating.
