Security Words

Sessibl

I have a fondness for those nonsense words that web pages make you type in as a security feature before you can comment, or click through to some other page. I like how they are word-like, but not words. I can imagine to myself how they would be pronounced, and used in a sentence, even, but they are still non-words. It is this quality of wordness (to make up yet another word) that makes them good for security purposes. Machines cannot guess them, because they are not real words and don't really follow any pattern, but any thinking person with a sense of grammar rules and linguistics (which is most everyone who has grown up with language) can recognize a funny closeness, an easy familiarity in them. I'm thinking about writing a poem using mainly these words, if I can collect enough of them. So far I have the word at the top of this post, "sweambo," and "ourse." Evocative, don't you think?

On a related note, I just completed a "spam check" security question on the utahfm page that required I DO MATH rather than type a made-up word. WTF? Why you gotta go ruin my fun by using math for security checks rather than spiffy word-like non-words? I know what 9 + 9 equals; that's not a problem, but don't start getting fancy and asking something like 2x + 7[y]/84 = z. I'll be screwed.

Vivas las palabras. (That's for Thomas, who is learning spanish.)

UPDATE: Here is the poem I just wrote. I particularly love the first stanza. I have a feeling more of these will be written shortly, after all, I'm in the middle of grading finals!

Shbusne

In sessible sweambo
viativis ourse.
Intae winglike nossun,
semming a zorter harchie.

Movence bycol uryngin
coosse the fabions,
tarous aryor so resotsho
then daursm termove nomou.

Deali bilito.
Deali bilito.
Sessa affiliaj,
sessa cernhog.
Dabings straion
over the prousti ingul

or in sessible sweambo.
Viativis ourse,
Intae winglike nossun.
Viativis ourse nossun.