Dew Witch Horse Elf

For some reason, I woke up this morning thinking about a commercial for a game called Mad Gab where people are trying to sound out the phrase "eye mull of mush sheen." It turns out that all the people are 'love machines' (sound it out) and, even more importantly, they're all having a great time playing this game. How can my family have that kind of fun?

Oh sure, the obvious answer would be to buy the game, but I think there's more fun to be had in coming up with your own little puzzles. So, here are a few I came up with this morning when I should have been grading. (Oh, so that's why I woke up thinking of something else to do with my brain - anything but grading.)

sitar raw oars

purr raw widened parade did yes

thumb error itch shove figure row

half fewer worse elf thumb air relit okras to miss

They're not exact phonetic matches, but if you read them out loud, it should sound like someone with an odd accent saying something familiar. If you're having trouble, you could ask your computer to read the phrase to you. (UPDATE: Here they are, read by your friends at AT&T Labs: sitar..., purr..., thumb..., half....) Click on the phrases to find the answers, but only if you really can't get them.

...I have a few more do-it-yourself game ideas, but I'll save them for Christmas Eve (hopefully).