11 AUGUST 1990, Page 37

No. 1640: Fill the gap

In a recent piece in the Times, Miles Kington pointed out that there should be words which ought to, but don't, exist, to serve a perfectly good meaning. We need a word, for instance, to describe 'the over- flow of writing on a postcard when you haven't had enough space to say it all in the left-hand half, or, I might add, to describe the embarrassed pause in a conversation that has died. You are invited to invent up to five words to fill such gaps: words, please, then definitions, then one illustra- tive sentence. Entries to 'Competition No. 1640' by 24 August.