Kempt, shevelled, and gainly

It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate. I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way. I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I’d have to make bones about it, since I was travelling cognito.

Jack Winter, “How I met my wife,” New Yorker, 1994

I have always loved this kind of word play. I wish I could get away with more of it in the kind of writing I do for a living.