Digital Commons Network^™

Colloquy

Word Ways

Responses to previously published articles.

A Rude Word In The Alphabet Soup, Don Laycock

Word Ways

Horace Greerly looked at his spoon first in amazement, then in a mixture of disbelief and horror.

"Martha," he said finally. "There's a rude word in my alphabet soup."

Formal Analogy Is Best, John Henrick

Word Ways

Like graffiti and proverbs, bumper sticker slogans invite compilation and classification. The taxonomist thus occupied soon concludes that occasional specimens appear sui generis. more careful thought, however, leads to the realization that in certain cases, at least, the peculiar instance provides the template for a genre.

Oxonian Wordplay, David Shulman

Word Ways

The Oxford University Press, publisher of the prestigious Oxford English Dictionary and its current Supplement, issued in 1984 The Oxford Guide to Word Games by Tony Augarde, a member of their dictionary staff. This 250-page book is a fascinating guide to all sorts of wordplay and word games, their origins, rules and variations. Included are acrostics, crosswords, rebuses, anagrams, tongue-twisters, and popular games such as Scrabble. However, since the author is a lexicographer rather than a logologist, the reader will search in vain for original material; Augarde has merely repeated whatever he encountered in his bibliography. Alas, this is skimpy; …

Dutch Crow-Eggs (Kraaieeieren), George J. Levenbach

Word Ways

This article is a translation of material appearing on pages 108. 110 and 113 of Opperlandse Taal- & Letterkunde, the Dutch book of wordplay reviewed in teh February 1985 Word Ways. One of the outstanding features of Dutch is its ability to form words with large numbers of consecutive vowels; here this ability is stretched to the limit.

Sound-Spelling Correspondences, Mark Isaak

Word Ways

The introduction to the American Heritage Dictionary contains a list showing the variety of spellings which give particular sounds. Although it gives most of the common spellings, it omits many others. This list is an attempt to fill in the gaps.

A Fascinating Index (Non-Papal Kind), Louis Phillips

Word Ways

The following piece of found humor is taken from the index to Fred Allen's Much Ado About Me. Can anyone conceive of a stranger collection of topics?

Dipthongs, Maxey Brooke

Word Ways

A vowel, by definition, is a sound produced by the vibrations of the vocal cords without the friction or stoppage which characterizes consonants. The alphabetical vowels are A, E, I, O, and U, comprising about 40 percent of the letters in all written words. Actually, A and I are dipthongs; one vowel sound immediately followed by another I is pronounced ah-ee.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.

Back Cover

Word Ways

Back cover of the issue, including instructions to authors.

A Logo-Trivia Quiz, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

It had to happen. The recent trivia craze sweeping the nation has finally invaded the sacred precincts of logology. here, then, is the first full-fledged logolgoical trivial quiz. It happens to be one placing the beginner on a par with the expert: so far as I know, none of the items included have previously appeared in Word Ways, my books, or anywhere else. Have fun!

Fragging The Froggies, Leonard R. N. Ashley

Word Ways

What's wrong with pay TV, jet, jingle, discount and such words? Plenty, says the French government. They represent the invasion of pure French by Franglais, as do long-established words from English such as smoking and weekend. M. Mitterand's government now wants to fine Frenchmen the equivalent of seven dollars each time one of these words is used; it has legally banned some 126 of them in all. Sacre bleu! Howard Smith suggests we retaliate by weeding out of English such French words as lassez-faire and café and such expressions as c'est la vie ("tough titty"). He would replace raconteur …

Phobia And Counterphobia, Paul Hellweg

Word Ways

Two wrongs are rumored to make things right, but do two phobias cancel each other out? For example, if a claustrophobe (one who fears closed spaces) were to become agoraphobic (fear of open spaces), would he be cured? Or would he simply have no place to go? Perhaps this is a fool's question, but the point is that a lot of phobias have direct opposites. (Not all phobias, however, have a counterpart. Many of us have ballistophobia - fear of being shot, but do you know anyone with a fear of not being shot?)

Long Isograms (Part 1), Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

One of the aesthetic delights available to logologists is contemplating isograms: words, names, and other verbal entitites in which each of the alphabetic letters used appears the same specified number of times. PSEUDOMYTHICAL, for instance, is a solo isogram, using each of 14 different letters once; HAPPENCHANCE is a pair isogram, using each of 6 different letters twice; and SESTETTES is a trio isogram, using each of 3 different letters three times. In a cryptographic context, solo isograms are known as nonpattern terms; in a pangrammatic setting, as partial pangrams. Beyond trio isograms lie hitherto unexplored higher orders -- tetrad, …

Two-Letter Interjections, Philip L. Pollack

Word Ways

It is a curious fact that a substantial percentage of two-letter words are interjections; of the 227 words in the "Dictionary of Two-Letter Words" issued by the Biliteral Society and reviewed below, grouping interjections according to feelings, commands and statements, show the great variety of messages that can be sent.

Welsh: Reversed English!, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

In the February 1984 issue of Word Ways, Canadian Jay Ames presented a list of 121 English words which also happen to be Czech words - though their meanings in Czech are unrelated to those in English. Of these 121 words, 54 were words of 2 or 3 letters, too short to be really interesting. That left 67 worthwhile specimens of the genre under consideration.

To Act Or Not To Act, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

"To be, or not to be" was the question troubling Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. A somewhat analogous question troubling me has been whether "to act, or not to act." Torn by indecision, I finally decided to entrust the verdict to proverbial wisdom - to the accumulated experience of millions of human beings over a span of centuries.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.

An Alien Lexicon, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

Since the end of the Second World War, both laymen and scientists have given a great deal of thought to the possibility, or probability, of intelligent life elsewhere than on the earth - on other planets off the solar system, in other star systems of the Milky Way galaxy, and in other galaxies scattered through the physical universe. As a consequence, a large and varied vocabulary of terms designating different kinds of otherworldly beings has come into use.

The "G" Spot, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

This is the spot in your new issue of Word Ways devoted to a long-overdue discussion of a peculiar quirk in pronouncing the letter "G." Help me expand that spot into a full-blown article, won't you?

Dmitri Borgmann, Father Of Logology

Word Ways

It has often been said that an institution is merely the lengthened shadow of a man. Logology in general, and Word Ways in particular, owes much to Dmitri Borgmann; this issue, consisting entirely of his handiwork (except for this article and Colloquy), is a salute to his long-lasting devotion to the cause of wordplay.

Three Miraculous Solutions, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

One of the delights available to a logologist is analyzing a word problem and its solution. When the logologist makes the analytical process the focal point of his inquiry, both the problem as such and its solution as such are relegated to secondary importance. This article highlights such a situation.

Back Cover

Word Ways

Back cover, including instructions to authors wishing to contribute to the publication.

Our Feathered Friends, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

This is a test of your ability to perceive wholes within larger wholes - to recognize linguistic structures embedded within greater linguistic structures. The linguistic structures employed are words and two-word terms, typically dictionary entries.

Front Cover And Publication Information -- Volume 18, Number 1

Word Ways

Front cover and publication information for this issue, including a table of contents.

Horse Proverbs, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

In "Horsing Around" in the November 1984 Word Ways, Leonard Ashley challenged readers to come up with 24 proverbs about horses, citing three alleged examples. Two of his three examples are phrase, not genuine proverbs, and the third one uses the plural HORSES instead of the singular HORSE. Below are 25 authentic proverbs, all of them using the singular form HORSE. I have selected them from 172 horse proverbs in the following reference work.

Some Odd Title Malarkey, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

You've written a brilliant article for Word Ways - one destined to change the future of logology. All that's left for you to do before you mail it in to the editor is to give it a suitable title. That's where you get stuck. Days, weeks, months pass: you sweat and you struggle, but nothing that you can possibly call your work of genius comes to your mind. In despaire, you throw the article into your fireplace, incinerating it. Both you and logology have suffered an irreparable loss.

Quelque Chose, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

The word kickshaw is derived from the French quelque chose, meaning "something"; in English, the word means "a bauble, trifle, or knickknack" or "a fancy tidbit." Kickshaws transposes to sick hawks, meaning "unhealthy attempts to clear the throat of phlegm" - not, I trust, an accurate description of the following.

Colloquy

Word Ways

Webster's Dictionary defines colloquy as mutual discourse. Readers are encouraged to submit additions, corrections, and comments about earlier articles appearing in Word Ways. Comments received at least one month prior to publication of an issue will appear in that issue.

Speaking Of Fingers, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

Have you thought about your fingers lately? Have you taken a long, hard look at them, assessing their relative strengths and weaknesses?