Digital Commons Network^™

Ode To An Etymologist, Rocky Bruni

Word Ways

Questions and thoughts addressed to an etymologist.

Word Play In The L. Frank Baum Fantasies, Martin Gardner

Word Ways

Lyman Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and thirteen other Oz books, also wrote many fantasies for children that did not have Oz as a setting. In all these books he liked to make up names for persons, places, and things. These names often involved word play. Puns were the most common form, but Baum also indulged in anagrams, spoonerisms, reversals, and other forms of linguistic whimsies.

Sherlockiana, Dana Richards

Word Ways

Word Puzzles selected from "Victorian Enigmas and Sherlockian Puzzles" by the author.

Denizens Of The Deep, Steve Kahan

Word Ways

Put on a recording of Handel's Water Music to stimulate your gray matter for this one. Hidden among the words listed below are twenty creatures who spend all or a good part of their lives under water. To bring each to the surface, issue a replacement for one of the letters present and transpose the ensuing collection. As an illustration, UTTERS would turn into TURTLE after "L" displaces "S" and permutation is performed. Best of luck in your SEARCHES (which would eventually become SEAHORSE when "O" transplants "C"!)

People Remembered In The Language, Leonard R. N. Ashley

Word Ways

Some individuals have made a name for themselves and got into the dictionary, their names (usually surnames) having become words. How many of these notables can you recognize?

Back Cover

Word Ways

The back cover of this issue, including instructions to authors wishing to contribute and readers wishing to subscribe.

Charades Crossword

Word Ways

A crossword puzzle.

Tic-Tac-Toe Played As A Word Game, Martin Gardner

Word Ways

In Problem 48 in Your Move (McGraw-Hill, 1971), David Silverman described a linguistic version of tic-tac-toe consisting of a stockpile of the words ARMY, CHAT, FISH, GIRL, HORN, KNIT, SOUP, SWAN and VOTE. Players alternately select words, and the first to collect three words sharing a common letter is the winner.

Author, Author! Part 1, Steve Kahan

Word Ways

There can be no better venue for paying homage to celebrated writers than a journal devoted to wordplay. A score of such literary luminaries awaiting well-deserved recognition is concealed in the listing below. Revealing a name entails permuting the collection that results when a new letter replaces a given one in each word. To illustrate, after scrambling, the creators of Tom Sawyer and Robinson Crusoe will be exposed when "W" supplants "G" in GIANT and "O" does the same to "R" in FREED, respectively. A perfect score authorizes you to call yourself an author authority.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.

Look Back!, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

In a sense Martin Gardner was the founder of Word Ways, for he suggested the idea of such a magazine to Greenwood Periodicals and proposed Dmitri Borgmann as its first editor. After only a year as the editor, Dmitri resigned in November 1968 when Greenwood refused to pay him a salary of $5,000 per year. When Howard Bergerson, recruited by Joe Madachy (the editor of another Greenwood journal), agreed to be editor without salary, Dmitri angrily wrote him to say that he considered Howard's action "extremely hostile and downright treacherous" and that Howard would never hear from him again.

Accident, Sir Jeremy Morse

Word Ways

A poem.

By The Numbers, Jon Racherbaumer

Word Ways

This article originally was part of Racherbaumer's column "On the Slant" in the August 2010 issue of GENII magazine. It is used with permission.

'Cause The Bible Told Me So, Martin Gardner

Word Ways

To The Editor: For years I have been entertained by letters calling attention to what the Bible has to say about homosexuality, masturbation, wine drinking, and kindred topics. Are these letter writers aware, I wonder, that the Old Testament condones smoking?

Consult Genesis 24:64. We are told that "Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel."

Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 15 Number 2

Word Ways

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

Front Cover And Publication Information

Word Ways

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

A Riddle, Al Seckel

Word Ways

Starting with a common NINE letter word in the English language, what word continues to be a commonly used word in the English language each time you remove a single letter?

Howard Bergerson, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

Howard Bergerson was born in Minneapolis on July 29, 1922 to Margaret Jeske, who six years later married Ludvick (or Louie) Bergerson. Howard served in World War II, and moved in 1951 to a small house in Sweet Home, Oregon, down the block from a shingle mill where he was employed for over 40 years.

Punk Whiz 10, A. Anil

Word Ways

Yet another misdefinition pun quiz. Numbers in parentheses are the letters in the answer; (4|4) is a charade, an eight letter word that splits into a four plus four letter pun. My answers are out back.

The Governor, Or The Devil, Jim Puder

Word Ways

When either intentional or accidental occult "messages" are discovered in the body of some prominent text, they are of potential interest to logology. Here is the story of one such "message" of recent occurrence whose true nature -- accidental or artificial -- is a subject of dispute. All of the particular facts cited herein were taken from a front page article in the October 28, 2009 San Francisco Chronicle, which article may be examined in its entirety at the Chronicle's website, sfgate.com.

More Charades And Mondegreens, Solomon W. Golomb

Word Ways

Here is an assortment of my own charades. Children who learn to recite patriotic songs, religious hymns, etc., that they haven't ever read create remarkable mondegreens. Here are some dandies.

Palindrome Palindromes, A. Anil

Word Ways

Palindroming is such an unnatural occupation that it is extremely hard to make an intelligible pal of length, or even a short one involving diphthongs, especially if H is involved. (No, no, the letter, not the drug. But I imagine heroin would make it totally impossible, if not uninteresting.) Hence most pals require and ideally requite explanation, as few make easy reading, unlike anagrams which are much easier. With that excuse, I present some more or less identical palls that include and define the word palindrome itself in a new way, so far as I know.

Kickshaws, Dave Morice

Word Ways

A collection of linguistic kickshaws.

Working Week, Sir Jeremy Morse

Word Ways

A poem

Colloquy

Word Ways

Responses to articles in previously published issues.

Magic Spells -- Round Two, Jeremiah Farrell

Word Ways

In February's "Magic Spells" article an ostensibly new spelling magic effect was offered. At the 9th Gather for Gardner in Atlanta last March magician Mark Setteducati recalled a Bob Hummer trick that was similar.

A 2152-Point Scrabble Move, Jeff Grant

Word Ways

In the November 1979 issue of Word Ways we exhibited a 2064-point single-move Scrabble score using open sources. This was an improvement on an earlier 2037-point effort devised by Josefa Heifetz, better known as Josefa Heifetz Byrne, compiler of the famous Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words (1974). Both moves are based on the elusive term SESQUIOXIDIZING, which is not specifically indicated in any dictionary. The closest approach is the past participle SESQUIOXIDIZED, which appears in OED.

Unaccidental Transcendental, Mike Keith

Word Ways

The crossword puzzle below has deliberately tough clues, because one can use a special property of the puzzle, which is described below, to help determine the words and/or verify their correctness. The unusual numbering of the words is also a result of this feature.

Smarmy Homeowners And Licked Wounds, Don Hauptman

Word Ways

One of my favorite singers in Karen Akers. On October 5, 2009, The New York Observer, a weekly newspaper, published a rave review of her new cabaret show. The critic opined that "even seasoned performers twice Ms. Akers' age are reluctant to try" certain challenging songs. On October 13, a week after the article was published, she turned 64. Reading the article, I wondered: Where are all those 128-year-old-singers?

Here's a new batch of media errors and anomalies, each followed, as usual, by a witty or snarky riposte.

Alaska Opens New Civic Center -- The Palindrome, J. James Mancuso

Word Ways

After six years, work was completed today on the latest in state capital convention centers. The brainchild of Alaska governor Sarah Palin, the new center will be a key asset in Juneau's bid to become a destination for associations holding conventions in popular tourist destinations. This sparkling new civic center, known as the Palindrome, lies in the heart of downtown Juneau on Kayak Street across from the headquarters of Snow Bank.