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Articles 1291 - 1320 of 4911
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Pros And Cons, Anil
Pros And Cons, Anil
Word Ways
"For every pro there's an equal and opposite con," goes an old joke I just made up. Only it's not true, surprisingly. I found only one pro/con pair in the Macquarie Dictionary (4th, 2005) that were common opposites, protract and contract. But not protractor and contractor in their usual meanings. (For vs. against tractors?) Protest and contest can be opposites, to stretch a point, eg at a politically or morally controversial game. But more commonly they are synonyms: to argue with the umpire. Lastly, might we count the old gag opposites, progress and Congress?
A Perfect Word, Anil
A Perfect Word, Anil
Word Ways
Perfect numbers (PNs) are integers whose factors sum to the number, like 6 (=1+2+3). Euclid gave a formula for finding them: if 2n - 1 is prime then 2n - 1(2n - 1) is a PN. There are only five PNs below ten billion: 6, 28, 496, 8128 and 33,550,336.
Distinct Dozens, Steve Kahan
Distinct Dozens, Steve Kahan
Word Ways
RECOGNIZABLY is a "distinct dozen" - a twelve-letter word in which no letter appears more than once. Twenty more distinct dozens are presented below, each of which has its vowels (A, E, I, O, and/or U) exposed. Can you fill in the missing consonants?
Consecutive Palindromic Triads, Steve Kahan
Consecutive Palindromic Triads, Steve Kahan
Word Ways
Each of the twenty five examples below is a familiar word, phrase, or name from which a pair of consecutive palindromic triads have been removed. The remaining letters are then run together.
Signature Spoonerisms, Anil
Signature Spoonerisms, Anil
Word Ways
Signature Spoonerisms resemble signature puns, introduced in November (06-22, qv). Swap the initial sound(s) of the first and last names (or part names) of a well known person to produce a homophonic pun applicable to the person, however general.
Satanix, Darryl Francis
Satanix, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
Ross Eckler's article Word Networks on Wordlock (November 2006 Word Ways) was about a combination lock that uses five rings of letters, instead of numbers. This reminded me of a similar device which I have, a plastic toy called Satanix, but without the lock capability.
"When I Hear The Word 'Culture,' I Reach For My Pun!", Don Hauptman
"When I Hear The Word 'Culture,' I Reach For My Pun!", Don Hauptman
Word Ways
Contrary to popular belief, puns are not all bad. Indeed, they can be intelligent, literate and witty. But a high-quality pun must meet several criteria. The best ones are: (1) original, (2) ingenious, (3) natural and meaningful rather than contrived or labored, and, of course, (4) funny.
Honorable Mentions, Jim Puder
Honorable Mentions, Jim Puder
Word Ways
It would obviously be hard to overstate the impact that Word Ways has had on the development of the field that it named, recreational linguistics, over the last four decades. So much of lasting interest and value has appeared on these pages that would never even have been thought of, much less published, had Word Ways' open forum not existed over that span to stimulate and encourage such thought.
Return Of The Palimerick, Jim Puder
Return Of The Palimerick, Jim Puder
Word Ways
In the February 2007 Kickshaws, Dave Morice presented what was probably an entirely new logological object, a limerick of his own devising which was also an end-to-end word-unit palindrome. Dave further wondered whether it would be possible to compose a letter-unit version of such a palindromical limerick.
Subwords: A Subdivision Of Neologistics, Anil
Subwords: A Subdivision Of Neologistics, Anil
Word Ways
Subwords are needed terms branched off or evolved from real words or phrases through mutation or hybridisation, in the spirit of Ross Eckler's "We Need a Word for This!" in the May 2006 issue (p. 75). I tried for two of each letter but fell two short (of space).
Logological Enlightenment, Anil
Logological Enlightenment, Anil
Word Ways
How many logologists does it take to change a light bulb?
Using Mathematical Parentheses In English, Solomon W. Golomb
Using Mathematical Parentheses In English, Solomon W. Golomb
Word Ways
Parentheses are used in mathematics to indicate that certain computations should precede other computations, and also to shorten expressions by virtue of the "distributive law" that says A x (B+C) = (A x B) + (A x C). Both of these uses can be applied to English text.
One Of Six And Another Of Half A Dozen, Colm Mulcahy
One Of Six And Another Of Half A Dozen, Colm Mulcahy
Word Ways
We consider two different arrangements of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, whose applications illustrate a curious numerical/alphabetical duality. These can easily be explored with cards.
Who You Gonna Call?, Marc Allan
Who You Gonna Call?, Marc Allan
Word Ways
Here are some phone numbers with clues to whom or what you are trying to reach.
The Vulgar Tongue, Jeff Grant
The Vulgar Tongue, Jeff Grant
Word Ways
Slang forms a significant part of the English language. The first slang dictionary appeared over 300 years ago, recording terms that are now mostly obsolete. Some of the old favourites survived though, and a few were thought too vulgar to include in standard dictionaries until quite recently.
Magic Word Dice, Jeremiah Farrell
Magic Word Dice, Jeremiah Farrell
Word Ways
The illustration below is the graph of an ordinary cube with its six faces labeled with the letters H opposite P, O opposite A and T opposite D, thus forming the HOT-PAD die.
Shifting Vowels & Consonants Independently, Susan Thorpe
Shifting Vowels & Consonants Independently, Susan Thorpe
Word Ways
A basic shift sees the letters of a word shifted along the alphabet n steps, looping from Z to A, to make another word. Today, however, the alphabet, as we recognise it, no longer exists. The 5 major vowels have opted out of that all-embracing 26-letter series to set up an alphabet of their own, predictably christened the 'vowel alphabet', AEIOU.
A Special Type Of Word-Shift Square, Susan Thorpe
A Special Type Of Word-Shift Square, Susan Thorpe
Word Ways
In Language on Vacation, p140, Dmitri Borgmann shifted the words of the 3 x 3 square HER - EMU - RUT, letter by letter, 10 steps along the alphabet, looping from Z to A, to make a second square ROB - OWE - BED. Tom Pulliam topped this by shifting the 4 x 4 square BARE - ANER - RENA - ERAR, letter by letter, 13 steps along the alphabet to make the square ONER - NARE - ERAN - RENE (WW76104). The current article deals exclusively with 3 x 3 squares. Both the above shift exercises involve 2 …
New York Times Crossword Goofs (Continued From Vol. 40, February 2007), Will Shortz
New York Times Crossword Goofs (Continued From Vol. 40, February 2007), Will Shortz
Word Ways
A collection of mistakes printed in the New York Times crossword puzzles from 1993 to 2002.
Kickshaws, D. Morice
Kickshaws, D. Morice
Word Ways
I never met Rex Gooch in person, but I got to know him via email over the past few years. He truly had his own vision of language, and his articles were brilliant, thorough, and detailed. When a Kickshaw item invited readers to find other examples of a specific form of wordplay, Rex often would send a bountiful supply of words.
Anamonics, Jeff Myers
Anamonics, Jeff Myers
Word Ways
Attention, recreational linguists! Scrabble players of the world have explained their reach well beyond memorizing massive word lists and anagramming racks of letter tiles. They do not just sit across a multicolored board from each other and smack their chess clocks and shake their tile bags.
Dictionary Limericks 3, Max Gutmann
Dictionary Limericks 3, Max Gutmann
Word Ways
A collection of limericks defining words.
Some Of My Favorite Squares, Jeff Grant
Some Of My Favorite Squares, Jeff Grant
Word Ways
Word squares have been around for centuries. I have constructed a few over the years, and admired the efforts of others too.
I See Where You Are Coming From, Leonard R. N. Ashley
I See Where You Are Coming From, Leonard R. N. Ashley
Word Ways
Or maybe not, because much as readers of Word Ways know about etymologies they may be unfamiliar with words, sometimes given quite a twist in meaning in English, that come from truly unusual origins. Here are some that are literally way out.
Where They Are Coming From, Leonard R. N. Ashley
Where They Are Coming From, Leonard R. N. Ashley
Word Ways
Some pretty common words have unexpectedly uncommon origins. Here's a little romp in the usually dry-as-dust field of etymology (from Greek for the origin or literal sense of a word), Quintillian's originatio.
Canadianisms?, Andy Liu
Sudoku Patterns, Christopher Mcmanus
Sudoku Patterns, Christopher Mcmanus
Word Ways
The sudoku puzzle form has enjoyed a meteoric rise. Books of sudoku puzzles and its variants fill the shelves of bookstores. Often overlooked by sudoku devotees is the fundamental fact that sudoku is not inherently arithmetic.
Spooneristic Variations, Susan Thorpe
Spooneristic Variations, Susan Thorpe
Word Ways
A plethora of spoonerisms has appeared in Word Ways over many years. A spoonerism is the result of exchanging the initial letter(s) of a pair of words to make another pair of words.
Look Back!, A. Ross Eckler
Look Back!, A. Ross Eckler
Word Ways
Over the years Word Ways has displayed a varied logological corpus. In this column I revisit forgotten ideas, connect seemingly-disparate concepts, and suggest further investigations.
Rex Gooch Remembered, Susan Thorpe
Rex Gooch Remembered, Susan Thorpe
Word Ways
Rex Gooch died on Tuesday 13th March. He was 67.