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Articles 3211 - 3240 of 4911
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Spreadsheet Logology On The Pc, Anthony Sebastian
Spreadsheet Logology On The Pc, Anthony Sebastian
Word Ways
Logologists who are computer programmers can exploit the computer's power to assist them in wordplay activities. Logologists who are not computer experts can share in that power by using commercially available, inexpensive, user-friendly spreadsheet programs designed for personal computers (PCs). Such programs, initially developed for manipulation numbers (e.g., financial modelling), have evolved the capability to manipulate non-numeric data--strings of characters other than integers exclusively--according to string-specific formulas.
An Unabbreviated 26-Letter Pangram, Jeff Grant
An Unabbreviated 26-Letter Pangram, Jeff Grant
Word Ways
A pangram is a sentence of any length containing every letter of the alphabet. Obviously the ultimate achievement in this field is an example containing each letter once only. Unfortunately, all the minimum-length 26-letter pangrams that have been constructed over the years seem to have the same problem: they are in some way an abbreviation. For example:
Bienapropisms, Richard Lederer
Bienapropisms, Richard Lederer
Word Ways
Long-time Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley was known for his frequent beheadings of the English language with such phrases as "I resent your insinuendoes" and "We shall reach greater platitudes of achievement." Mr. Daley's creative word choices must have been contagious because another Chicago politician was heard to shout, "I don't want to cast asparagus at my opponent!"
Merriam-Webster: Voice Of Authority, Trip Payne
Merriam-Webster: Voice Of Authority, Trip Payne
Word Ways
Since 1909, the three editions of Webster's New International Dictionary (henceforth to be referred to as N11, N12, and N13) have been the most widely accepted references for the coverage of American English. Their reputation is deserved; not only are they through in their coverage of modern words, they are scholarly in their treatment of obsolete terms,important to readers of older literature. (The coverage of obsolete terms in N13 is not as full as in N11 or N12, however.) Their appeal is to both the scholar and the layman. Unlike earlier dictionaries in both England and America, the N1s have …
Immeasurably Fishy, Don Laycock
Immeasurably Fishy, Don Laycock
Word Ways
In a world where our weights and measures are increasingly being standardised to the efficient but dreary metric system, it is hard not to feel some sort of pang at the disappearance of the gloriously erratice measures of former days: the cubits and the ells, the arsins and the versts, leagues, grains, catties, scruples, and candareens. But all is not lost. "Fishy Measure", which I discovered in a copy of "Loyd's Calendar" for 1955, is hopefully continuing strong in the bleak wastes of the Outer Hebrides, at least. Here is the table in its entirety:
Is That So? Would You Believe?, Jan Ackerson
Is That So? Would You Believe?, Jan Ackerson
Word Ways
In the 1960s, my father's hobby was inventing games. Although none of his games was ever accepted by a major publishing company, a few were printed locally and sold for a short time in the central Michigan area. One of his games, unfortunately named "Izzat So" by the publishers (another edition was called "Wud-U-Blev"), was my particular favorite. In "Izzat So," players reassembled proverbs which had been printed on small cardboard tiles and divided into three pieces.
Palingroans And Amalgrams, Lee Sallows
Palingroans And Amalgrams, Lee Sallows
Word Ways
A new genre offering opportunities for amusement involves what I call palingroans. The first one appeared in Williard R. Espy's "Another Almanac of Words at Play," though he seems not to have appreciated the possible extension of his idea:
The Elegant Double Negative, Kay Haugaard
The Elegant Double Negative, Kay Haugaard
Word Ways
I was always taught that the double negative not only was grammatically incorrect but that it didn't have any class. Only ignorant clods said, "It don't got no class!"
Double Digrams, Timothy J. Wheeler
Double Digrams, Timothy J. Wheeler
Word Ways
Double digrams, such as TUTU, serENENess, or drAMAMine, are not paritcularly common in English words; the editor informs me that in Kucera and Francis's Computational Analysis of Present-Day American English they occur, on the average, in less than one word in a thousand in running text . This article gives a type-collection of the 54 different double diagrams found in boldface entries in the Merriam-Webster Pocket Dictionary. It is presented in the form of a quiz for the reader. Only solid double diagrams are permitted; words in which the letter are interrupted by a hyphen or a space, as in …
Slurring Your Words, Leonard R. N. Ashley
Slurring Your Words, Leonard R. N. Ashley
Word Ways
The English speak of French leave and the French disease, the French of the English vice, the Americans of a Mexican breakfast (a cigarette and a cup of coffee). See if you can give the ethnic slights or slurs connected with the following definitions.
Some Fossil Words, Maxey Brooke
Some Fossil Words, Maxey Brooke
Word Ways
Whenever two people come into contact, there is a cultural exchange. Part of that exchange is words. English-speaking people, being among the most adventurous, have come into contact with more languages than most. I have discovered borrowings from tow hundred different languages and dialects.
The Pangrammatic Highway, Udo Pernisz
The Pangrammatic Highway, Udo Pernisz
Word Ways
Traveling by car, usually passive and often boring, can now be turned into a meaningful recreation. The activity described here started out with what the children called Bingo: looking for signs along the highway with the letters B-I-N-G-O on them, one letter per sign, and in the order prescribed by the word. Each player silently checks the signs visible from the car until the one who has first seen all five letters calls out "Bingo." The signs that can be used for this game must be visible from the road, more or less facing oncoming traffic. This includes traffic signs …
Unabbreviation, Stuart T. Baird
Unabbreviation, Stuart T. Baird
Word Ways
Readers of this journal are probably formidable players of most of the commercially-available word games, and always on the look-out for something new. If so, they might be interested in a game, called Unabbreviation for lack of anything catchier, which a few of us have been playing on occasion for a few years. The game is for two or more players, and is suitable for home or travel.
Another Robot Quiz
Word Ways
The final batch of articles by Dmitri A. Borgmann published in the February 1988 issue of Word Ways contains "Robots on the Rampage," an example of Borgmann's wide-ranging logological interests. This article gave rise to remarks by Jed Martinez that show extensive acquaintance with robots in movies and television and state his interest in another robot quiz.
Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 21, Number 3
Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 21, Number 3
Word Ways
Front cover and publication information for this issue.
Scrambled Alphabets In Word-Lists, A. Ross Eckler
Scrambled Alphabets In Word-Lists, A. Ross Eckler
Word Ways
Arrange the letters of the alphabet in a specified order, and imbed these in a list of words, the object being to use as few letters as possible in the word-list. For example, if the letters are arranged in alphabetic order, and one is restricted to boldface entries in the Marriam-Webster Pocket Dictionary, with no single letter words or abbreviations allowed (such as DDT or TV), then the minimum-letter word-list appears to be:
On Reflexivity In Words, Anthony Sebastian
On Reflexivity In Words, Anthony Sebastian
Word Ways
In a wonderful series of now anthologized articles originally appearing in Scientific American, Douglas Hofstadter discussed the many varieties of self-referential sentences (e.g., "This sentence no verb"). Word--a sentence's elements--can also be self-referential. Hofstadter did not discuss words as self-referential entities, however, though he implied their existence in noting the ubiquity of the phenomenon of self-reference: "It happens every time anyone say 'I' or 'me' or 'word' or 'speak' or 'mouth'".
Unsherlocking Unsherlock, Harry B. Partridge
Unsherlocking Unsherlock, Harry B. Partridge
Word Ways
We were seated side by side on a bisellium, Dr. Wombat and I, before a tea wagon bearing an elegant silver tea service and such necessaries of life as fresh apricots, sour cream, baklava, Sachertorten, chocolate truffles, and any number of soft and fragrant cheese. I had just crossed my legs and The Wombat had just leant over to pick up a necessity.
Searching For A Double 10-By-10, Frank Rubin
Searching For A Double 10-By-10, Frank Rubin
Word Ways
Avid readers of Word Ways may remember that I attempted a computer search for 10-by-10 word squares a number of years ago. I had a vocabulary of 55,000 ten-letter word and phrases stored in the computer, about half dictionary words and the rest names and phrases I had devised from brainstorming and free association. For example, I'd pick a word like carpet and think of all the things that go with it like -bags, bugs, tack, roll, shop, - less, - like, etc. My best effort, a square containing eight words from Webster's Second, appearing in the February 1977 …
Comments On Some Common Words, Robert J. Wilson
Comments On Some Common Words, Robert J. Wilson
Word Ways
Quick now, what's the most common non-Germanic word in the English language? The most common non-Germanic noun? Verb? Preposition? The most common word from Greek? From Celtic? From Indic? From a non-Indo-European language? While you were thinking I decided to examine the "Word Frequency Book" by John B. Caroll and other to discover the answers to some of these questions. Keep in mind that Carroll's book is based on writing, not speech, in American English. Since Carroll does not distinguish among homographs, I also consulted W. Nelson Francis's and Henry Kucera's "Frequency Analysis of English Usage" to ascertain the commonest …
Two More Electronic Spellers, Bruce Pyne
Two More Electronic Spellers, Bruce Pyne
Word Ways
It was with a great deal of interest that I read the article in the May 1988 issue of Word Ways entitled "The Electronic Speller" by Faith Eckler. Soon after that I noticed the appearance of a device known as the Spelling Ace on top of a showcase in the Sight and Sound (Electronics) department at the store at which I am employed. After toying with it a number of time, my first notion was that "The Electronic Speller" described this gadget. Alas, it didn't, but I enjoyed her article anyway.
Dynamic Trios, Richard Lederer
Dynamic Trios, Richard Lederer
Word Ways
Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. And, inevitably, death and taxes, body and soul, and the birds and bees come in pairs, as do bread and butter, kit and caboodle, and rest and relaxation.
A Dutch Bigram Network, George J. Levenbach
A Dutch Bigram Network, George J. Levenbach
Word Ways
Onze Taal (Our Lanuage) is the monthloy publication of Onze Taal, a Dutch association dedicated to the correct use of the language. In the article "Het netwerk van Nerderlandse bigramman" (The network of Dutch bigrams) in the July/August 1985 issue. W. Dierick constructs a 61-word network of Dutch two-letter words. His inspiration for this bit of wordplay was the corresponding 38-word network of English two-letter words given to A. Ross Eckler's "Word Recreations" (Dover, 1979). However, he takes the author to task for including initalisms such as TV and TB.
The Poet's Corner
Word Ways
In this column, run whenever a sufficient number of poetic effusions have been collected by the editor, Word Ways readers comment on a variety of logological and grammatical topics.
Nonverbal Vocalization, Maxey Brooke
Nonverbal Vocalization, Maxey Brooke
Word Ways
Professor Henry Higgins was said to have devised a shorthand whereby he could rapidly and accurately record dialect nuances.
New Zealand Scrabblers' Anagrams, Jeff Grant
New Zealand Scrabblers' Anagrams, Jeff Grant
Word Ways
We have a close-knit, but highly competitive band of Scrabble enthusiasts here in New Zealand. There are upwards of a dozen tournaments held annually, ranging from six-game one-dayers to the National Masters event, where each competitor plays 23 games over a three-day period.