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Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Subtransposals From A To Z, Kyle Corbin
Subtransposals From A To Z, Kyle Corbin
Word Ways
Recently, a large publication offered a first-rate word contest, giving word buffs from around the world an opportunity to enjoy their pastime for profit. Some 700 people entered the contest, and the winners included Rod P. Selden and myself. After the contest, Selden (a stranger to me) detailed his approach to the contest in an article in the November 1984 Word Ways. Upon reading his article, I was so intrigued by the differences in our strategies and scores that I contacted him to discuss them further. I then contacted most of the other winners. In this article, I compare …
Long Isograms (Part 3), Dmitri A. Borgmann
Long Isograms (Part 3), Dmitri A. Borgmann
Word Ways
In the first two parts of this article, I have presented perfect specimens of isograms, pair isograms, trio isograms, etc. It is now time to present various specimens which, although flawed in one way or another, are sufficiently meritorious to display to an eargerly-waiting world. These fall into two catagories: near-isograms that fail to qualify by virtue of a single extra letter, and pair isograms in which certain letter-pairs are repeated.
Kickshaws, Benjamin G. Zimmer
Answers And Solutions
Word Ways
Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.
Food Fads, Dmitri Borgmann
Food Fads, Dmitri Borgmann
Word Ways
One of the nice things about many foods is that, if you don't like them, you can transform them into other foods, possibly more to your taste, simply by way of letter rearrangement.
Detective Acrostics, Harry Eiss
Detective Acrostics, Harry Eiss
Word Ways
The acrostic is an ancient form of verse in which the initial letters of a word, phrase, or line spell a key word.
Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 18 Number 4
Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 18 Number 4
Word Ways
Front cover and publication information for this issue, including a table of contents.
Uh-Huh, Maxey Brooke
Uh-Huh, Maxey Brooke
Word Ways
"An interjection used to indicate an affirmative answer." So defines the Random House Dictionary. It also defines "uh-uh" as the opposite of "uh-huh". Webster's Second defines it in almost the same words but does not define "uh-uh". The Oxford English Dictionary defines neither word but does define "uh". American Heritage simply ignores the whole thing.
Palindromania, Dave Morice
Palindromania, Dave Morice
Word Ways
A few years ago, I was a palindrophobiac. Although palindromes were majestic constructions to read, they seemed too majestic for me to construct. I had a fear of writing them.
Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 18 Number 3
Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 18 Number 3
Word Ways
Front cover and publication information for this issue, including a table of contents.
My First Word-List, John L. Hervey
My First Word-List, John L. Hervey
Word Ways
This is an abridged version of an article printed in the March 15, 1907 issue of the Ardmore Puzzler. Using the pen name "Majolica", the author was a long-time member of the National Puzzlers' League, specializing in the construction of large word squares. The incident described here occurred in the early 1880s, but a similar story could be related today by frustrated competitors in word competitions that attract many entrants.
Who Says A Must Say B, George J. Levenbach
Who Says A Must Say B, George J. Levenbach
Word Ways
The following appears in Section 90d of Battus's Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde, and was translated by George Levenbach.
Name Play, A. Ross Eckler
Name Play, A. Ross Eckler
Word Ways
At one time or another, everybody is asked to sign an autograph book, a school yearbook, a wedding book, or a retirement book with some conventional pearl of wisdom about the specific rite of passage. It is the purpose of this article to suggest that a logologist can can create a far more original message by exploiting the wordplay potential of the recipient's name. To illustrate, I draw from my own experience over the past twenty years. I hasten to add that the examples below were not thought up on the spur of the moment, but during odd moments over …
The Fall Of The Dictionary Of Webster, Louis Phillips
The Fall Of The Dictionary Of Webster, Louis Phillips
Word Ways
During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when verbs hung oppressively low in their sentences, I had been passing through a singualarly dreary tract, and at length found myself, as the shades of evening grew on, within the view of the melancholy dictionary of Noah Webster.
Long Isograms (Part 2), Dmitri A. Borgmann
Long Isograms (Part 2), Dmitri A. Borgmann
Word Ways
As defined in the first part of this article, pair isograms are words containing exactly two of each letter. Those 7 pair isograms in the following lists which exhibit an accidental first-half/last-half symmetry or balance are asterisked for the reader's convenience.
Shakespeare, The Car Salesman, Chuck Davis
Shakespeare, The Car Salesman, Chuck Davis
Word Ways
Sratford and Avon, the advertising company, are pleased to announce that they have engaged the services of Will Shakespeare, the well-known writer, in their advertising campaign for the newest Detroit automobile, the Starling.
I Had A Solander On Canberra Day, Don Laycock
I Had A Solander On Canberra Day, Don Laycock
Word Ways
To non-Cockneys, one of the most baffling features about rhyming sland contnues to be the use of abbreviated, non-rhyming words.
That's In A Name, John Henrick
That's In A Name, John Henrick
Word Ways
Traditionally a favorite linguistic recreation, anagramming becomes especially diverting when applied to personal names. The typical result is a phrase which in some respect describes the person associated with the name. In Howard Bergerson's familiar work Palindromes and Anagrams, there are eight anagrams on the name William Ewart Gladstone, each giving someone's perception of that man.
Rhyme-Forced Proverbs, Eugene Ulrich
Rhyme-Forced Proverbs, Eugene Ulrich
Word Ways
A few years ago, when my niece was in grade school, she recited for me some of the proverbs her teacher has been telling them. "But," she added, "I don't like all of them, because their words don't fit together." Not too sure what she meant, I asked her to tell me some that she did like. "Well," she volunteered, "'Birds of a feather flock together' and 'There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip' and 'Haste makes waste.' But one I don't like is 'All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.' And 'A bird in the …
Welsh English, Jay Ames
Welsh English, Jay Ames
Word Ways
A large number of Welsh words look like unrelated English words. The following collection is restricted to English words appearing in the Merriam-Webster Pocket Dictionary, or simple derivatives thereof (plurals, past participles); many more are obviously possible if larger dictionaries are allowed.
Artificial Adreverbums, William Sunners
Artificial Adreverbums, William Sunners
Word Ways
Imaginative palindromes have been featured in two recent Word Ways articles: "Soap Dealers and Beer Barons" by Eugene Ulrish in November 1982, and the "The Majestic Palindrome" by Dmitri Borgmann in February 1985. Inspired by their monumental achievements, I have created a series of questionable forward-and-backward scrivenings of my own.
Kickshaws, Howard W. Bergerson
Are Acrostic Messages Real?, A, Ross Eckler
Are Acrostic Messages Real?, A, Ross Eckler
Word Ways
One of the commonest ways to "prove" that an author is engaging in wordplay is to search for odd patterns of letters in his writings.
Writers' Link-O-Grams, Paul Hellweg
Writers' Link-O-Grams, Paul Hellweg
Word Ways
In the February 1980 issue of Word Ways, Boris Randolph presented an article entitled "Biographical Link-O-Grams", in which common words were found that linked the first and last names of famous persons. Since writers are associated with words, it seems appropriate to consider Link-O-Grams based solely on the names of famous authors.
Onomastics-Cha-Cha-Cha, Leonard R. N. Ashley
Onomastics-Cha-Cha-Cha, Leonard R. N. Ashley
Word Ways
Did you ever swim or stroll or frug or jerk or make like a fish or a mashed potato? Do you know that people used to turkey trot and black bottom and even waltz? The onomastics of dance hold a few linguistic surprises, so here is a two-step quiz (1:questions, 2:answers) on the names of popular dances of different times and places.
Bowdlerized Alphabet Soup, Dmitri A. Borgmann
Bowdlerized Alphabet Soup, Dmitri A. Borgmann
Word Ways
The socially most significant article in the May 1985 Word Ways is one by Dan Laycock, discussing the obscene properties of alphabet soup. Since this food is frequently consumed by young children, it is of the utmost importance to avoid corrupting their impressionable minds by the accidental formation of off-color words. As a public service to soup purveyors, I offer the following nine solutions to this vexing problem:
Renaming The Months, A, Ross Eckler
Renaming The Months, A, Ross Eckler
Word Ways
Most people are familiar with the dictum that one should only eat oysters in months containing the letter R, even though refrigeration has made this caution unnecessary. The letter R is contained in eight consecutive months, September through April, but absent from the remainder, May through August.