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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 up to a month prior to publication of an issue will appear in that issue.

An Investigation Of Aceinorst, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

On pages 292-3 of Language on Vacation, Dmitri Borgmann lists and defines seventeen transposals for the letters ACEINORST. One of these is a coinage, but the other sixteen can be found in various dictionaries which I have indicated below.

Consecutive Identical Letters, Jeff Grant

Word Ways

Many common words contain a doubled letter, for example LEER, GRAMMAR and DAZZLE. To find dictionary examples for every letter of the alphabet is a difficult but not impossible task. Well-known words can be found for 22 of the letters; the list below (supplied by the editor) gives the most commonly-encountered word in the Kucera and Francis million-word corpus.

The Palindrome Syndrome, Charlene Weir

Word Ways

George Potter sighed at the cruel fate that compelled him to go through life burdened with a nocturnal affliction. Rays from the street-light, filtering through a gap in the curtain, caught the lampshade and tried to make it represent something new. But it refused to resemble anything except a black bear, then disappeared altogether as night tipped over into dawn.

Myths, Forward And Backward, Patrick Hunt

Word Ways

Word palindromes are very difficult to create, much more rigorous than the various sonnet patterns, and perhaps more demanding than any other literary form. Several systematic rules have, however, aided me in word palindrome construction.

Compound Word Squares, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

Readers of Harry Partridge's entertaining "Word-Crossed Characters" in this issue of Word Ways may not be aware that his 3-by-3 kanji crossword illustrates a new form of linguistic word play. It is best introduced by the English-language homologue given here.

Front Cover And Publication Information

Word Ways

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

High-Scoring Scrabble Revised, Kyle Corbin

Word Ways

In any game, the rules play a vital role. They are designed to make the game more enjoyable by eliminating controversy during the play. Thus, in any game the rules should be followed rigorously. Doing otherwise would not actually be playing the game -- it would be playing in a modified, less strict version.

A Ziticorumbatous 15-Square, Edward R. Wolpow

Word Ways

Considering the enormous difficulties encountered in the construction of large word squares, it is not surprising that the first 15-square ever found should require unusual words from obscure sources. However, success was assured with the aid of the fearsome Zong computer, and the square, with all words carefully defined, is given below.

Words Of State, Boris Randolph

Word Ways

Take the letters in the post office state abbreviations and place them in their proper places in the twenty-three four- and five-letter words defined below.

Occupational Redemption, Deedy Lederer, Richard Lederer

Word Ways

In "Occupational Hazards" in the February 1981 Word Ways, Richard E. Douglass suggests that various jobholders can be gotten rid of in ways more euphemistically ambiguous than simply being fired, canned, or sacked. For the most part, he plays upon the semantic properties of absorbed roots conjoined with the negative prefixes de- and dis- and shows how a nobleman would be discounted, distributed or subject to delivery and a tennis player disadvantaged or defaulted (or, we add, deserved or deduced).

In a more optimistic vein, let us ask ourselves how, using the prefix re- and the suffix -ed, we can …

Minuet (You And I Have Dined), Leonard R. N. Ashley

Word Ways

Twenty years ago, Frank B. Gilbreth of the Charleston Evening Post and the News and Courier sent me a copy of Lord Ashley Cooper's Dictionary of Charlestonese as compiled for the latter newspaper for the fust toyme, as they say in that South Carolina city where (I am an Ashley proud to note) the Ashley River meets the Cooper River "to form the Atlantic Ocean". Thereafter I was able to decipher such expressions as "sex in foe is tin" (6+4=10). Maybe you would like to try to use the following words in sentences of your own devising to show you …

Telephomnemonics, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

Telephomnemonics, a portmaneau or blend word coined by Dave Silverman in his August 1970 Kickshaws column, can be defined as the choice of letters on the telephone dial to form a word or phrase, as an aid for remembering seven-digit telephone numbers.

Updating Palmer Peterson?, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

Palmer Peterson, known to members of the National Puzzlers' League as 'Sherlock Holmes', was the greatest formist of all time. Peterson died in June 1979, and a memorial article to him appeared in the February 1980 Word Ways.

Missing The Point, Richard E. Douglass

Word Ways

As this is being written, Ms. as a non-specific for Miss or Mrs. has not yet penetrated the sacred territory of the most cherished Miss of all -- the Contest Miss. MISS AMERICA, MISS WORLD, MISS UNIVERSE and all other Misses of sport, state, commerce, education, etc. still reign supreme.

Alphabet Stories, Robert Cass Keller

Word Ways

The letters of the alphabet, recited in order, conceal various short stories. The first of these was devised by the novelist and Oulipian Harry Mathews, who cited it in a letter dated April 17, 1976:

Hay, be seedy! He-effigy, hate-shy jaky yellow man, oh peek, you are rusty, you've edible, you ex-wise he!

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 up to a month prior to publication of an issue will appear in that issue.

Czechoslovakian Stutters, Stanislav Tvrdik

Word Ways

In the May 1980 Colloquy, Sam Edelson noted the Haverford College chemistry professor VicTOR TORTORelli, and the editor speculated whether he was inclined toward brINGING IN GINGer snaps for snacks between lectures. No doubt there are other examples in English, but the following article demonstrates that the Czech language is especially rich in such stutters.

Piaster Resistance, Jeff Grant

Word Ways

In "Is a Picture Worth 1000 Words?" in the November 1980 Word Ways, the editor presented a statistical argument that it might be possible to form 1000 words out of the letters of PIASTER. In what follows, I allow words from dictionaries or English-language gazetteers, including not only capitalized and hyphenated words, but also words found as part of multi-word terms. However, I do not allow abbreviations or aconymic nouns (usually all capitalized) like SP or STP in Webster's Third. I first carried out a fairly thorough search of the OED and located the following 717 words.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.

Back Cover

Word Ways

Back cover, including instructions for authors and subscribers.

Word-Crossed Characters, Harry B. Partridge

Word Ways

It was with great anticipation that I entered Dr. H. K. Wombat's study through the door held open for me by his attractive housekeeper. I found the learned marsupial seated behind his desk, a scalret beret on his head and a recent newspaper in his hand. Glancing at me, he signaled me to sit in the comfortable Louis Quinze fauteuil where he is accustomed to seat his guests. Finishing his reading, he tossed the open paper down, and as it fell open across his desk I could not help noting that the article he had been reading dealt with the …

Triumphal Transposals, Ravenscroft J. Cloudesley

Word Ways

Recent developments in logology compel me to come out of retirement, setting the record straight. Articles and/or Colloquy items in the February 1976, May 1976, and February 1981 issues of Word Ways have presented numerous transposals of 15 or more letters. Most of these transposals have been of the trivial variety, involving interchanges of individual letters or of blocks of letters. Such transposals have the same standing in the realm of transposals that tautonymic 10x10 word squares have in the domain of geometric forms.

Grammarwacky, Judy Tucker

Word Ways

"I feel badly," said Alice as she sat down at the tea table. She explained to the sleepy Dormouse that after falling down the rabbit hole she had landed on her hands -- now all of her fingers were quite numb.

Kickshaws, Philip M. Cohen

Word Ways

A collection of linguistic kickshaws assembled by a guest editor.

"With Logic Absolute", Merlin X. Houdini Iv

Word Ways

In recent years, many newspapers and other publications have presented irregularly patterned crossword puzzles with a set of somewhat ambiguously worded clues. Provided for each clue are two (or more) possible answer words, usually differing from each other in only one or two letters. The solver's problem is to select the right answer word for each clue, inserting it into the accompanying diagram. Large cash prizes are offered and paid to those who duplicate the puzzle constructor's sometimes erratic line of thinking about the clues, submitting completely correct solutions to the publication featuring the prize puzzles.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.

Front Cover And Publication Information

Word Ways

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

Abstaining Adolescents, Herbert Swartz

Word Ways

In the Park Avenue office of Dr. M. Tobias Parsimonious, New York's pre-eminent psychiatric practitioner on obsessive verbal compulsions, Mrs. Chauncey Van Snoot sits alone. It is midafternoon. From the examination room, connected to the office by a door next to the windows, where Dr. Parsimonious is examining her twelve-year-old son, Hillary, Mrs. Van Snoot hears muffled voices.

A 4454-Point Scrabble Game, Jeff Grant

Word Ways

In the following solitaire Scrabble game all 100 tiles have been used to amass a score of 4454 points. Letters with an asterisk represent blank tiles.