Digital Commons Network^™

Must You Join The Queue?, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

One of the most enduring pieces of orthographic folklore is the assertion that the letter Q in a word is always followed by the letter U. The staunchest defenders of this rule are unruffled by the counterexample Iraq, for this is a foreign proper name and not a genuine English word; similarly, they quickly dismiss Qantas (an Australian airline) and Qiana (a synthetic fabric) as tradenames designed to attract notice.

Pure Consonant Tetragrams, Maxey Brooke

Word Ways

When asked why he composed his dictionary of trigrams, Ross Eckler replied that it might be useful for crossword puzzle addicts or scrabble fans. Mostly, I think, he did it just for fun. Anyway, that's the only excuse I give for this assemblage of all-consonant tetragrams.

6-By-6 Double Word Squares, M. D. Mcilroy

Word Ways

The November 1975 issue of Word Ways presented a set of 52 7-by-7 word squares that were generated by computer from a list of boldface words from Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Seventh Edition) plus the appendices of boys' and girls' names. This article reports on the results of a similar computer search for 6-by-6 double word squares.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.

Shakespeare's Lost Palindrome, James Fanning

Word Ways

In the summer of 1973, Miss O. P. Helier, a Yorkshire antiquarian, spent a few happy days rummaging through antiques shops in London. Among the items she unearthed was a small metal box with a label that read: "Ashes from ye gret London fyre, 1666". She bought the box for a few shillings and took it, unopened, home with her. Several months later, Miss Helier opened the box, expecting to nothing more than some bits of charcoal, and was amazed to find a heap of charred paper, evidently pages from a book. The largest of these fragments was no bigger …

An Old Reference, Ramona J. Quincunx

Word Ways

The year 1876 marked the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was also noted for a logological event of considerable interest, which has languished in obscurity all too long: the publication in London of William R. Cooper's landmark work, An Archaic Dictionary, from the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Etruscan Monuments and Papyri.

Stately Words, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

In the February 1976 Kickshaws, Ralph Beaman wondered about the possibility of Websterian words made up from the two-letter postal abbreviations for the 50 states. For example, ORDEAL is composed of OR (Oregon, DE (Delaware), and AL (Alabama). This article attempts to list all the stately words in Webster's Pocket Dictionary, extending the results to Webster's Second and Third Editions for longer examples.

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.

The Homoliteral Raven, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

A modification of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven."

American Transpositions, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

One particular class of linguistic oddity which has frequently appeared in the pages of Word Ways is the transposition. Hardly an issue of the magazine goes by without a clutch of transpositions being offered to the readership. The very first issue (February, 1968) contained transpositions of the names of some of the chemical elements; subsequent issues have contained transpositions of country names, anatomical terms, animal names, color names, mathematical terms and the names of the fifty states. In this article, we would like to present and discuss some transpositions deriving from the name AMERICA.

The One-Letter Rebus, Philip M. Cohen

Word Ways

A rebus is a letter or letter-group that is described by a word or phrase, introducing new spacing as appropriate, such as B = abalone ("a B alone"). In the May 1973 Kickshaws, David Silverman gave two lists of single-letter rebi taken from the Enigma, the monthly publication of the National Puzzlers' League, and asked for improvements. Rather than try to invent new ones, as did Ernst Theimer in the August 1973 Kickshaws, I will simply give my own list from the Enigma; being more inclusive, it should have something to satisfy every rebic taste.

Instructions To Authors

Word Ways

Instructions to authors wishing to contribute to the publication.

Synonymic Deletions, Tom Pulliam

Word Ways

Each sect, cult or specialized denomination has a Scripture from which its adherents draw inspiration. For logophiles, there's little doubt that it has long been, and continues to be, Dmitri Borgmann's Language on Vacation (Scribner's, 1965). Scanning past issues of Word Ways, one quickly becomes aware that many of its articles extend concepts earlier described in this book.

Dutch Treat, George J. Levenbach

Word Ways

In the February 1976 Word Ways, Harry Mathews listed more than 250 French words which looked like English words but in reality had entirely different meanings. Here is an analogous list of Dutch words in English dress.

Hard-To-Find Words In Web 3 (K-N), Ralph G. Beaman

Word Ways

A list of words that are hard to find.

The Esthetics Of Synonymy, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

If our language were ideal, it would exhibit a one-to-one correspondence between thought and word. For each possible thought, there would be one (but no more than one) matching word.

Kickshaws, Faith W. Eckler

Word Ways

Kickshaws is being assembled by a series of guest editors during Dave Silverman's sabbatical in 1976. During this year, all contributions and comments should be sent to the editor in Morristown, N.J.

More Well-Endowed Chairs, Frank Oberlander, Mary Oberlander

Word Ways

In the February 1976 issue of Word Ways, Philip Cohen presented a collection of aptly-endowed college chairs. We invite him to attend the spring convocation of Ourtown Vocational Junior College to learn of some truly remarkable affinities between the donors and the chairs that they have endowed.

A Presidential Rectangle, Sam Harlan

Word Ways

In the February 1976 issue of Word Ways, Robert Cass Keller called for readers to construct an interlocking rectangle of the 33 different surnames of U.S. Presidents (keeping Van Buren as two separate words). Although the following 17-by-31 rectangle is a fairly compact one, it may be possible to find another with slightly smaller dimensions.

Cubism, Paul Remley

Word Ways

Nearly a decade has slipped away since the challenge of constructing a three-dimensional word cube of the sixth order first frustrated logophiles at large. I recall my first attempt to conquer this problem, shortly after its publication in Dmitri A. Borgmann's book Beyond Language (Scribner's, 1967). The task (which appeared as Problem 61, Three-Dimensional Thinking) was among the hardest in the book. After taxing sessions of headscratch and eyestrain, I arrived at the following semisolution.

"We Must All Hang Together ...", Robert Cass Keller

Word Ways

At the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, Benjamin Franklin reportedly quipped "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately". In this bicentennial year, it seems appropriate to provide the following visual confirmation of Franklin's words.

Front Cover, Publication Information

Word Ways

Front Cover, Publication Information, Table of Contents

A Day In Linguistic History, Charles Elliott

Word Ways

The day begins like any other day. A few students straggle toward the Union in search of coffee and eggs. Delivery trucks come on the campus. At the entrance, the sign still reads SUSAN DOE UNIVERSITY FOUNDED 1894 NO SOLICITORS. This is it, the University, known affectionately by students and faculty as Sue Doe U.

The Nonpattern Sonnet Pathetique, Howard W. Bergerson

Word Ways

How long can a nonpattern composition -- that is, one with no repeated words -- be? I'm sure we would all like to know, but the answer would not be interesting unless the writer religiously abstained from smuggling in long strings of adjectives or any other form of deliberate prolixity. I have taken the following sonnet which I wrote in 1941, and tried to rewrite it, staying within the sonnet form and repeating no words.

A Presidential Quiz, Thomas L. Bernard

Word Ways

To honor the bicentennial year, we offer the following double-barreled quiz on American presidents. We are all so used to hearing the surnames of our presidents that we seldom give the matter any thought. To those interested in the field of onomastics, however, it is interesting to consider the basic derivations or etymological roots from which these well-known names have originated. How many of the phrases in the first column can you translate into presidential surnames?

A Myfterious Ufage, George R. Berryman

Word Ways

Having recently acquired a facsimile copy of Noah Webster's dictionary, I found myself growing curious about the use of the long, or cursive s, which looks like an f except the crossbar does not extend to the right.

Anagramantics, James I. Rambo

Word Ways

An End to the Beginning

One who gets far often hurries, dares all.

Rash and resolute, the legions offer war.

We, the sane, hold fast anger is foul error.

A fresh war? Not for us, the old line agrees.

Japanese Number Puns, A. Martin Cohen

Word Ways

Japanese is a language well-suited to word play, and a good example of this is telephone number mnemonics. English mnemonics must be based on the fact that both letters and numbers appear on the dial, but Japanese can use the numbers themselves.

Montreal, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

The city of Montreal is the venue for this year's Olympic Games. Montreal, Canada's largest city, is on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River and is the largest seaport in the world that is a considerable distance from the ocean -- 1000 miles from the open sea. All very interesting information -- but not quite what appeals to the logologist. Is there anything of interest to the logologist about Montreal? Indeed, yes. To the word enthusiast, the very name of the city itself is probably the most interesting thing about Montreal.

Long Well-Mixed Transposals, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

A transposal of a word is a rearrangement of its letters into a new word, as CORSET to ESCORT or AGNOSTIC to COASTING. Although the words transposal and anagram are often used interchangeably, this practice is to be deplored. An anagram is a transposal of a word or phrase into another word or phrase which has the same meaning, as ENDEARMENT to TENDER NAME or H.M.S. PINAFORE to NAME FOR SHIP. Anagramming has been practiced for centuries, but transposing has been recognized as a separate art for only the past half-century or so.