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Articles 4261 - 4290 of 4911
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Merry Am Webster!, Tom Pulliam
Merry Am Webster!, Tom Pulliam
Word Ways
What makes a word interesting? I ask this rhetorically, not inviting specific response. One has only to scan Word Ways articles to realize that some logophiles fancy word length, while others prefer word construction, word sounds, geographical names, and so forth. Chacun a son gout! The charm of any word obviously lies in the eye of the beholder.
Renaming The Extended Numbers, John Candelaria
Renaming The Extended Numbers, John Candelaria
Word Ways
In the August 1975 Word Ways, I proposed a nomenclature for very large numbers, all of the form in which 1 is followed by a string of 0s. In this article, I modify the nomenclature slightly for two reasons: to adhere more closely to classical Latin prefixes, and to introduce a systematic use of the prefix milli-.
Kickshaws, Ralph G. Beaman
Kickshaws, Ralph G. Beaman
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.
Our Diamond Anniversary, Merlin X. Houdini Iv
Our Diamond Anniversary, Merlin X. Houdini Iv
Word Ways
This year, we observe the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Why call it the diamond anniversary, a name normally applied to a 60th or 75th anniversary?
Rhyme And Rine, Maxey Brooke
Rhyme And Rine, Maxey Brooke
Word Ways
Definition: rhyme is the identity in sound, of the accented vowels of words, usually the last one accented, and of all consonantal and vowel sounds following, with a difference in the sound of the consonants immediately preceding the accented vowels.
New Word Palindromes, Dmitri A. Borgmann
New Word Palindromes, Dmitri A. Borgmann
Word Ways
The November 1973 issue of Word Ways comments on the relative paucity of new word palindromes in the literature of recreational linguistics. Lest this be interpreted as besmirching the reputation of present-day palindromists as compared with their illustrious predecessors, I have dipped into my secret files, and hasten to present a variety of word palindromes rarely if ever previously seen in print.
Well-Endowed Chairs, Philip M. Cohen
Well-Endowed Chairs, Philip M. Cohen
Word Ways
The juxtaposition of occupations with appropriate names has been a parlor game for many years, no doubt first stimulated by genuine examples noted on signboards and the like. However, these are few and far between, and it is quicker and easier to invent one's own instead of search them out. In Games for Insomniacs (Doubleday, 1966), John Fuller cites rug salesman Walter Wallcarpet, ingenue Kitten Kaboodle, churchwoman Gloria N. Exsellsis, and cook Minnie Stroney. Mary Ann Madden featured the game in a New York Magazine competition, with hilarious results: math teacher Louis Carmen Denominator, tennis referee Madge Point, bookie Dahlia …
Oh, Say, Darryl Francis
Oh, Say, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
In the November 1972 Kickshaws, Dave Silverman cited a July 22 1972 poem by George Starbuck in the New Yorker magazine which exhibited 15 words rhyming with OH, each ending with a different letter of the alphabet.
Hard-To-Find Words In Web 3 (G-K), Ralph G. Beaman
Hard-To-Find Words In Web 3 (G-K), Ralph G. Beaman
Word Ways
A list of hard-to-find words.
L'Egal Franglais, Harry Mathews
L'Egal Franglais, Harry Mathews
Word Ways
The following list of words that look the same in French and English is a modified form of one made for the members of the Ouvroir de Literature Potentielle (OuLiPo), a group of eighteen writers and mathematicians based in Paris whose raison d'etre is the literary use of constructive form. Specifically, it was generated to provide material for the composition of heteronymic, ambivalent Anglo-French texts. The list, which is not meant to be exhaustive, has been drawn up according to three principles.
Answers And Solutions
Word Ways
Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.
Instructions To Authors
Word Ways
Instructions to authors wishing to contribute to the publication.
Curtailed Curtailments, Ralph G. Beaman
Curtailed Curtailments, Ralph G. Beaman
Word Ways
A neglected subject in Word Ways is that of Curtailments. Since someone should write a definitive article on words which can have their last letters removed and still remain words, I offer some notes on the subject to stimulate, perhaps, a reader to become an author.
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.
Front Cover, Publication Information
Front Cover, Publication Information
Word Ways
Front Cover, Publication Information, Table of Contents
7x7 Computer-Generated Word Squares, M. D. Mcilroy
7x7 Computer-Generated Word Squares, M. D. Mcilroy
Word Ways
A computer search for seven-letter word squares that can be made from words in Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 7th edition, turned up only 52 examples. Specifically, these were constructed from a corpus of 9663 seven-letter words: single words listed in boldface type in the main body of the dictionary (including proper names), and names from the appendices of boys' and girls' first names. had this corpus been expanded to include inferred words not given in boldface, such as plurals of nouns, -ING and -ED forms of verbs, and -ER and -EST forms of adjectives, many more squares would have been found, …
Russian-To-English Homographs, Lee B. Croft
Russian-To-English Homographs, Lee B. Croft
Word Ways
Most dictionaries define homograph in terms of words taken from the same language, saying nothing about words from two different languages involving partially overlapping alphabets (e.g., the English Latin alphabet and the Russian Cyrillic alphabet). For example, in their Dictionary or Linguistics (Littlefield and Adams, 1969), Mario Pei and Frank Gaynor define homograph as "a word identical in written form with another given word of the same language, but entirely different in origin, sound, and meaning". In contrast, this paper, in considered conformance with the etymology of the word from the Greek, defines an interlingual homograph to be one of …
"An Horrible Usage", George R. Berryman
"An Horrible Usage", George R. Berryman
Word Ways
Your editor advises me that he does not consider it the purpose of Word Ways "to serve as watchdog over the purity of the English language," but concedes that an occasional growl might do no harm.
Let me attack, then, a practice that is widespread and in my view indefensible -- yet is perpetuated by many in the best position to serve as preceptors of good usage. I refer to using an before "historical" or "historic".
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.
Double-Duty Words, Tom Pulliam
Double-Duty Words, Tom Pulliam
Word Ways
In the may 1971 and August 1972 Kickshaws, Dave Silverman invited Word Ways readers to search out double-duty words -- English words which denote nationality and occupation simultaneously (for example, lascar: a sailor from India). Although Murray Pearce and others made a few contributions, the project never got off the ground in a style befitting so noble a venture. I have belatedly cast my lot with this small group in hopes of making the list a bit more complete.
Hard-To-Find Words In Web 3 (D-G), Ralph G. Beaman
Hard-To-Find Words In Web 3 (D-G), Ralph G. Beaman
Word Ways
A list of words that are difficult to find.
The Poet's Corner
Word Ways
From time to time, Word Ways receives a variety of short poems related to recreational linguistics, some original, others previously published. As poetic output cannot be easily predicted, these will be presented on an irregular basis.
Cardinal Transposals, Darryl Francis
Cardinal Transposals, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
The cardinals (the number-names ONE, TWO, THREE, and so on) are always worthy of consideration when one is on the lookout for some new logological project. Some while ago, I had the idea of trying to find transposals of the number-names. Very little work seems to have been published on this subject, a situation this article attempts to rectify.
Re: Morse, Philip M. Cohen
Re: Morse, Philip M. Cohen
Word Ways
To my knowledge, only two mentions of Morse code have previously appeared in Word Ways: the observation, in the November 1968 issue, that fifteen is a Morse-truthful number (because it takes fifteen dots and dashes to write "fifteen" in Morse), and Dave Silverman's kickshaw on ambiguous Morse sequences in the August 1975 issue. But Morse offers a vast range of other possibilities to the logologist, including interesting interlingual recreations. In this article I present a few suggestive results.
Open Season On Snarks, A. Vorpal Penn
Open Season On Snarks, A. Vorpal Penn
Word Ways
"His form is ungainly -- his intellect small --"
(So the Bellman would often remark) --
"But his courage is perfect! And that, after all,
Is the thing that one needs with a Snark."
--The Hunting of the Snark
The Automynorcagrammatical Raven, Howard W. Bergerson
The Automynorcagrammatical Raven, Howard W. Bergerson
Word Ways
Midnight intombed December's naked icebound gulf.
Haggard, tired, I nodded, toiling over my books.
Eldritch daguerreotyped dank editions cluttered even my bed;
Exhaustion reigned.
Suddenly, now, a knocking, echoing door I cognized:
"Eminent Boreas, open up no door!
Go, uninvited lonely frigid haunt!
Avaunt, grim guest -- and roar!"
Answers And Solutions
Word Ways
Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.
Kickshaws, David L. Silverman
Kickshaws, David L. Silverman
Word Ways
Readers are encouraged to send kickshaws to the Associate Editor. Correspondents who wish a quick acknowledgement should enclose a self-addressed post card.
A View From The Summit, Merlin X. Houdini Iv
A View From The Summit, Merlin X. Houdini Iv
Word Ways
From my majestic towers in the logological stratosphere, I look down upon the teeming verbal plain beneath me. What I see astonishes me and saddens me.
Instructions To Authors
Word Ways
Instructions to authors wishing to contribute to the publication.