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Articles 4561 - 4590 of 4911
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Alphabetical Triliterals, Palmer C. Peterson
Alphabetical Triliterals, Palmer C. Peterson
Word Ways
Many Word Ways articles have dealt with words differing from each other in only a single letter (such as SHARE and SHORE, in which A is replaced by O and the other letters are left untouched). Word ladders form HEAD HEAL TEAL TELL ... have been constructed for nearly a century (does any reader know of a reference prior to Lewis Carroll's Doublets which was published in 1879?). More recently, Ross Eckler (February, 1969) demonstrated that replacements can be found not only for the A-O pair but also for the other 324 possibilities. Dave Silverman (May 1970, February 1972) has …
All Writers Not Men Of Letters, Mohan Lal Sharma
All Writers Not Men Of Letters, Mohan Lal Sharma
Word Ways
The word 'letter' has a wide range of use in the English language. There are a variety of letters. Any written (also printed) communication from one person to another to convey information, ideas, advice or opinion is a letter. This forms the bulk of the material handled by the Postal Department. The writers of these letters are from all parts of the world.
Instructions To Authors
Word Ways
Instructions to authors wishing to contribute to the publication.
Internally Capitalized Words, Darryl Francis
Internally Capitalized Words, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
Some while ago we lighted on the strange term Tir na nOg in the Second Edition of Webster's New International Dictionary. This is one of the names that the new Irish have given to the dwelling place where happy souls exist after death (!). The term itself fascinated us because of the presence of the capital O in the middle of one of the constituent words of the term. We wondered if it might be possible to find similar words with an internal capital letter -- by 'internal' we mean any position in a word other than the first. We …
Logomachy
Word Ways
This column is devoted to various word games in which readers can match their wits against each other. Rules of play, if not given below, can be found in earlier Logomachy columns.
The Seven Sixes Problem, J. A. Lindon
The Seven Sixes Problem, J. A. Lindon
Word Ways
Problem: From a doubled set of 21 different letters, to form 7 six-letter words such that any two taken at random shall have exactly one letter in common.
More Cryptographic Puzzles, Walter Penney
More Cryptographic Puzzles, Walter Penney
Word Ways
Solutions to these puzzles can be found in Answers and Solutions at the end of this issue.
The Enigmatic Rebus, Philip M. Cohen
The Enigmatic Rebus, Philip M. Cohen
Word Ways
Those who enjoyed Mary Youngquist's "Loony Logos" and "Loony Logos Revisited" in the May 1971 and February 1972 Word Ways may be interested in the National Puzzlers' League's favorite puzzle, the rebus. Mary is the present editor of their monthly publication, The Engima, from which the rebi in this article were taken. The rebus is the same as the Loony Logo in principle, but differs in economy (a good rebus contains many fewer letters) and hence in content (any word or group of words is rebus material, but most common phrases cannot be readily rebized). There is overlap, of …
The Thirteen Words, Robert Cass Keller
The Thirteen Words, Robert Cass Keller
Word Ways
Puzzle: Using 13 different letters of the alphabet, each repeated 4 times, construct 13 4-letter words with the property that each possible pair of letters appears in only one word, and each possible pair of words has only one letter in common.
They're Using Our Lingo, Leonard R. N. Ashley
They're Using Our Lingo, Leonard R. N. Ashley
Word Ways
In 1964 I wrote in Pageant that "English (more than half of which is composed of foreign words) has reached the point where other languages are beginning to borrow rather extensively from us". Since then, I have watched with interest as our mongrel tongue has not only continued to borrow from others as usual -- we have recently acquired discotheque from the French, just as we long ago got woodchuck from the Indians -- but has increasingly received from foreign-language speakers around the globe the compliment of imitation, sometimes without acknowledgement.
Front Cover, Publication Information
Front Cover, Publication Information
Word Ways
Front Cover, Publication Information, Table of Contents
Levine's Isomorph Dictionary, A. Ross Eckler
Levine's Isomorph Dictionary, A. Ross Eckler
Word Ways
Among word buffs, 1971 will undoubtedly be remembered as the year that the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published, making this monumental work available at one-third the price and one-sixth the bulk of the original. An exceedingly useful lexicographic tool has been placed in the hands of many who formerly had to make a trip to the library to consult it. By contrast, one of the least-heralded publishing events of 1971 was the appearance of Jack Levine's A List of Pattern Words of Lengths Two Through Nine. Nevertheless, I predict that the Levine dictionary may have …
Loony Logos Revisited, Mary J. Youngquist
Loony Logos Revisited, Mary J. Youngquist
Word Ways
The Land of Loony Logos, first explored in the May 1971 Word Ways, was revisited and the following items were unearthed. My thanks to Dave Silverman and R. Robinson Rowe for several of the looniest logos of this group. The final six should be printed in color (as specified by the instructions in parentheses).
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.
Charade Swifties, J. A. Lindon
Charade Swifties, J. A. Lindon
Word Ways
In the August 1969 Kickshwas, Dave Silverman pointed out that the Tom Swiftie, a parlour game of several years ago, is not yet extinct. Most readers of Word Ways are familiar with the standard Swiftie.
Linguistic Illusions, Darryl Francis
Linguistic Illusions, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
The reader is probably familiar with optical illusions, where one doesn't think one sees what in fact one is seeing. For example, the reader may be asked to judge which of two lines is longer. From the way that the two lines are presented, one line does indeed look longer than the other. However, on measuring the lines with a ruler, they are found to be identical in length. This is an optical illusion -- your eyes and brain have tricked you into seeing something that isn't really so.
Brush Up Your Webster's, Alden Myles, John Standish
Brush Up Your Webster's, Alden Myles, John Standish
Word Ways
From time to time in Word Ways we have seen logological wordplay illustrated from a bewildering variety of sources. In this article we propose to show that one need not always look in arcane and esoteric references to prove one's point. Why not turn first to the major U.S. dictionary, Webster's Third New International? In particular, we see little if any need for referring to obsolete dictionaries, such as Webster's Second (which only invites Webster's First, which invites who-knows-what), nor to specialized once-only publications. We don't object to these less authoritative works -- we simply wish to point out that …
Logomachy
Word Ways
This column is devoted to various word games in which readers can match their wits against each other. Rules of play, if not given below, can be found in earlier Logomachy columns.
Don't Repeat A Word Of This!, Pearl L. Feldman
Don't Repeat A Word Of This!, Pearl L. Feldman
Word Ways
Can you write a composition of 100 words or more without repeating a single word? Without using even an a or an an or a the more than once?
Mrs. Malaprop, The Ad(Wo)Man, M. H. Greenblatt
Mrs. Malaprop, The Ad(Wo)Man, M. H. Greenblatt
Word Ways
Webster's unabridged dictionary (Third Edition) defines a malapropism as "a usually humorous misapplication of a word or phrase; specifically, a blundering use of a word that sounds somewhat like the one intended but is ludicrously wrong in the context." The term is derived from Mrs. Malaprop, a lady in Richard Sheridan's 1775 comedy, "The Rivals," noted for her misuse of words.
On Composing Palindromic Poetry, Howard W. Bergerson
On Composing Palindromic Poetry, Howard W. Bergerson
Word Ways
Many years ago, Leigh Mercer constructed several dictionaries to aid the aspiring palindromist. In these dictionaries, he listed various words which contain interior reversals; for example, PRETTIFY contains the word FITTER. The value of such dictionaries lies in the arrangements of the words for quick and easy access; one very useful method is to arrange all the words in reverse alphabetical order, sorted out by the number of hanging letters they contain. Thus, Y FITTER P, with a single hanging letter in front, appears toward the end of one dictionary. A second dictionary lists reversed words with double hanging letters, …
Numero(Logo)Logy, Darryl Francis
Numero(Logo)Logy, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
Most people think that dictionaries contain words and that words contain letters. To a certain extent this is true. However, dictionaries contain more than just words -- they contain abbreviations, symbols, prefixes, suffixes and phrases as well. For example, NATIONAL SCHOOL-BUS CHROME is in Webster's Third. So, too, is the prefix CONTRA-. To avoid continually distinguishing between words, phrases, prefixes and so on, all of which are in the dictionary, we lump them all together and refer to them as entries. We could even go so far as to call these entries lexemes -- that is, meaningful forms that belong …
Dictionary Didoes, Yale Chapman
Dictionary Didoes, Yale Chapman
Word Ways
All beer mugs are Jewish, according to one of my dictionaries. With names like SEIDEL and STEIN, Egyptian they couldn't be. But then, dictionaries do tend to contain so many strange and wonderful and confusing bits of trivia.
Answers And Solutions
Word Ways
Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.
Instructions To Authors
Word Ways
Instructions to those wishing to contribute to the publication.
More Beginnings And Endings, Leslie E. Card
More Beginnings And Endings, Leslie E. Card
Word Ways
In the November 1971 Word Ways, Darryl Francis presented a list of words and names, each as long as possible, beginning and ending with all possible letter-pairs. At the end of the article, he challenged Word Ways readers to draw up the corresponding list of the shortest possible words. Answering his challenge, I have constructed the list below.
A British Pronunciation Guide, Darryl Francis
A British Pronunciation Guide, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
This article was prompted by an encounter that we had some while ago with an American tourist in London. He asked us if we would direct him to "Lee-Cester" Square. Drawing on our encyclopedic knowledge of the geography of London, we were able to inform the gentleman concerned that there was no such place. We then went on to suggest that what he really wanted was Leicester Square, where the first word is pronounced lester and not, as the gentleman had supposed, lee-cester. Accordingly, we directed one rather bemused tourist to Leicester Square after we had explained to him …
Kickshaws, David L. Silverman
Kickshaws, David L. Silverman
Word Ways
Readers are encouraged to send their own favorite linguistic kickshaws to the Associate Editor. All answers appear in the Answers and Solutions at the end of this issue.
Beginnings And Endings, Darryl Francis
Beginnings And Endings, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
This article was inspired by several previously-published pieces of logological work. The first piece to appear in print was in Dmitri Borgmann's book, Language on Vacation (Scribner's, 1965). On page 164 of that book he presented a list of 26 words and names, each beginning and ending with the same letter, and each letter of the alphabet being represented just once. The second piece of logological work was in an article of ours entitled "Word Chains" which appeared in the February 1970 issue of Word Ways. In this article we presented a list of 26 words, each beginning with one …
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.