Digital Commons Network^™

Punderful Etymologies, Richard Lederer

Word Ways

Scoffing at puns is a conditioned reflex, and through the centuries groan-ups have aimed a steady barrage of libel and slander at pun ladies and pun gents. Three hundred years ago, the playwright and critic John Dennis sneered, "A pun is the lowest form of wit." Many of you Verbatim readers know me as an incorrigible punster - please don't incorrige! - who agrees with the witty Henry Erskine that a pun is indeed the lowest form of wit because it is the foundation of all wit. For me and my many pun pals, punning is a rewording experience that, …

Front Cover, Publication Information

Word Ways

Front Cover, Publication Information, Table of Contents

Triangular Progressions, Susan Thorpe

Word Ways

Consider the word QUILLS. Arrange the letters, in order, to make a triangle.

Book Review, Timothy M. Rogers

Word Ways

This is a selection from Sé Verla Al Revés, Editorial Praxis, Club Palindromico International, Primera Edición, 2008. It is a collection of palindromes in various languages.

The New Model Five-Jog Knight, Jim Puder

Word Ways

Now lumbering into the lists comes the New Model Five-Jog Knight - no, not some odd-gaited Cromwellian cavalryman, but a new, improved, larger, shinier and more complete version of the vanquished old Five-Jog Knight (who now, in the newcomer's brilliance, seems a knight light indeed). As a puzzle, the New Model looks to be an even thornier challenge than its less pointy predecessor, accoutered with no fewer than 16 new pathways (omitted by oversight from the old model) in its network, it boasts nearly twice as many nodes, network segments and total letters.

Word Squares, Alain Zalmanski, Nicolas Graner

Word Ways

A collection of word squares.

A Poem, Martin Gardner

Word Ways

"Riding with Mom"

Aaddeennoorr, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

According to Wikipedia: "Dronedarone (also known as SR33589 or Multaq) is a drug under development by Sanofi-Aventis, mainly for the indication of cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat)."

Word Worm Maze, Mark J. P. Wolf

Word Ways

Starting with the "A" in the upper left-hand corner, find a word by moving adjacently letter to letter, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, one letter at a time. When you reach the last letter of the word, move to an adjacent letter and start the next word, and continue doing so until you reach a word ending in "Z" in the lower right-hand corner.

Kickshaws, David Morice

Word Ways

A collection of linguistic kickshaws.

A Poem, Martin Gardner

Word Ways

"Scribble Scamp"

Words' Worth: A Review Of Alphabet Juice, Don Hauptman

Word Ways

A new book about language is always cause for rejoicing, especially when it celebrates both the serious and the humorous aspects of words.

Magic With Bizarre Poems, Martin Gardner

Word Ways

A strange collection of poems entitled Shadows in the Moonlight, was written and privately printed in Los Angeles in 1927 by T. page Wright, a Hollywood script writer. Wright was a skillful amateur magician who wrote the poems so that the book could be used for performing a feat of mental magic. Each of the 22 poems is so constructed that the nineteenth word is "rose" and the thirty-first word is "love." The book originally sold in magic stores for five dollars, but is now extremely scarce.

Prefix Meals, Don Hauptman

Word Ways

Below, a fresh batch of entertaining mistakes and anomalies followed by witty ripostes - assembled for my book in progress, the working title of which is To "Er ..." is Human. Contributions, to the above address, are welcome.

Return To Albuquerque, Steve Kahan

Word Ways

Another trip to Albuquerque, the logological mecca of the Southwest first encountered in Volume 41, Number 1 of Word Ways. Recall that an Albuquerque word contains two separated but identical letter triads. When these are removed and the remaining letters consolidated, what results is called the residue of the original word.

Punk Whiz 7, A Anil

Word Ways

Yet another misdefinition pun quiz. Numbers in parentheses are the letters in the answer; (4|5) is a charade, a nine letter word that splits into a four plus five letter pun. My answers are out back.

Something In The Air, Jim Puder

Word Ways

The following ditties parody the popular songs "Rennies from Heaven," "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover" and "Bye, Bye, Blackbird," respectively.

A Wordy Digression: The Game Of Hipe, Peter Winkler

Word Ways

In Mathematical Mind-Benders, Peter Winkler. Wellesley, MA: A.K. Peters, 2007. Reprinted by permission of A.K. Peters, Ltd.

What's In? - A Name! - Part V, Steve Kahan

Word Ways

The consolidations in the list below are the result of eradicating four-letter male names from thirty words and closing up any subsequent spaces formed. (Perhaps a more apt title would have been "Four - The Boys"?) Restore as many of these guys as you can to their rightful positions in order to identify the original words. Fear not, however - MENsa membership is not a prerequisite for a successful pursuit of this challenge!

Awesome Will Be Laid To Rest, Michael Turton

Word Ways

The word awesome was taken off life support today and declared legally dead. The demise of the incomparable word that once caused users to quake when appropriately employing its meaning was announced at a press conference hosted by Thesaurus.net and Dictionary.org.

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.

Back Cover

Word Ways

Back cover of the issue, including a puzzle.

Wmu International News May 2009, Haenicke Institute For Global Education

WMU International News

In this issue:

New brown‐bag series links campus international scholars and researchers

WMU to host 18 faculty‐led summer short‐term study abroad programs

WMU hosted 20th International Festival in March

Large, smelly tropical plant attracts WMU researcher

Biomed bachelor’s leads to stem cell and spinal cord research for WMU alumna

Joan Conway's classroom: Where business and English intersect

Masoud Al Ajmi

Deaf Southern Star, May 2009

Deaf Southern Star

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in New Zealand

Deaf Southern Star Finding Aid

Screening Preschoolers For Autism With Behavior Rating Scales, Amber Desiré Gross

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Early identification of autism is important in order to maximize the potential of intervention efforts. However, the identification of autism can require extensive training and experience. Psychologists routinely use behavior rating scales to assess children for various social, emotional, or behavioral problems when completing evaluations in the school or clinical setting. The focus of the current study is to determine whether a behavior rating scale can accurately distinguish between referred preschoolers with autism and referred preschoolers without autism. Parents of 82 preschoolers referred to a nonprofit child development clinic because of behavioral or developmental concerns completed two behavior rating scales …

Marijuana Users In Their Own Words: Explaining The Continuation And Cessation Of Habitual Marijuana Use, Landon Shane Bevier

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study is a qualitative examination of twenty current and former users of marijuana, using in-depth interviews as the units of analysis. The relationship between the participants’ perceived costs and rewards, type and amount of linguistic accounts used, as well as frequency of use are explored using Homans' exchange theory and Lyman and Scott’s theory of accounts. Reasons for continuation, regulation, and cessation of use are also studied. It is found that the participants use marijuana for a varied amount of reasons; these reasons directly influence how they account for their behavior as well as their frequency of use, particularly …

Petticoat Government: Poems And Essays, Tiffany Ann Noonan

Dissertations

Petticoat Government is a collection of poems and essays that draw upon the varied lexicons of science, mythology, sports, literature, travel, art, fashion, and popular culture in an attempt to understand what deliminates womanhood. Using a mix of traditional and contemporary forms, these texts seek to complicate the myriad—and often conflicting—models of femaleness and the female body.

Animal Pleasure And Its Moral Significance, Jonathan Balcombe

Sentience Collection

This paper presents arguments for, and evidence in support of, the important role of pleasure in animals’ lives, and outlines its considerable significance to humankind’s relationship to other animals. In the realms of animal sentience, almost all scholarly discussion revolves around its negative aspects: pain, stress, distress, and suffering. By contrast, the positive aspects of sentience – rewards and pleasures – have been rarely broached by scientists. Yet, evolutionary principles predict that animals, like humans, are motivated to seek rewards, and not merely to avoid pain and suffering. Natural selection favours behaviours that enhance survival and procreation. In the conscious, …

City Of Guadalupe: Background Report, Cornelius Nuworsoo, Jeffrey W. Hook, Cal Poly Graduate Planning Studio

City and Regional Planning

This Background Report is an integral part of the City of Guadalupe Community Plan. It summarizes of the existing (2009) conditions of Guadalupe, California and describes issues relevant to the update of the General Plan. Thus, it provides a starting point for the Community Plan and a context for examining the constraints and opportunities for meeting the community’s needs over the next twenty years. In this way, it serves as the informational basis on which the goals, policies, and programs of the Plan are based. This information was gathered by students in the City and Regional Planning Department at California …