Digital Commons Network^™

Logogensis, Alan De Wenzer

Word Ways

Logogenesis n. the creation of new words, neologistics.

The "V-14" Problem, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

In a previous article, we explored the problem of finding 14-letter words and names beginning with the letter C and alternating their consonants and vowels regularly: words such as COLONIZABILITY and CAPACITATIVELY. Although C is a very common first letter in English words and we exerted herculean efforts, we were able to find only 14 single, solidly-written words conforming to the conditions imposed on the problem, and 12 two-word terms. Those conditions excluded obsolete, dialectal, slang, and colloquial words, and outright coinages.

The Elemental Game, Susan Thorpe

Word Ways

Various aspects of 'elemental' wordplay have appeared in previous issues of Word Ways in "An Elemental Problem" in February 1978, Dmitri Borgmann noted that LIVERS was an anagram of SILVER, NONE of NEON, ADORN of RADON, and DALE of LEAD, and that PLATINUM was A TIN LUMP! IN February and August 1971, Mary YOungquist, Philip Cohen and Murray Pearce substituted an element for its symbol in a word to make another, elemental, word. This operation turned Sated into SULPHURated, FEy into IRONy, AGed into SILVERed, CUed into COPPERed, and, an excellent internal one, baSis into baSILICONs. To these we now …

Is It A Satiety? Yes!, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

The may 1994 Word Ways exhibited a set of sentences constructed by National Public Radio listeners, each using only two consonants. This sequel shows how respondents treated one of the most frequently-chosen combinations.

Stinky Pinkies: The Real Mccoy, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

A stinky pinky is a two-word rhyming phrase such as FLOWER POWER or HAIRY LARRY. "Buzzwords" (Crown Publishers, 1993), a survey of occupational jargon by John Davis, is packed with examples which he claims are genuine but which, to my ear, sound made up by clever wordsmiths rather than working stiffs. Here is a sample (one per occupation) of the most apt. After each stinky pinky its user is given, followed by the translation. Cover the capitalized words below and see if you can reconstruct them from the translation alone.

Abbreviations Without Ambiguities, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

Suppose that one wishes to replace the words in a commonly-used list by abbreviations in order to save space in texts. How should the abbreviations be chosen in order to avoid confusion? At first blush, it would appear sufficient to ensure that each abbreviation is distinct form the others. But this is not enough; one should also require that (1) the abbreviation be formed according to specified rules, and (2) under those rules, the abbreviation could have been formed from only one member of the list.

Some New Palindromes, John E. Connett

Word Ways

Abstract unavailable.

Kickshaws, David Morice

Word Ways

A collection of linguistic kickshaws.

Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 28 Issue 1

Word Ways

Front cover and publication information for this issue.

A Word Graph Bestiary, Leonard Gordon, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

Spell out a word by connecting its different letters by lines, as illustrated in the left for WHICH and THAT. Allowing repeated traverses of the connector lines. NOTION traces out the WHICH graph; SENSE traces out the THAT graph. Allowing dwell on each doubled letter, BEETLE traces out the WHICH graph: SEEKS just as they can by their letter patterns. AREA has the same pattern as THAT. ORDER and VERSE have the same pattern as WHICH.

The World's Worst Dictionary, Christopher Mcmanus

Word Ways

From any standard dictionary, we minimally expect the complete inclusion of basic words, consistency in choice of further entries, and evidence of general care in proofreading. To appreciate these qualities' importance, consider a small dictionary notable for their prodigious absence. I refer to Webster's Dictionary of the English Language: Handy School and Office Edition (HSOE). My copy is a red paperback volume, a revised edition published in 1979 by Book-Craft Guild, Inc., New York. A nearly-identical hardback edition bears a 1976 publishing date.

Introduction To Word Graphing, Leonard Gordon

Word Ways

Fig la is a S-graph (S for simple). It contains the number names FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE through NINETEEN, TWENTY, THIRTY, FORTY, FIFTY, SIXTY, SEVENTY, EIGHTY and NINETY. The letter Y joins the letters F, S, and E, thus allowing the compounds TWENTY-FOUR to NINETY-EIGHT -- 40 compounds, 64 names in all.

Linguistic Thoughts At Random, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

Below, dear reader, you will encounter perhaps the longest English-language literary isogram ever constructed: every word therein is unique. While reading, please watch carefully for inadvertent duplications (hopefully, they appear impossible to find).

Colloquy

Word Ways

A collection of responses to previously published articles.

Anagram By Computer, Mike Morton

Word Ways

In a recent issue of Word Ways, Harry Stern closed an otherwise wonderful article by impugning the value of computers in finding anagrams. Since I have no talent for finding them by hand, and rely almost entirely on a program, I felt I should rise on behalf of the anagram-impaired--and to defend the honor of the anagram software.

Anagrams By Hand, Harry L. Stern

Word Ways

What's so interesting about anagrams? They're just rearrangements of letters. Couldn't' a computer crank out a million of them in the time it would take a human to sharpen his pencil? What if a computer and a human tried to anagram the same phrase? Wouldn't they both come up with the same set of "good" anagrams, given enough time?

Assorted Palindromes, Barry A. Duncan

Word Ways

Palindrome writing is a quirky, challenging discipline that has never attracted the sizable following it would seem to deserve. One reason for that may be that most people find a way to lead perfectly fulfilling lives without ever stopping to consider what reversible combinations the twenty-six inhabitants of the alphabet are capable of arranging themselves into.

Letter Repetition In Web 3, Chris Cole

Word Ways

What words in the Third Edition of the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary have the most A's the most B's, ...the most Z's? The results of the computer search for boldface uncapitalized unhyphenated words is given below. Only one word, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovocanoconiosis, has been omitted from this survey.

A New Word Game, Enoch Haga

Word Ways

WORDwhami is a board game of word strategy, tactics and vocabulary - designed to challenge your mind, mine your vocabulary, and test your aggressiveness. The game is designed for two to four (or more opponents), or for one person playing alone.

Dr. Pangloss's Puzzle, Nyr Indictor

Word Ways

We wrote to Dr. Pangloss the other day, to ask him which languages he spoke and what places he had visited. To the first question, he sent us this mixed-up answer.

Balanced Dreams, Susan Thorpe

Word Ways

A TELETYPE OPERATOR,ERNEST MULLER GLOOMILY SORTED PENS and DOSSIERS in the ETON SQUARE office - a RITUAL! With BUSINESS at its LAXEST (would it REVIVE?) and the APPOINTMENTS book empty, he no longer NURSED any DOUBTS about OPTING for an UNAUTHORIZED break. He hired the APTEST "TEMP", left a NOTE for his COWORKER, ANOTHER FOR THE telephonist (re their ROTA), and locked up SECURELY, as ALWAYS. He never FORGOT.

An Exceptional Story, Robert C. Layton

Word Ways

The temperature was more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit as I lay on my keister in the shade of an oak tree relaxing at the babbling weir of Anaheim Creek. My enjoyment was enhanced by several heirfers stopping to drink, and a skein of ducks flying at a considerable height above the forest. The event was a nonpareil leisure occurrence.

The Proper Name In The Proper Use, Leonard R. N. Ashley

Word Ways

You don't have to be a Sherlock to fill in most of the blanks here, but a few of the names in these slang expressions are somewhat less common than others and may give you some trouble. If you get them all, you're an Einstein. Answers are found in Answers and Solutions at the end of this issue.

Kickshaws, David Morice

Word Ways

A collection of linguistic kickshaws.

More Mixed Reviews, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

GREAT EXPECTATIONS expert stage action [M Boltizar]

THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE gee, movie rated "the cutest" [MJ Hazard]

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH Heston weathers the argot [D Sandler]

HALLOWE'EN o, a new hell [M Hall, R Pivarnik] awe! hell, no [L Picarella, S Bickerstaff]

Back Cover

Word Ways

Instructions to authors wishing to contribute to Word Ways.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles and games contained in this issue.

A Linguistic Study Of Print Advertising, Andreas Jostes

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Whether Irony And Sarcasm Are Different Terms For The Same Psychological Construct, Christopher James Lee

Digitized Theses

Researchers have studied counterfactual statements, such as "There's not a cloud in the sky!" uttered during a violent thunderstorm, both as instances of irony (Jorgensen, Miller & Sperber, 1984; Kreuz & Glucksberg, 1989; Katz & Lee, 1993) and as instances of sarcasm (Gibbs, 1986; Kreuz & Glucksberg, 1989). It is not surprising that some terms are used inconsistently in a young field of investigation such as the psycholinguistics of irony and sarcasm. However. the inconsistent use of the terms irony and sarcasm across different empirical studies is problematic when research participants are asked to judge whether or not counterfactual statements …

The Role Of Literal Meaning In Proverb Comprehension, Nigel E. Turner

Digitized Theses

According to the 'Standard Pragmatic Model of Language', a person initially attempts to understand figurative sentences such as metaphors and proverbs in terms of their literal meaning and only processes the figurative meaning when the literal meaning is found inadequate. Experimental studies have failed to support this model; however, many of these studies confounded literalness with conventionality. Furthermore, the role of literal meaning during figurative language comprehension remains unresolved. The purpose of this thesis is to conduct a more valid test of the Standard Pragmatic Model, and to determine the role of literal meaning during proverb comprehension. In the first …