Digital Commons Network^™

Subdermatoglyphic: A New Isogram, Edward R. Wolpow

Word Ways

Dmitri Borgmann has informed us in the February 1974 and May 1985 Word Ways that the longest English-language isograms (words without repeated letters) are UNCOPYRIGHTABLE and DERMATOGLYPHICS, each iwth fifteen letters. Although the former word uses all six vowels, the latter does not, as it lacks U. An affixed form of either the word or its adjectival cousin, the 14-letter DERMATOGLYPHIC, seemed scientifically and linguistically plausible, employing this unused vowel.

More Insertion-Deletion Networks, Leonard J. Gordon

Word Ways

This is the second of two articles that investigate various properties of the insertion-deletion (ID) networks. The first article appearing in the August 1990 Word Ways, looked at words fully deletable to 2-letter words, as well as words that can be deleted or inserted in every position (charitable and hospitable words). The complexity of the ID network was hinted at with a depiction of the insertion network of CARE.

Groucho Plays Scrabble, John Holgate

Word Ways

It was in the summer of 1952 that HOllywood discovered Scrabble.

Edwin Pitzpatrick, Palindromist, Robert Funt

Word Ways

It is generally agreed among logologists (and more general critics of literature) that Edwin Fitzpatrick is the greatest palindromist of modern times--and that he is, in fact, the only one who consistently elevated this apparently restrictive genre into work whose unlabored eloquence have more to do with lyrical and mystical poetry than the mere mechanics of a verbal tricksterism. He was able to compose full-length novels and plays in strictly symmetrical palindromes and, as we shall see, felt himself no more hampered in his verbal and grammatical choices than would any more original writer in the language.

Colloquy

Word Ways

A collection of responses to previously published articles.

Mean Words, William Butler Yeats

Word Ways

Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...

The Poet's Corner

Word Ways

From time to time, Word Ways receives a variety of short poems related to recreational linguistics, some original, other previously published. As poetic output cannot be easily predicted, these will be presented on an irregular basis.

Nautical Creativity, Thomas J. Palumbo

Word Ways

There is a tremendous amount of creativity in the naming of one's boat. Hang around any dock and you will see names of nautical significance (Trafalgar) to family fun (All Smiths). My two favorites, Naughty Naughty (with a rowboat, Just A Little Bit Naughtyon its deck) and Bermuda Schwartz, led to the linguistic activity of creativity naming boats. The rules are simple.

The Letter Conundrum, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

Conundrums have been a popular form of word puzzle for well over a century. One form of conundrum appeals especially to the logologist: the one that asks why a specified letter of the alphabet has a certain characteristic. It comes int two varieties according to the form of the answer; in one, the answer depends on the existence of a certain letter in a word, and in the other, the answer depends on the deletion of a letter from a word, forming a new world. In general, the second is more difficult to construct than the first.

Post Officialese, Jeff Grant

Word Ways

During many years of service with a New Zealand Post Office I made a point of jotting down any unusual words used in official correspondence, memoranda, or departmental publications. Here are a dozen of the most interesting terms, together with the context in which they appeared.

Calling A Cat A Cat, Leonard R. N. Ashley

Word Ways

Of course the French have some slang words and expressions borrowed from English or translating the English: tu parles (you said it) or avior deux cordes a son arc (to have two strings to one's bow). But really to know a language is to be able to come up with the appropriate word - and that may not be the one they taught you in school.

Competitive Word Squares, Peter Newby

Word Ways

The Pears Word Games Society (PWGS) recognizes five versions of the same basic game, though its members tend to restrict themselves to only one of these, the smallest. The National Puzzlers' League (NPL) has also played Competitive Word Squares but to a playing format that makes high scoring almost impossible.

The Palindromic Peace Process, Howard Richler

Word Ways

Recently, a tape has been discovered which record the final negotiating session of the Camp David Accord. Strangely, all utterances are palindromic sentences. This seems to suggest that language with frontward-backward symmetry can lead to world harmony.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles in this issue.

A Classificiation Of Metalleges, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

According to Dmitri Borgmann's "Language on Vacation," metallege is a psychological term which has been adapted by logology to describe word pairs such as SALVE and SLAVE, or SKATE and STAKE. Perhaps a more descriptive term would be letter-swap transposals.

Back Cover

Word Ways

Back cover of this issue including instructions to authors.

Kickshaws, David Morice

Word Ways

A collection of linguistic kickshaws.

Manias, Alfred Lubran

Word Ways

In 1985, Alfred Lubran completed a 228-page book entitled Fears Phobias Philias Loves Manias Hates and Hurts (Human Behaviour), a compilation of lists of words accompanied by the briefest of descriptions. The following article excerpts the odder terms from one such list; if Word Ways readers welcome this, other such lists will be published in later issues.

The Case Of The Wrong Answers, Walter Shedlofsky

Word Ways

Monday, November 5th

"Thank you for coming, Lieutenant Jaminson. I am Captain Lemuel Grant. This is not a poetical matter. But I would appreciate your expertise."

Acquiring Vocabulary In A Foreign Language: Some Effects Of The Nature Of Instruction On The Knowledge And Use Of Words., Louise Stowell-Ruzicka

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that the nature of instruction of French vocabulary words has on student knowledge and use of the words on five different measures: a definition recognition test, a cloze plus word bank test, a comprehension of a text containing the words, a writing assignment designed to elicit free use of these words and a test of overall reading proficiency. Eighty-one high school students in the second year course of French constituted three treatment groups: (1) traditional instruction where students were required to learn a list of 12 words paired with their …

Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 23 Number 4

Word Ways

Front cover and publication information for this issue.

The Shaming Of The True, Peter Newby

Word Ways

The theory that Shakespeare was not the author of the works attributed to him dates back to 1769, when on Herbert Lawrence was the first to suggest that Shakespeare had neither the knowledge nor the culture to produce these masterpieces of the English Language. It was not until 1857 that Bacon was first propounded as the only write of that period with sufficient competence to be the "true" author, William Henry Smith being the one who postulate this notion.

In Search Of The Ten-Square, Jeff Grant

Word Ways

It is exactly five years ago since "Ars Magna: The Ten-Square" appeared in Word Ways. This article exhibited several different kinds of regular 10-by-10 word square, including three variant "near-miss" efforts, one of which is shown below.

Scrooge's Humbug Dissected, Robert F. Fleissner

Word Ways

To Richard Armour (d. 1989), humorist par excellence "Scrooge thinks to himself as a man singularly lacking in what we readers see as sensitivity and compassion"

The Aeimnorst Problem, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

In the August 1989 Word Ways, Dmitri Borgmann's article "The ACEINORST Transposal Problem" brought the total number of transposals based on the letters ACEINORST to 55. Dmitri' article queried the extent of the transposability of the letters AEILNORST. In my article "The AEILNORST Problem" in the November 1989 Word Ways, I offered a total of 24 transposals using those nine letters. My article finished by suggesting that a very slightly different set of nine letters, AEIMNORST, was another fecund group.

Refractory Rhymes, Chris Cole

Word Ways

In the February 1976 Word Ways, Maxey Brooke defines rhyme as "the identity in sounds, 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." Masculine rhymes have the final syllable accented, feminine rhymes have the penultimate syllable accented; and triple rhymes have the third-from-last syllable accented. Rhymes with the following consonants somewhat different are called vowel rhyme or assonance; rhymes with identical consonant sounds but slightly different vowel sounds are called off rhyme, …

Colloquy

Word Ways

A collection of responses to previously published articles.

Palindromic History Of Civilization, Howard Richler

Word Ways

It is common knowledge that man's ability to communicate sets him apart from other creatures. Only recently, however, has it been discovered that man has been using palindromes throughout the aeons. A paleontologist has interpreted one of the oldest cave murals ever found to be saying OG, GO.

5-By-5 Latin Word Squares, Leonard Gordon

Word Ways

To construct a Latin word square, make a word square out of words with non-repeated letters and rank the letters to each word by their alphabetic position (for example, ALICE-15423). If the ranking for horizontal words remains valid for the vertical words, then the square is Latin. The concept of Latin word squares was proposed by Dave Silverman in the August 1972 Kickshaws; in February 1973, Mary Younquist and Murray Pearce exhibited sever 4-by-4 Latin word squares, and Mary exhibited a 5-by-5 example with three invented but plausible "words."

Letter-Deletion Acrostics, Fraser Simpson

Word Ways

As a cryptic crossword constructor and solver, I see a lot of letter deletions: words that become other words when a single letter is deleted. Examples are SALUTED to SALTED, or MUFFING to MUFFIN.