Digital Commons Network^™

D'Ou Etes-Vous?, Don Laycock

Word Ways

There are only a few possiblilties for naming the inhabitants of places in the United States: New Yorker, Chicagoan, Philadelphian, Bostionian, Scrantonite. There may be more exotic forms for those from towns with French or Spanish names, but the possibilities fall far short of even Britain, where Oxonians come from Oxford, Cantabrigians from Cambridge, Liverpudlians from Liverpool, and Mancunians from Manchester. In my home town of Newcastle in New South Wales, we used to pride ourselves on our knowledge of Latin, calling ourselves Novocastrians.

Manifestly Manifolded Manias, Paul Hellweg

Word Ways

Here we have a listing of manifestly manifolded manias, which is to say that the following collection of mania-words is obviously diverse. And diverse it is: nearly three hundred manias are identified and named herein. They range from the relatively benign DOROMANIAC (someone who compulsively gives presents) to the downright murderous ANDROPHONOMANIAC (someone with homicidal tendencies). In between these extremes, there are undoubtedly manias which will strike responsive chords in all of us.

Gary Gray, Meet Edna Dean, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

Names with interesting logological properties are a source of fascination to the logologist, particularly if they belong to real-life individuals. This article describes the results of a search through more than one hundred telephone directories of U.S. cities or metropolitan areas, in quest of people whose first names can be transposed to form their last name.

Kickshaws, Will Shortz

Word Ways

A collection of linguistic kickshaws.

The Poet's Corner

Word Ways

A collection of poems sent in by readers.

This Quiz Is A Hit, Leonard R.N. Ashley

Word Ways

We hope to have a hit, at least, with this quiz which asks you to think of slang expressions containing the word "hit." See if you can hit on the answers to all or most of these posers I hit you with. If you get 15 or 20, consider yourself to have hit it big. Answers can be found in Answers and Solutions at the end of this issue.

Varieties Of American English, Maxey Brooke

Word Ways

Language has sometimes been compared with a tree: from a a trunk grow limbs, from the limbs grow branches, and from the branches grow twigs. Unlike a tree, there are cross-connections between limbs and branches, and even with the tree trunk itself. In this study, the trunk of the language tree is the English of Great Britain during the late seventeenth century. Three great limbs that have grown from this trunk are American English (including Canadian), Australian English (sometimes called Strine). and South African English.

Back Cover

Word Ways

Back cover of this issue including information for authors and subscribers.

Colloquy

Word Ways

A collection of responses to previously published articles.

The Daughter Of The Farrier, Kay Haugaard

Word Ways

"Name, please."

"Harold Walter Ichthyologist."

"I beg your pardon - what was that again?"

Who wouldn't beg your pardon after hearing a name like that? And imagine having it and spelling it to every bank teller, school admissions clerk, secretary, credit manager, and prospective employer.

Rhyming Terms, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

Some while ago, we began to consider the whole class of words (and other dictionary items) where the first part rhymes with the second part. Many of the simplest examples are what are called second-order reduplication. In a second-order reduplication, the spelling of the first and second parts differ by only a single letter (for example, HOOTCHIE-KOOTCHIE). Not all second-order reduplications necessarily have the two halves rhyming (for example, MISHMASH and SENSED).

New Russian Books On The Pacific, 1982-1983, Patricia Polansky

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Front Cover And Publication Information, Volume 19 Number 1

Word Ways

Front cover and publication information for this issue, including a table of contents.

Dmitri Borgmann, 1927-1985

Word Ways

In honor of Dmitri Borgmann's contributions to the field of logology, Word Ways published in February 1985 an issue entirely devoted to his work. The present issue, originally planned as a sequel, becomes a memorial instead, for he died of a heart attack at the age of 58, on December 7, 1985. Logology mourns his death.

Antifrequency Words, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

Almost all English letter-frequency counts agree that the four least-often used letters of the alphabet in English text are J, Q, X, and Z. What the relative frequencies of these four letters are is in dispute.

You And Your Relations, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

Have you ever wondered who you really are? If you are like most people, you have probably thought of yourself as the I, or the SELF, or the EGO. (If you're into psychoanalysis, you may, of course, have preferred to identify with the ID or with the SUPEREGO - but that's another story.)

The 1988 Presidential Campaign, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

It is high time, in my opinion, to begin considering the potential Democratic and Repuplican candidates in the 1988 Presidential campaign - from a logological standpoint, or course. Their qualifications, proposed policies, and popularity with American voters are entirely irrelevant.

Mathematical Equivalence, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

One way of testing words and names to determine whether or not they are really the same despite superficial, outward differences - differences in length, meaning, spelling, and pronunciation, for example - is to score them arithmetically. By assigning numerical values to the letters of the alphabet (A = 1, B = 2, etc.) and adding the values of the letters constituting a word, name, or phrase, we arrive at a single mathematical value for the term of interest to us. That value makes possible a simple, straightforward comparison between different terms. Those with the same numerical total are mathematically …

Subterranean English, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

Unbeknownst to most of its users, the English language has always existed on two levels: (1) the surface level, with words and names possessing those meanings graciously conferred upon them by dictionaries, and (2) a subterranean level where words and names are used with their real meanings. This article presents a short glossary of English on the subterranean level: 56 undergrounders, as the terms are familiarly called. Readers are invited to add to this collection of real word meanings.

A Further Divination Guide, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

In the May 1982 issue of Word Ways, Paul Hellweg presented a list of 124 English words designating various forms of divination. All of the terms lested ended in the combining form -MANCY, whic specifically means "divination."

Colloquy

Word Ways

A collection of responses to previously published articles.

Ripley Unmasked, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

In the November 1978 Word Ways, Darryl Francis reviewed a limited-circulation book by Alfred Lubran entitled Unitotolinearsyllabification.

A Sociologological Note, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

The increase in the number of individuals of Hispanic ancestry living in the United States in recent years has been paralleled by a corresponding increase in the number of English nouns and noun phrases designating such individuals. So far, no dictionary and no combination of dictionaries has kept pace with this growing segment of the English language.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue

Taming The Tautonym, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

A Tautonym or reduplication is a word or name consisting of two identical parts, one following the other - a term such as OO, KAKA, ELEELE, RAHURAHU, XIQUE-XIQUE, TANGANTANGAN, OR KANDIRI-KANDIRI. The latter, by the way, is a musical bow of the Balese of the Congo, with the tuning loop but no resonator (Sibyl Marcuse, Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary, Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1964). The term REDUPLICATION is just as redundant as tautonyms give the impression of being, for its meaning adds exactly nothing to that of the simpler word DUPLICATION.

From Rags To Riches...And Beyond, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

In the August, 1984 issue of Word Ways, John Henrick took the pedestrian phrase FROM BIRTH TO DEATH, and presented twenty more colorful equivalents for it, including such phrases as FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE, FROM BASKET TO CASKET, and FROM SQUALL HEARERS TO PALL BEARERS. Each of the equivalents was logologically interesting, using such devices as alliteration, rhyme, transposition of consonant sounds, metaphor, and/or metonymy.

Know Thyself, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

The September 1973 issue of the Reader's Digest challenged its readers to name ten parts of the body spelled with three letters each. The magazine predicted that few readers would be able to think of more than seven three-letter parts. The ten names it had in mind, as I recall, were ARM, EAR, EYE, GUM, HIP, JAW, LEG, LIP, RIB, AND TOE.

Quelque Chose, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

Depicted at the left is a set of seven English words and/or names. All have been taken from the Second and Third Editions of the unabridged Merriam-Webster. All are complete with the exception of the first letter, which has been left open. Can you supply the seven missing letters needed to complete the diagram? Of course you can!

Back Cover

Word Ways

The back cover of the issue, including instructions to authors and subscribers.

The Terre Hall Mystery, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

Reproduced below is one version of a nine-by-nine word square the Darryl H. Francis presented in the May 1981 issue of Word Wyas. It was a revised form of one orignially constructed by Palmer Peterson, one of the great formists of the National Puzzlers' League, and perhaps an improvement on the original.