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.

In-Famous Classics, Mary J. Youngquist

Word Ways

How good are you at recognizing famous works of literature, music or movies from their plots? The plots sketched in the following paragraphs should give you enough clues to fill in the blanks with the name of each work, thus completing the sketch.

Answers And Solutions

Word Ways

Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.

A Hyperhypercube Of Side Two, Delphi Knoxjaqzonville

Word Ways

In the August 1971 Word Ways, Darryl Francis challenged the reader to produce a hyperhypercube (a word cube in five dimensions) out of 80 suitably-chosen two-letter words. This array on the right represents the best solution I have been able to obtain. 73 of the words are found in Webster's Second or Third Editions (one, OP, is found in the Addenda to the Third); 5 words from Webster's First Edition; 2 (UA, UK) are found in the Times Index-Gazetteer.

Enivo?, Ralph G. Beaman

Word Ways

Oldtime crossword puzzle fans know a puzzle may be made as difficult as desired by using (1) unusual or cryptic definitions or (2) strange or rare words.

The puzzle which follows sometimes employs either or both of these devices. But it is not just for the expert. It can also be solved by the persistent beginner.

Hey, Look What I Can Do, Mary J. Youngquist

Word Ways

Take a word like FLING, add the letter I, and you have filing. Described below are other word-pairs in which one becomes the other merely by the addition of I. Answers are found in Answers and Solutions at the end of this issue.

Principia Websteriana, Ralph G. Beaman

Word Ways

Hey, you mathematicians! Isn't it about time you stopped sulking because the longest words come from chemistry (Word Ways, February 1971)? You can show those chemists a thing or 2.71828, if you want to.

Our Move, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

Kickshaws editor David Silverman's book Your Move (McGraw-Hill, 1971) consists of 100 problems "designed to challenge your insight" in bridge, checkers, chess, tic-tac-toe and other games, some well-known and some not so well-known. Though only four of the puzzles are called word games, these provide an amazing amount of recreation for the word puzzle enthusiast. We discuss below two of these word puzzles -- Ghost and The Last Word.

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 Perils Of Literal Translation, M. H. Greenblatt

Word Ways

It is well known that all languages have their own peculiar idioms. Reckless translation into foreign languages can sometimes have unfortunate, and sometimes funny, consequences. This fact is amply illustrated by the following story. An engineer had once devised a program which would enable him to translate between any two languages on earth. He described his program at a technical meeting, and in order to demonstrate its power, he had a computer loaded with the new program. After describing the program, he asked the audience to suggest a phrase for him to ask the computer to translate. Someone suggested the …

A Chemistry Lesson, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

Following the monumental success of our article "A Geography Lesson" which appeared in the August 1970 Word Ways, we have decided to offer the reader a further episode of logological instruction. The previous article concerned itself with various aspects of geographicologology (the logology of placenames); this article will deal with one particular facet of chemicologology (the logology of chemical names).

A Proposal For An Isomorph Dictionary, A. Ross Eckler

Word Ways

Specialized dictionaries are becoming an increasingly important tool for the serious logologist. Martin Gardner, in his "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American for November 1965, cited Nicholas Temperley's proposal that devotees of wordplay produce an anagram dictionary. (Apparently he was unaware of Charles Haertzen's Vest-Pocket Anagram Dictionary, published by Follett in 1964.) A second dictionary of logological value is one that lists words in reverse-alphabetical order. Several of these exist, the most readily available being John Walker's The Rhyming Dictionary of the English Language, first published nearly 200 years ago (I have the Dutton 1936 edition), and the …

Probing The Rebus, Dmitri A. Borgmann

Word Ways

Reproduced below is an easy rebus puzzle, using dictionary definitions (exact synonyms) instead of pictures.

Stately Forms, Palmer C. Peterson

Word Ways

The construction of forms (solid crossword puzzles having simple geometric shapes) is a rapidly-vanishing art. I have been able to incorporate the names of nearly 40 states with their nicknames in the following collection of triangle and diamond forms. (The Art of the State would have been a more apt title, but this was earlier used by Darryl Francis.) Several of the less-familiar nicknames can be found in the American Thesaurus of Slang. Although many of the words look odd, all can be found in standard references (however, all citations have been omitted for brevity). Perhaps the two …

Palindromic And Acrostic Poems, J. A. Lindon

Word Ways

A collection of poems.

Instructions To Authors

Word Ways

Instructions to authors interested in contributing to the publication.

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.

A Bouquet Of Christmas Anagrams, L. E. Card

Word Ways

Each line is an anagram of the Christmas message spelled out diagonally in capital letters. Furthermore, the capitalized letters in each line remain in the same positions if the line is re-anagrammed back to the original Christmas message.

Front Cover, Publication Information

Word Ways

Front Cover, Publication Information, Table of Contents

Parma Eldalamberon Vol. 1 No. 1, Paula Marmor

Parma Eldalamberon

The Journal of The Mythopoeic Linguistic Fellowship

Parma Eldalamberon/The Book of the Elven Tongues is the journal of the Mythopoeic Linguistic Fellowship, a Special Interest Group of the Mythopoeic Society, interested in imaginary fantasy languages and all matters linguistic and philosophical, especially the diverse tongues of Middle-earth and the Low Worlds.

Front Cover, Publication Information

Word Ways

Front Cover, Publication Information, Table of Contents

What Will They Think Of Us?, M. H. Greenblatt

Word Ways

One day, hopefully in the far-distant future, an archaeologist may come across the ruins of our American civilization that it had been. In order to do this, he may attempt to analyze the words and phrases that we used. For example, he may discover that George Dewey, an admiral in the U.S. Navy, is reputed to have said at Manila Bay, "You may fire when ready, Gridley." And he may also discover that William Prescott, a Revolutionary soldier, said at Bunker Hill, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes." As these two quotations are clearly at variance …

A Fourteen-Letter Pair Isogram

Word Ways

Can the impossible be done? Can anyone outdo the careful and tedious work by legions of logologists? Is there nothing left in logology that can be improved upon? Must one examine increasingly obscure references to reach new heights in logology?

Superl, Charles Elliott

Word Ways

Word Ways readers may be interested in the contents of the following letter recently received from the Division of Unusual Languages of the United States Coast Guard at Varna, N.Y.

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.

From Square To Hyperhypercube, Darryl Francis

Word Ways

Directions for creation of a word square, a word cube, a word hypercube, and a word hyperhypercube.

The New Typewriter, Ralph G. Beaman

Word Ways

These are our latest models in electric typewriters. They will do just about anything. Certainly, anything you may want.

Alphabet Soup, Mary J. Youngquist

Word Ways

A few weeks ago I accidentally ran into an old friend, a logophilic gourmet by the name of Ambrose Ziegfield. Hadn't seen Old Ziggy in ages, and I wondered what he was up to. He excitedly told me of his new venture -- he was about to open a restaurant exclusively for word-loving gluttons. His excitement was contagious: I drooled at the thought of combining two favorite pastimes, words and eating. The A-Z Diner (he rejected my suggested name of Ziegfield's Folly) would open soon, he said, and he gave me a quick run-down of the plans.

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.