Philosophy
On the way into school this morning, the shorter of the short people proposed that we try to think of words that alternate pairs of consonants and vowels, for example, "sweeps." Of course, we then tried to find long ones. "Outlooks" is eight letters and "cleanliest" has ten. Can you beat ten?
- The Necessity Of Curse Words
The shorter of the short people has become fascinated with curse words. The idea that there are culturally forbidden sounds makes these sounds interesting. As a reuslt, he's invented his own, nork (the sound made by the Siamese elephants in Tim Conway's...
- When Two Letters Go Walking And They Both Do The Talking
Trying to think of words with double letters in which the letters make different sounds. It's pretty easy for vowels -- reentry, skiing, cooperate -- but I've only been able to think of one with double consonents -- accent. If one letter is part...
- Contranyms
The shorties have had some good ones lately. The shorter of the short people asked me if there was a name for pairs of words that spell each other backwards like "pots" and "stop." Anyone know if there is such a term? I came up with "contranym" where...
- Team Building: Boggleball
Let's try this again. It's based on those obnoxious corporate team-building exercises where folks have to work together on a task. Last night after dinner, TheWife and the short people and I took the word "basketball" and found 101 words that...
- Bidirectional Words
So, this morning driving into school, the older of the short people asks me if there is a name for the class of words that spell a different word backwards. Palindromes are the special case where it is the same word in either direction, but what of the...
Philosophy
Alternating Pairs
On the way into school this morning, the shorter of the short people proposed that we try to think of words that alternate pairs of consonants and vowels, for example, "sweeps." Of course, we then tried to find long ones. "Outlooks" is eight letters and "cleanliest" has ten. Can you beat ten?
- The Necessity Of Curse Words
The shorter of the short people has become fascinated with curse words. The idea that there are culturally forbidden sounds makes these sounds interesting. As a reuslt, he's invented his own, nork (the sound made by the Siamese elephants in Tim Conway's...
- When Two Letters Go Walking And They Both Do The Talking
Trying to think of words with double letters in which the letters make different sounds. It's pretty easy for vowels -- reentry, skiing, cooperate -- but I've only been able to think of one with double consonents -- accent. If one letter is part...
- Contranyms
The shorties have had some good ones lately. The shorter of the short people asked me if there was a name for pairs of words that spell each other backwards like "pots" and "stop." Anyone know if there is such a term? I came up with "contranym" where...
- Team Building: Boggleball
Let's try this again. It's based on those obnoxious corporate team-building exercises where folks have to work together on a task. Last night after dinner, TheWife and the short people and I took the word "basketball" and found 101 words that...
- Bidirectional Words
So, this morning driving into school, the older of the short people asks me if there is a name for the class of words that spell a different word backwards. Palindromes are the special case where it is the same word in either direction, but what of the...