Philosophy
Driving in this morning, the shorter of the short people got very excited that the word "cemetery" alternated consonants and vowels. We tried to think of more and longer words that followed the pattern. The longest ones we could come up with were "originality" and "municipality" at 11 and 12 letters, respectively. Anybody do any better?
- 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...
- 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...
- Silent Letters
The English language is an odd mishmash of German, Dutch, Norse, French, Celtic, and Latin. So many pieces that don't fit together so well have resulted in a language that is really odd. Consider how many words in English have utterly irrelevant letter...
Philosophy
Alternating Vowels and Consonants
Driving in this morning, the shorter of the short people got very excited that the word "cemetery" alternated consonants and vowels. We tried to think of more and longer words that followed the pattern. The longest ones we could come up with were "originality" and "municipality" at 11 and 12 letters, respectively. Anybody do any better?
- 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...
- 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...
- Silent Letters
The English language is an odd mishmash of German, Dutch, Norse, French, Celtic, and Latin. So many pieces that don't fit together so well have resulted in a language that is really odd. Consider how many words in English have utterly irrelevant letter...