Similarity—the idea that two non-identical things are nonetheless related in some way—is a powerful concept. The idea seems natural to us because humans are pretty good at discovering similarities, drawing analogies, and creating metaphors. When we're told that two things are similar, we can usually draw some connection between them. Given an analogy or metaphor, […]
Em Jay Dee sent me a note on "Short words": As I came home, I tried to say things with just short words. But soon I saw that the short words came out of me with no need for help; the sound was quite good, since I first learned to talk with just short words, […]
This week's screed is writ in words of just one beat. I used to call such words "words of just one part," but a friend whose name I can't say in one beat set me straight. "Just one part," as he said, sounds like it means "just one piece of a word." (Oh, dear—now I […]
Sarah Liberman mentions another state-named fictional character: Nevada Smith, from the movies The Carpetbaggers and Nevada Smith. (I wonder if that's what the name Indiana Jones played on?) She adds that she's sometimes been called "Es" for short, which reminds me to add the nicknames "Effie" and "Essie," not quite letter-names but close. I'm also […]
"I'm now firmly in the grip of Flu Abelard. (This year I've decided to name them, like hurricanes; the next one will be Flu Boadicea.)" —Elliott Moreton I've long been fascinated by names—names of things, names of places, names of people. I like words for and pertaining to names—appellation, monicker, nomenclature, ycleption. (Games magazine once […]
Dominus demonstrates that the value of a mnemonic is in the mind of the beholder (and that not all mnemonics are simple), as one person's mnemonic can be another person's complex chain of deductions: I just remember that the terminator on the moon always goes from right to left. For some reason I've never had […]
Mnemosyne was the ancient Greek goddess of memory, the mother of the Muses. From a word related to her name we get the word "mnemonic" (a device for remembering something), one of the few English words starting with a silent 'm.' Mnemonics can be used to aid fallible human memory in recalling numbers, pronunciations, the […]
Elliott forwards another meta-limerick, this one not by him: There was a young man From Peru, whose limericks Looked like haiku. "I Cut them in half", he Said with a laugh, "because I Get paid more for two!" —Jim Moskowitz (Last updated: 2 September 1997) Back to column l
I've heard it said that there's no such thing as a good clean limerick. I would have to disagree; I like clean limericks. But then, most of the best clean limericks aren't really limericks at all. To be more precise, my favorite limericks are mostly the ones that play with or comment on the limerick […]
I should start by saying that this week's column has more to do with linguistics than with wordplay. I'm assuming readers have no formal background in linguistics; linguists in the audience can skim ahead. First off, a definition: the field of linguistics has to do with study of the structure of language in general, not […]