Category: Anagrams
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One Word: Antigram
An antigram is an expression formed by rearranging the letters of another expression to mean its opposite. For example, āflusterā rearranges to spell ārestfulā. Other classic examples: ālistenā = āsilentā; āantagonistā = ānot againstā; āearliestā = āarise lateā. The word āantigramā is short for āanti-anagramā ā an anagram being any word or phrase formed by…
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Are Russian Hackers Interfering With Gary’s Anagrams?
For some time, I’ve suspected foreign agents of covertly tampering with my anagrams. Why? Maybe so you’ll vote forĀ competing anagrams by my Twitter buddy Christopher DavisĀ (@TweakYourPC). Maybe just to stir up vandalism. Who cares? Point is, our CIA is now “confident” that the letters in “This anagram was HACKED by Vladimir Putin” rearrange to spell…
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A Grumpy Old Anagram!
A favorite quote of mine, from the 1993 movie Grumpy Old Men: “The first ninety years or so, they go by pretty fast … Then one day you wake up and you realize that you’re not eighty-one anymore.” ā Burgess Meredith These words are spoken in the movie by the āGrandpa Gustafsonā character (Meredith). I…
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Does Gary Matthews Really Cut His Own Hair With a Vacuum Cleaner?
Short answer: Yes! I cut my own hair ā and yes, with a vacuum cleaner. The slightly longer, just slightly more precise answer is that I use a vacuum cleaner attachment called a Flowbee. I can hardly believe this works. And I can even less believe that Iām owning up to it. Hereās the story:…
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Two Words: Dependent / Dependant
Is it dependent or dependant? Perhaps either one? And what does this have to do with smoking hippopotamuses? First, the grammar gremlin: To be dependent (with an āeā) is to rely on, or be supported by, something or someone. Maybe Iām dependent, for example, on coffee to get me going in the morning. In British…
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The Healing Power of Anagrams
Cheri and I benefit from the work of two exceptionally gifted healers: Dr. Rocio Huet, our primary-care physician; and Dr. Craig Hennie, our chiropractor. Iām therefore pleased to note that the letters in āRocio Huet, healerā rearrange to spell āHoorah! Elite cureā. And that those in āDoctor Craig Hennieā also spell out ācondition rechargeā. In…
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What’s Your Favorite Color?
Whatās your favorite color? Why do you like it? Mine is blue. It soothes me. Not that blue is the only color I like. Red excites me ā especially those deep maroon shades. In winter, I crave the deep lush green of midsummer. There really arenāt many colors I donāt like. But always I come…
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Contribute a Verse (Thanks, Dev!)
Contribute a verse! Thatās the message from my friend and fellow blogger, Dev Samaddar. So Iāll try. (Read on!) But first, some background: Devās irked by the hype heās hearing lately about ābeing uniqueā and ādeveloping your own styleā. He thinks thereās way too much emphasis on this notion. He challenges it on his website,…
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The Most Romantic Valentine City
Happy Valentine’s Day from America’s Most Consistently Romantic City — Knoxville, Tennessee, home of “Notes from Stonehaven”. Ā Okay, so I had to weasel-word that (with “consistently”) in order to justify the “most” boast. Technically, Knoxville was bumped this year from first to third place by the new champ, Alexandria, Virginia. Congratulations, Alexandria. Don’t get used…
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Jonah Miller’s “Shrill, Empathic Joys”
You do know Iām a science geek, right? The only problem being, I know very little about actual science! Itās a field ā or rather, a collection of fields ā for which I have no formal training, no math foundation, no research experience. What I do instead is read obsessively ā books, magazines, blogs, and…
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One Word: Vex
Iām fond of the word āvexā. My recent report on pangrams reminded me of this fondness. Youāll recall that a pangram is any sentence (shorter the better) that contains every letter of the alphabet at least once. Since working āvā and āxā into the same sentence can be a vexing challenge, itās no wonder pangram…
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One Word: Pangram
You all know I love anagrams ā those wonderful phrases created by rearranging the letters of one thing to spell something else. Like when I scramble the letters of āGary Leland Matthewsā to spell āsadly elegant warmthā (and lots of other things ā most of them unflattering but hilarious). Until a few days ago, however,…