Category: Anagrams
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One Word: Strengths
āStrengthsā first caught my attention for being the longest English word with only one vowel. Longest, that is, in number of letters. There are other ways of measuring lengths. Nowadays, if we ask such a question on any Internet forum like Quora, while forgetting to specify letter-count, thereās no shortage of people to remind us…
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Phyllis Ring’s The Munich Girl
Cheri and I are thrilled to be reading the newly released novel from our friend Phyllis Edgerly Ring. Itās called The Munich Girl: A Novel of the Legacies That Outlast War. Not yet too far along, but already loving it. (Iāll post an update here when Iām finished.) Normally I donāt mention new books ā…
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Fabiola Gianotti’s Baffling Anagrams
CERN, the worldās top particle physics facility, has a new director-general, the fabulous Fabiola Gianotti. She took the reins this month, having been democratically chosen by colleagues. The soft-spoken, hard-driving, serenely brilliant Italian scientist will need every atom of her legendary stamina for the coming ordeal. Thatās not only because sheās the first woman to…
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All the Candidatesā Anagrams
Itās that joyful season when anagram freaks (like me) dig deep to see what things we can spell by reshuffling letters in the names of leading candidates for President of the US of A. Break out your Scrabble blocks, and letās begin. First, a note: When anagramming public figures, I shoot for humor ā ideally…
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The Gary Matthews Anagrams
Wordsmith.org quotes a supposed sage as saying, “All the life’s wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie.” Is this so? Can we really learn hidden truth by rearranging the letters of a name or phrase? I had to find out! For me, aĀ natural place to start was with my dear departed mom. Her…
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The SAE Anagrams
Let’s see — how many words and phrases can we find in “Sigma Alpha Epsilon”? It’s a timely question, now that this national college fraternity (SAE for short) is back in the news: It’s taking heat for running its parties on a “White Girls Only” basis. This won’t helpĀ it recover from last March’s viral video…
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Charmian Matthews: “influencing, rosy” mom!
Thinking of you, Mom, this Mother’s Day. And every day! Hard to believe I’m justĀ three years youngerĀ today than you were when you died,Ā in 1991, at 68. Too soon! But what an impact you made — on the world, on me, on everyone who knew and loved you — in those years. Your full name wasĀ “Minnie…
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The Proposed AIG Lawsuit
As I write this, AIG ā American International Group ā is meeting to consider filing a lawsuit against America forā¦ Thatās right. For bailing it out. By loaning $182 billion to AIG, back at the start of the Obama administration. Just so you know, here is what The Astonished Tamale! thinks of that: As the…
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What is an Astonished Tamale?
Just what is an āastonished tamaleā, anyway? Several people have asked me what the name means and why I chose it for this blog (AstonishedTamale.com). There are several answers. The first two were promptly pegged by my friend Patricia Visser, in her thoughtful comments on the first article: 1. I love to be astonished! Itās…