Category: Notes from Stonehaven
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Once Upon a Time in Anagrams
And it came to pass that the phrase on everyone’s mind was: ✦ “Make America Great Again” Contrary Gary couldn’t help but notice – or resist pointing out – that the letters of this slogan rearrange to spell: ✦ “I am a gang; I am a racketeer” ==========We might have paid heed had we realized…
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Two Words: Preferred Pronouns
A while back I wrote about the “singular they” as used in contexts like the following: “If anyone has parked their car in the fire lane, they should move it.” “Someone finished off the banana pudding. Let’s hope they enjoyed it.” Quick recap: In such instances, we’re using the singular “they” (or perhaps relatives like…
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Anagrams as Easter Eggs?
Are we really just characters in a work of fiction? If so, how would we know? Laugh all you want – but let’s be honest: Doesn’t it sometimes feel that way? As if the stuff happening around us is too bizarre to be real? As if our daily headlines and sound bites are being composed…
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Three Father’s Day Shout-Outs
For Father’s Day, I’d like to salute three dear friends regarded by their own families as extraordinary dads. In no particular order: Dev Samaddar Dev is a photographer, poet, publisher, blogger, and social-media maven. He’s also an engineer with a penchant for philosophy and metaphysics. Possibly best of all, the letters in “Dev Samaddar” rearrange…
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Dreamy Hearts, Steady Warmth
Happy Valentine’s Day from Knoxville, Tennessee – the city most often ranked by Amazon as “America’s Most Romantic”! To be clear, Knoxville doesn’t currently hold the top spot. That honor goes to San Antonio, Texas, in the most recent Amazon ranking I can locate. That was the 2017 listing. Even after scouring Amazon and Google,…
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Two Words: Shuffle Diagram
It’s easy to invent stuff. The tricky part is coming up with things that haven’t already been invented by someone else. I accepted this reality a long time ago. It therefore didn’t faze me to learn that my latest invention – the shuffle diagram – is old hat. Not only are shuffle diagrams already all…
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The Open Road Ahead
The letters in “Happy New Year to All” rearrange to spell “really open pathway”! Reminding us that the 2019 road ahead may lead to an Orwellian apocalypse. Or to a bright future of freedom and well-being for all. Either way, it will be close. Your words and choices will make the difference!
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The Twelve Tactlessly Whimsical Anagrams of Christmas
The letters in “Twelve Days of Christmas” rearrange to spell “favored, tactless whimsy”. Let’s get us some! This Yuletide observation did, after all, set me wondering: Could I make a similar anagram from each one of the twelve gifts itemized in the classic Christmas carol? Then maybe even weave those into a seasonal poem capturing…
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Thank You!
Thank you. Yes, you. It’s Thanksgiving Day. If you’re reading this, then I’m grateful to you, and for you. Specifically, individually, personally. Whether you’re reading this by email, on the web, or in some yet-to-be-compiled future book of Contrary Gary’s blog posts. All writers appreciate all their readers. Every. Last. One. Lots of writers sometimes…
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Clocks That Don’t Always Tell the Right Time
Some of us (but not all) remember a world where clocks didn’t always tell the right time. That world is disappearing into the rear-view mirror. With fewer and fewer exceptions, our timepieces connect to the internet and are set by a distant atomic clock. This goes doubly for our mobile devices: cell phones, smart watches,…
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One Word: Anachronism
An anachronism is something that doesn’t fit, time-wise or date-wise — a chronological inconsistency. It derives from the Greek “ana” (against) and “chronos” (time). It’s something appearing in, or being attributed to, a period other than that to which it belongs. Visualize, for example, a replica of that famous painting of George Washington crossing the…
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Three Little Words: A, I, O
Recently I wrote about the word a, some features of which fascinate me. One point I neglected to mention: Alphabetically, it’s the very first single-letter word in English. Which raises a question. (I still can’t bring myself to say “begs a question”, even though descriptive lexicons now sanction this usage.) Said question is, how many…