Category: Anagrams
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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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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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Very Stable Anagrams
Break out your old box of Scrabble blocks. Pick out the exact letter-tiles you’ll need to spell: ✦ “a very stable genius” Just don’t arrange them that way. Instead, lay them down in the following sequence: ✦ “. . . but – senile savagery!” Yes! You can do this. Because that is what the letters in “a…
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Alternative Facts? No — Alternative Anagrams!
It’s official: “Alternative facts” tops the list of “notable quotes” from 2017. That’s according to Fred Shapiro, associate director of the Yale Law School Library. He publishes this annual list, which also includes a bunch of runner-up doozies. Shortly after last January, when Kellyanne Conway left this devil-spawn baby on our lexical doorstep, I jotted…
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Valentine Anagrams — 2017 Edition!
Happy Valentine’s Day 2017! To all our long-time readers, and to a host of new subscribers: We love you all! Today you’ll see plenty of heart-themed features in the mainstream media. They’ll tell you the history of Valentine’s Day. They’ll tell you funny jokes and sentimental love stories. What they won’t tell you (but I…
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Let’s Resolve to Aim High!
One of our recent subscribers to Notes from Stonehaven is a reader named Maroussia Roy. Since she likes anagrams, I puttered around to see what gems I might unearth from her name. Turns out the letters in “Maroussia Roy” rearrange to spell: “Your aim soars.” Perfect! How fitting might it be if each of us…
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Our 30th Ana(versary)gram!
I can’t let 2016 escape without noting that this was the year Cheri and I celebrated our 30th anniversary. Three adventure-filled decades ago, we committed ourselves to making our union “as a fortress for well-being and salvation”. That’s how Baha’u’llah describes it in the Prayer for Marriage. That, for us, has been the way it…