Friday, February 11, 2011

On anagrams (part 2), antigrams, ambigrams and blanagrams

Quote of the day:
"If you torture words enough, they'll confess anything" -- wordsmith Anu Garg.

The device that is used to rearrange words and phrases into new words and phrases is of course the anagram, examples of which were posted yesterday. Anagrams can be simple, as in rearranging "orchestra" into "carthorse" or they can be sophisticated, as in the examples below, all taken from Wikipedia.

Madonna Louise Ciccone = Occasionally nude income or One cool dance musician
William Shakespeare = I am a weakish speller
Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort
(author JK Rowling has admitted that she had an anagram in mind when she created the character above.)

There are also antigrams. The rearranged words or phrases in this case have an opposite meaning, as in:
Adultery = True lady
A saint = I, Satan
Forty five = Over fifty
Funeral = Real fun
Inferno = Non fire
Restful = Fluster
Violence = Nice love
Within earshot = I won't hear this

There are also "ambigrams" and "blanagrams". Check them out in Wikipedia.

Finally, if you have not have enough of anagrams, check this out!

http://www.anagrammy.com/anagrams/faq2.html

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