Words on Wednesday: Anagrams

Here's something new I learned today: The phrase "two plus eleven" is equal to the phrase "one plus twelve" in more than one way!

Go here for more anagram coolness! (Click on the anagram link at the top right.)

Oh, and there's a whole bunch about palindromes there too.

Words on Wednesday: What Does Eleemosynary Mean, Anyway?

I came across this vocabulary quiz in my wanderings today.

I got 74 correct, but I'll admit that:

1) I had to guess more than a few; and
2) if the definitions hadn't been given there were plenty more I would never be able to define on my own.

How will you do?

(Note: I got 71%, because I guessed wrong more than once on a few.)

Words on Wednesday: Word Sudoku

In case you're not spending enough of your time playing word games, solving riddles, and generally frittering away your day while exercising your brain... have you checked out Word Sudoku yet?

I did a search tonight, and came across a few sites. This seemed the most promising, not to mention it was the least likely to make me want to commit Sudokicide.

Alternatives:

This one is a little more confusing, but the site itself has other good puzzles. Like Cryptograms. Or Acrostics. But not Word Ferret. Don't check out Word Ferret because we might never see you again.

And then this odd variation of Sudoku is like a Sudoku crossword puzzle. It's called Kakuro. Brave? Try it!

Words on Wednesday: Word Jumbles

Especially for my friend who loves word jumbles, I hunted down this site today.

Jumble.com

You may need to download an active x control to run this page, but it's kind of fun once you do. Also, for the total jumble addict, there is a merchandise page where you can buy t-shirts and stuff.

Enjoy!

Words on Wednesday: Great First Lines

Here are some good words for you this Wednesday.

From the editors of American Book Review, we have this list of the 100 best first lines from novels.

Check them out. See if you agree. Personally, I think some of them were chosen based on the quality of the book rather than the quality of the line itself. Like this one, which was ranked #37:

Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.

What's so special about that first line? I don't see it.

Suggest others if you like.

Thanks so much to Stidmama for the link!

Words on Wednesday: Mind Play

Here's a site that's chock full of fun mind games.

Playwithyourmind.com

I checked out the typing tests, and the word games. On the word games, "Hangmind" was pretty easy, but the other two ("Broken Words" and "Falling Jumbles") kicked me clear across the room.

Good luck! Have fun!

Words on Wednesday: World Wide Words

I stumbled upon this weird words site for you today. That's right... I stumbled just for you. And now I have an 80's pop tune in my head... sigh.

World Wide Words

It's a good word site from the mind of Michael Quinion, author, Oxford English Dictionary consultant, and general word enthusiast. Here you can find weird words, fun phrases, current hot words or buzz words, questions from readers with fascinating answers from Quinion, and moremoremore.

It also has a "Surprise Me" feature that led me to these four excellent posts:

Whys and wherefores

Warm the cockles of your heart

Murphy's Law

At sixes and sevens

Lastly, and possibly most exciting (though I'll wait for another Wednesday to report back), this site has some cool links to other word sites, including one for Scots English, and one for regional American English. Maybe with that last one I can solve the mystery of "pop" vs. "soda." Or "hogie" vs. "hero" vs. "grinder." The possibilities!

Words on Wednesday: Winston Breen is Coming

Have you heard about Winston Breen?

Written by puzzle maker and blogger Eric Berlin (whose blog I visit all the time), The Puzzling World of Winston Breen will hit the stands in September. From all accounts it promises to be a lot of fun for anyone who loves children's books, words, and puzzles. I happen to love all three, so I'm completely intrigued.

Here's Winston's blog, which is well-stocked with puzzles to amuse, distract and challenge you.

Oh, and you can pre-order the book right here.

Words on Wednesday: Silly Words from My Niece and Nephew

My niece and nephew are visiting, and I asked them to tell me their silly words this week.

Emily, age 9:

Sacajawea
sizzle
flurry
fad
commotion
gypsy
blog

Matthew, age 7:

no silly words, but he did tell me a blonde joke

Silly Words Day!

New additions are at the bottom, and some of them are very silly indeed!

As previously proclaimed, March 31, 2007 is Silly Words Day.

Thanks go out to everyone who shared their silly words with me for the Silly Words Contest. You can still enter till midnight, so keep those entries coming if you're so inclined. I'll draw the winner tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime, here are the silly words we've celebrated so far. I've included links to audio wherever possible, because the words are so much more silly when you hear them out loud.

SILLY WORDS

Leila
smock (hear it!)

Whimsy (which is also a good silly word, come to think of it)
bonnyclabber (hear it!)
widdershins (hear it!)
razzmatazz (hear it!)
slugabed (hear it!)
snickersnee (hear it!)

Alkeda the Gleeful (gleeful also a good silly word... we may have a theme)
underpants (hear it!)
weasel (hear it!)
potty-mouth
ubiquitous (hear it!)
measles (hear it!)
polyp (hear it!)
sickle-cell

Alkeda points out that those last three have serious meanings but silly sounds.

The Old Coot
persnickety (hear it!)
codswallop (hear it!)
wombat (hear it!)

Miss Erin
doldrums (hear it!)
lollipop (hear it!)
bubbly (hear it!)
lamborghini
rutabaga (hear it!)

Robin
nincompoop (hear it!)

stidmama (who also includes some nonsense words in her post)
plump (hear it!)
polymer (hear it!)
harrumph (hear it!)
opacity (hear it!)
gerontology (hear it!)

Tim (who also recommends what might be my new favorite book: Poplollies & Bellibones)
splurge (hear it!)
polynomial (hear it!)
blurb (hear it!)

dshep
lollygag (hear it!)
nincompoopery
rambunctious (hear it!)

catsmum
balderdash (hear it!)
sesquipedalian (hear it!)
tarradiddle (hear it!)

actinggal
ginormous
lugubrious (hear it!)
boomerang (hear it!)
shrubbery (hear it!)

My own
kerfuffle (hear it!)
flibbertigibbet (hear it!)
discombobulated (hear it!)
indubitably (hear it!)
hullabaloo (hear it!)
guacamole (hear it!)
mollycoddle (hear it!)
sprocket (hear it!)
diphthong (hear it!)
bamboozle (hear it!)
haberdashery (hear it!)
tomfoolery (hear it!)
glockenspiel (hear it!)
kerplunk (hear it!)
thwack (hear it!)
sasquatch (hear it!)

Added Saturday

Widdershins
blatherskite (hear it!)
accoutrement (hear it!)
gobsmacked (hear it!)

Mary Lee and her students (Mary Lee's commentary included)
Zit (won't be long before they abhor that word!)
Dilfy (a made-up mom word for messy)
Atlatl (a prehistoric spear thrower)
Boonka (a word remembered from pre-speech, meaning blanket)
Kwakiutl (a NW tribe of Native Americans)
Mississippi (fun to say and more fun to spell FAST)
Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras)
Onomatopoeia (fun to say and spell - hear it!)
Gift Certificate (because the nominator only recently mastered the pronunciation of certificate...cerFITicate? cerFICKatut? Plus, they're fun to get!)
Pachycephalosaurus (there's nothing better than dinosaur names! - hear it!)
Antidisestablishmentarianism (is that really a word? - hear it!)
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (we KNOW that's not a word, but it's delicious! - hear it!)

MsMac
brumby
puzzle dust
coif (hear it two ways!)
nougat (hear it!)
funiculi (hear it!)
spooge
glabella (hear it!)
omphaloskepsis
incredulous (hear it!)
diploblastic (hear it!)
zaibatsu (hear it!)
somniferous (hear it!)
mycelium (hear it!)
odoriferous (hear it!)
minutia (hear it!)
mashie niblick (hear mashie! hear niblick!)

Words on Wednesday: Silly Words Contest Reminder!

So, as I've previously proclaimed, Saturday is Silly Words Day.

And I've got a contest running to celebrate!

You can enter your words in the comments here, or in the comments to the previous post, or even better, on your blog (just leave me the link). Anyone who enters 3 silly words has a shot at winning this contest. It's that easy!

My latest installment of silly words:

haberdashery

tomfoolery

glockenspiel

kerplunk

thwack

Words on Wednesday: Silly Words Day and Contest

I don't know why this popped into my head today, but as I was wondering what to post about for Words on Wednesday, the word "kerfuffle" came to mind.

Which made me think about other silly words, and inspired me to do a little hunt. Here are just 10 words that made me smile tonight.

Kerfuffle
Flibbertigibbet
Discombobulated
Indubitably
Hullabaloo
Guacamole
Mollycoddle
Sprocket
Diphthong
Bamboozle

Now in my wanderings to find these words, I found a post that proclaimed March 31 (2005) as Silly Words Day. I don't know if a similar proclamation was issued in 2006. But what say we go for 2007?

I hereby proclaim that March 31, 2007 is Silly Words Day. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find and post your 3 personal favorite silly words in the English language. You have 10 days to come up with your words.

When you find your words, post them on your blog and send me the link. You don't have to wait until March 31, but on March 31 I'll publish all the links, and ...

ONE LUCKY POSTER will win a $10 Starbucks gift card just for playing! Yes, I love silly words THAT much.

Words on Wednesday: Blarney

With St. Patrick's Day approaching, and mindful of my new-found Irish heritage, I went out to find you a few Irishisms. Enjoy!

Beyond the Pale
Blarney
Boycott
Paddy Wagon
Potluck
Take the cake
Tying the Knot

Words on Wednesday: The Good Word

Ever have someone ask you, "What's the good word?"

Someone asked me that at work yesterday. I paused a moment, then said...

"Platypus."

It seemed like a good word in the moment.

What's your good word today?

Words on Wednesday: Word of the Day Puzzle

Just when I was wondering what my Words on Wednesday post would be, Douglas (of The Problem Site and Quote Puzzler fame) comes through with this toy.

Rearrange the letters to create a word. When you put the correct letters together, they will connect and then move as a chain.

Enjoy!



Oh, and if you're looking for good logic and word puzzles to challenge your kids or yourself, please go check out Douglas' work. Again.

Word Of The Day Puzzle provided by Quote Puzzler

Words on Wednesday: Grammarphobia

Oh my my my my my!

Last week I posted about Visual Thesaurus. As a note, the VT folks send out a word-of-the-day email that I love. In the past week I've gotten emails on colleen, pernicious and insouciant, just to name a few.

But this is even better. From a link on the VT site, I found The Grammarphobia Blog.

I especially love this page of debunked grammar myths.

Words on Wednesday: Visual Thesaurus

Thanks to a tip from BigWindow, I found a site where I can create funky word maps like this one.

The site is Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus, and it offers many fun word-things to subscribers. Including a cool word of the day. Today's word is teutonic.

.

The Visual Thesaurus page I have to check out next is "Department of Word Lists." Just glancing, I see lists of Food Words, Wine Words, Spelling-bee Words, Jazz Words.... I could fall in love with this site.

.

There's a fee, but I think the site offers enough to make it worthwile.

.

Explore your inner word geek, and Enjoy!

Words on Wednesday: Fresh Cliches

Tired of the same old cliches day in, day out?

Now you can do something about it.

Over at Defective Yeti, Matthew is asking you to jump on the bandwagon and put your two cents into the Cliche Rotation Project. Though he might prefer you dive into the moshpit and throw your AmEx Platinum card in.

Check it out. After all, maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. [Insert witty new cliche here.]

via Motherreader

Words on Wednesday: A Reminder About Tanga

If you're in the mood for a good word challenge, or if you're a puzzle-lover in general, may I offer this reminder about Tanga?

The January 24 puzzle was very good for wordies. It took me way too long to have my AHA moment, but it turned out to be worth it.

You do have to sign up to see the puzzles now. But there's no cost to that, so it seems worth it.

As another reminder, I post a clue every night about the daily Tanga puzzle, so you don't have to go it alone. Plus there are a couple of decent chat resources for when you get really stuck and just want someone to give you the stinkin' answer already.

Words on Wednesday: Puzzle-makers

Has anyone had experience with edHelper.com? I found this site while looking around for word puzzles. It's a subscription site where teachers or others working with kids can create all sorts of cool puzzles.

There are logic, sudoku, math and word puzzles. Among the word puzzles are word searches --which they do let you put together without subscribing (here's mine!) -- crosswords, bingos, and others.

It seems like a pretty good resource -- any teachers out there or others who've used something like this?