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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
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Just for laughs: A book by Jasper FForde for aue/aeu regulars
Extracted from his latest offering The Big Over Easy
"It's a palindrome", continued the young constable. "Sorry?"
"Tibbit. Easy to remember. Reads the same backwards as forwards. Tibbit."
Mary raised an eyebrow.
"You mean like: *Rats live on no evil star?"
Tibbit nodded his head excitedly.
"I prefer the more subtle ones, myself, ma'am, such as: *A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.*"
Mary sighed.
"Sure you're in the right job?"
Tibbit appeared crestfallen at this so Mary changed the subject. "How long have you been down here?"
"Six months. I was posted for three months but I think they've forgotten about me. I don't mind," he added quickly, "I like it."
"First name?" Constable Sergeant Mary Mary continued. "Otto," he replied, then added by way of explanation: "Palindrome as well. My sister's name is Hannah. Father liked word games. He was fourteen times World Scrabble Champion. When he died we buried him at Queenzieburn to make use of the triple word score. He spent the greater part of his life campaigning to have respelt, those words that look as though they are spelt wrongly but aren't."
"Such as ?" Mary prompted.
"Oh, skiing, vacuum, freest, eczema, gnu, diarrhoea, that sort of thing. He also thought that 'abbreviation' was too long for its meaning, that 'monosyllabic' should have only one syllable, dyslexic' should be renamed 'O' and 'unspeakable' should be respelt 'unsfzpxkable'."
"How did he do?"
"Apart from the latter, which has met with limited success, not very well."
Pp81-2
Another excerpt I also liked follows:
ALIENS BORING, REPORT SHOWS
An official report confirms what most of us have already suspected: that the alien visitors who arrived unexpectedly on the planet four years ago are not particularly bright, nor interesting. The thirteen-page government document describes our interstellar chums as "dull" and "unable to plan long-term". The report, which has been compiled from citizenship application forms and interview transcripts, paints a picture of a race (obAUE: species? FRAN) who are "prone to put high importance on inconsequential minutiae" and "are easily distracted from important issues". On an entirely separate note, the aliens were reported to be merging with human society far better than has been expected the reason for this remains unclear.
Very amusing read. Off you go Robin.
Fran
"It's a palindrome", continued the young constable. "Sorry?"
"Tibbit. Easy to remember. Reads the same backwards as forwards. Tibbit."
Mary raised an eyebrow.
"You mean like: *Rats live on no evil star?"
Tibbit nodded his head excitedly.
"I prefer the more subtle ones, myself, ma'am, such as: *A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.*"
Mary sighed.
"Sure you're in the right job?"
Tibbit appeared crestfallen at this so Mary changed the subject. "How long have you been down here?"
"Six months. I was posted for three months but I think they've forgotten about me. I don't mind," he added quickly, "I like it."
"First name?" Constable Sergeant Mary Mary continued. "Otto," he replied, then added by way of explanation: "Palindrome as well. My sister's name is Hannah. Father liked word games. He was fourteen times World Scrabble Champion. When he died we buried him at Queenzieburn to make use of the triple word score. He spent the greater part of his life campaigning to have respelt, those words that look as though they are spelt wrongly but aren't."
"Such as ?" Mary prompted.
"Oh, skiing, vacuum, freest, eczema, gnu, diarrhoea, that sort of thing. He also thought that 'abbreviation' was too long for its meaning, that 'monosyllabic' should have only one syllable, dyslexic' should be renamed 'O' and 'unspeakable' should be respelt 'unsfzpxkable'."
"How did he do?"
"Apart from the latter, which has met with limited success, not very well."
Pp81-2
Another excerpt I also liked follows:
ALIENS BORING, REPORT SHOWS
An official report confirms what most of us have already suspected: that the alien visitors who arrived unexpectedly on the planet four years ago are not particularly bright, nor interesting. The thirteen-page government document describes our interstellar chums as "dull" and "unable to plan long-term". The report, which has been compiled from citizenship application forms and interview transcripts, paints a picture of a race (obAUE: species? FRAN) who are "prone to put high importance on inconsequential minutiae" and "are easily distracted from important issues". On an entirely separate note, the aliens were reported to be merging with human society far better than has been expected the reason for this remains unclear.
Very amusing read. Off you go Robin.
Fran
Top answer
Anyone hear of palyndromic spoonerisms? " There must be millions of them.
- Anyone hear of palyndromic spoonerisms?
- " There must be millions of them.
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9 Answers
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Anyone hear of palyndromic spoonerisms?
"A man, a clan, a panal: Canama."
There must be millions of them.
"A man, a clan, a panal: Canama."
There must be millions of them.
00
[nq:1]"Otto," he replied, then added by way of explanation: "Palindrome as well. My sister's name is Hannah. Father liked word games. He was fourteen times World Scrabble Champion. When he died we buried him at Queenzieburn to make use of the triple word score.[/nq]
One would have thought that the man might have done some research. There have been, so far, seven World Scrabble Championships in
One would have thought that the man might have done some research. There have been, so far, seven World Scrabble Championships in
00
[nq:2]"Otto," he replied, then added by way of explanation: "Palindrome ... at Queenzieburn to make use of the triple word score.[/nq]
[nq:1]One would have thought that the man might have done some research. There have been, so far, seven World Scrabble ... titles by now. (The site has been reorganized, so it's difficult to work out such things.) Graeme Thomas[/nq]
The focus of this book
[nq:1]One would have thought that the man might have done some research. There have been, so far, seven World Scrabble ... titles by now. (The site has been reorganized, so it's difficult to work out such things.) Graeme Thomas[/nq]
The focus of this book
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(snip)
[nq:1]I suspect the number 14 was chosen at random. The number "7" has long been associated with good fortune in western culture (and one or two others that come to mind). It's not surprising that multiples are often chosen on occasions such as this.[/nq]
And on a similar (numerical) note, check out the contents list in all of his Thursday Next books and see if they match the actual
[nq:1]I suspect the number 14 was chosen at random. The number "7" has long been associated with good fortune in western culture (and one or two others that come to mind). It's not surprising that multiples are often chosen on occasions such as this.[/nq]
And on a similar (numerical) note, check out the contents list in all of his Thursday Next books and see if they match the actual
00
[nq:2]"Otto," he replied, then added by way of explanation: "Palindrome ... at Queenzieburn to make use of the triple word score.[/nq]
[nq:1]One would have thought that the man might have done some research. There have been, so far, seven World Scrabble Championships in English.[/nq]
Or, you* could research *him. Fforde (not FForde) sets his novels in an alternate universe where lit
[nq:1]One would have thought that the man might have done some research. There have been, so far, seven World Scrabble Championships in English.[/nq]
Or, you* could research *him. Fforde (not FForde) sets his novels in an alternate universe where lit
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[nq:1]Or, you* could research *him. Fforde (not FForde)[/nq]
Apropos of which, I recall reading that the double "f" took the form "ff" (both letters lower case) and was originally used instead of the single capital "F" that otherwise appear. That would lead to the surname "fforde," which is not, however, what we encounter. Enlightment, anyone.
Bob Lieblich
Iggorant yet agai
Apropos of which, I recall reading that the double "f" took the form "ff" (both letters lower case) and was originally used instead of the single capital "F" that otherwise appear. That would lead to the surname "fforde," which is not, however, what we encounter. Enlightment, anyone.
Bob Lieblich
Iggorant yet agai
00
[nq:2]Or, you* could research *him. Fforde (not FForde)[/nq]
[nq:1]Apropos of which, I recall reading that the double "f" took the form "ff" (both letters lower case) and was ... "F" that otherwise appear. That would lead to the surname "fforde," which is not, however, what we encounter. Enlightment, anyone.[/nq]
I believe it is one of those pseudo-medieval things which became popul
[nq:1]Apropos of which, I recall reading that the double "f" took the form "ff" (both letters lower case) and was ... "F" that otherwise appear. That would lead to the surname "fforde," which is not, however, what we encounter. Enlightment, anyone.[/nq]
I believe it is one of those pseudo-medieval things which became popul
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Bob G turpitued:
[nq:1] Anyone hear of palyndromic spoonerisms? "A man, a clan, a panal: Canama."[/nq]
Able was I ere I saw Panama.
Peter Moylan peter at ee dot newcastle dot edu dot au http://eepjm.newcastle.edu.au (OS/2 and eCS information and software)
[nq:1] Anyone hear of palyndromic spoonerisms? "A man, a clan, a panal: Canama."[/nq]
Able was I ere I saw Panama.
Peter Moylan peter at ee dot newcastle dot edu dot au http://eepjm.newcastle.edu.au (OS/2 and eCS information and software)
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[nq:2] Apropos of which, I recall reading that ... "fforde," which is not, however, what we encounter. Enlightment, anyone.[/nq]
[nq:1]I believe it is one of those pseudo-medieval things which became popular in the 18th century; it goes along with ... but names begin with capital letters, whether you like it or not. There are probably some still holding out, though.[/nq]
IIRC the ffoulkes
[nq:1]I believe it is one of those pseudo-medieval things which became popular in the 18th century; it goes along with ... but names begin with capital letters, whether you like it or not. There are probably some still holding out, though.[/nq]
IIRC the ffoulkes
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