Pangrams
A pangram (Greek: pan gramma, “every letter”), or holoalphabetic sentence, is a sentence using every letter of the alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding. Some examples: in English, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” (all 26 letters). in English, “How quickly daft jumping zebras vex!” (all 26 letters). in German, “Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den Sylter Deich” (every umlaut). The quick-brown-fox pangram, which has been used since at least the late 19th century, was utilized by Western Union to test Telex/TWX data communication equipment for accuracy and reliability, and is now used...
Read MoreSpoonerisms
A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis). It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency. It is also known as a marrowsky, after a Polish count who suffered from the same impediment. While spoonerisms are commonly heard as slips of the tongue resulting from unintentionally getting one’s words in a tangle, they can also be used intentionally as a play on words. In some cultures, spoonerisms are used as a rhyme form used in poetry, such as German Schüttelreime. Spoonerisms are commonly used intentionally in humour, especially drunk...
Read MoreOnomatopoeias
An onomatopoeia or onomatopœia ( from the Greek ὀνοματοποιία; ὄνομα for “name” and ποιέω for “I make”, adjectival form: “onomatopoeic” or “onomatopoetic”) is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. Onomatopoeia (as an uncountable noun) refers to the property of such words. Common occurrences of onomatopoeias include animal noises, such as “oink” or “meow” or “roar”. Onomatopoeias are not the same across all languages; they conform to some extent to the broader linguistic system they are part of; hence the sound of a clock may be tick tock in English, dī dā in Mandarin, or katchin katchin in...
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