Only 43 numbers have names that lack the letter N.
One of them, fittingly, is forty-three.
Language
Equal Opportunity
She frowned and called him Mr.
Because in sport he Kr.
And so in spite
That very night
This Mr. Kr. Sr.
— Anonymous
Misc
- The telephone number 266-8687 spells both AMOUNTS and CONTOUR.
- 38856 = (38 – 85) × 6
- CARTHORSE is an anagram of ORCHESTRA.
- The French for paper clip is trombone.
- “The oldest books are only just out to those who have not read them.” — Samuel Butler
In a Word
lipwisdom
n. wisdom in talk without practice
“It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.” — La Rochefoucauld
In Memoriam
But no more horrible specimen of this sort of blunder was ever committed than one which is credited to a Massachusetts paper. At the close of an extended and highly eulogistic obituary notice of a deceased lawyer, the reporter desired to say that ‘the body was taken to Hull for interment, where repose the remains of other members of the family.’ By mistake the letter e was substituted for the u in Hull, changing the sense of the sentence to such a degree that no extra copies of that issue of the paper were ordered by the family of the dead lawyer.
— William Shepard Walsh, Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities, 1892
In a Word
perendinate
v. to put off until the day after tomorrow
Misc
- Tarzan’s yell is an aural palindrome.
- CONTAMINATED is an anagram of NO ADMITTANCE.
- The Swiss Family Robinson have no surname (“Robinson” refers to Robinson Crusoe).
- x2 – 2999x + 2248541 produces 80 primes from x = 1460 to 1539.
- “A great fortune is a great slavery.” — Seneca
In a Word
curglaff
n. the shock felt on first plunging into cold water
Looking Out
Write out the numbers ONE through NINE and alphabetize them.
ONE appears in the center.
Do the same for ONE through NINETEEN and ONE through NINETY-NINE.
In each case, ONE remains in the center.
(Discovered by Edward Wolpow.)
In a Word
quadragesimarian
n. one who observes Lent