Teller, of the magician duo Penn and Teller, has no first or middle name. His parents named him Raymond Joseph Teller, but he had the given names legally removed. On government documents his first name is listed as NFN, meaning “no first name.”
Language
“It Means Just What I Choose It to Mean”
Do you recognize this passage?
Homme petit d’homme petit, s’attend, n’avale
Homme petit d’homme petit, à degrés de bègues folles
Anal deux qui noeuds ours, anal deux qui noeuds s’y mènent
Coup d’un poux tome petit tout guetteur à gaine
No? Try reading it aloud.
Cognitive scientists use it to illustrate the complexity of human communications.
More Anagrams
More anagrams:
- ANGERED = ENRAGED
- CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE = ACTUAL CRIME ISN’T EVINCED
- DISAPPOINTMENT = MADE IN PINT POTS
- ENDEARMENTS = TENDER NAMES
- MARRIAGE = A GRIM ERA
- MEDICAL CONSULTATIONS = NOTED MISCALCULATIONS
- PUNISHMENT = NINE THUMPS
- ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY = ANY LABOUR I DO WANTS TIME
- SAINT ELMO’S FIRE = IS LIT FOR SEAMEN
- SAUCINESS = CAUSES SIN
- SOFT-HEARTEDNESS = OFTEN SHEDS TEARS
- A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE = THIS IS MEANT AS INCENTIVE
- WESTERN UNION = NO WIRE UNSENT
Louis XIII appointed a Provencal to be his royal anagrammatist. He was paid 1,200 livres a year.
Nevermore
Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” does not contain the letter Z.
In a Word
quinquiplicate
v. to multiply by five
In a Word
illeist
n. one who refers to oneself in the third person
In a Word
ruricolous
adj. living in the country or in fields
Spinout
RACECAR spelled backward is RACECAR.
In a Word
tecnolatry
n. worship or idolization of children
Harry S? Truman
You can start fights among copyeditors by asking them how to punctuate Harry Truman’s name.
The 34th president had no middle name — just the letter S. So the question is, do you add a period afterward? Purists say no, it’s not an abbreviation. Pragmatists say yes, if you omit the period then some readers will stop at the “error.”
Truman himself usually signed his name with a period, but he once remarked that it should be omitted. That’s why, to this day, some newspapers refer to him as Harry S Truman.