We respond to Darryl Francis\u27 invitation to discover transadditions of the chemical element names using fewer letters than the ones in his article  Elementary, My Dear Reader  in the November 1977 Word Ways

Morse, Jeremy

Wolpow, Edward R.

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12 ELEMENTARY IMPROVEMENTS JEREMY MORSE London, England EDWARD R. WOLPOW Brookline, Massachusetts We respond to Darryl Francis' invitation to discover transaddi­tions of the chemical element names using fewer letters than the ones in his article" Elementary, My Dear Reader" in the November 1977 stront sulfur tantah techne thalliu thuliUl titaniu uraniu vanadJ wolfra xenon yttriUl zinc The numb Darryl's in the tota Two '" WELL-M in any dic phrase. Keynes' r found in } words arE Dictionar' We no does not 1 and AMEI A T ti P D a IJ t< Word Ways; Element actinium aluminum atnericiuIn. bismuth *boron bromine californium *carbon chlorine chromium curiuIn. europium fluorine ! germanium *gold hafnium iridium *i ron krypton lawrencium lithium mercury neodymium neptunium niobium oxygen phosphorus platinum potassium promethium radium rubidium I satnar iuIn. Morse Wolpow nutnistnatic multanimous conuneasuring thumbiest combiner unconformability bancor chronicle me sorchium curcutnin unimperious § unforcible § commeasuring gloq§ humanify§ impurified roin§ pyknometer well-manicured cur rycombed unimportuned § hexagony§ scyphophorous§ manipulate the rmopolium § muridae subdelirium§ coatimundi nurnrnula r ia chamaelirium thumbings broon corban chronicle trachomitum teucrium euphorbium megasporangium miracidium nair pyknometer American pasqueflower humility rum cherry endomysium limnobium xenogamy spherophorus multiplane as sumption cardium lumbriculidae marasmius 2 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 4 3 5 1 3 1 4 6 1 3 3 ( 7) 3 1 (3) 10 4 1 3 7 2 1 4 1 3 1 13 strontium Importunate s § monstrousity 5 sulfur unfurls unfurls 2 tantalum matutinal 4 technetium catechumenlst § 5 thallium humiliatlngly multiflash 4 thulium humilltude § multihued 2 titanium mutilation multltudlnal 3 uranium anthurium 1 vanadium mundivagant avlzandum 6 wolfram flatworm 1 xenon annexor§ connex 3 yttrium maturity maturity 1 zinc zonic § 1 ransaddl_ Lan the ones The numbers at the right indicate the letter-savings with respect to mber 1977 Darryl's original list; these total 125, bringing the number of letters in the total transaddition down to 975. Two words In the above list have not been counted in the total: WELL- MANICURED, a highly plausible word which cannot be found ,er 2 in any dictionary, and RUM CHERRY, not a dictionary- sanctioned 3 phrase. Two other words merit special ~omment: BANCOR, 2 Keynes' name for International reserve unit, and TRACHOMITUM, found in H. C. D. deWit's Plants of the World (1967). All other words are found either In Webster's Third or the Oxford English Dictionary (marked with §) . We note two errors In the original article: IMMUNOLOGICAL I1I 1 2 does not have a second U to qualify as a trans addition of ALUMINUM,4 and AMERICUM should have been spelled AMERICIUM. 3 5 1 3 1 AN APPEAL FOR HELP4 6 The editor knows of no courses taught in the field of recrea­tlonallinguistics (defined, for the sake of argument, as1 Parts II and III of the Ten- Year Topical Index in this is sue) .3 (7) Do readers of Word Ways know of any course s - - college, 1 (3) secondary school, adult education, night school -- organized around one or more of the topics of recreational linguistics? If so, please let the editor know any details, including whom 1 to write for more information (such as the instructor) . 3 7 2 1 3 3 10 4 4 1 3 1 

Elementary Improvements

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Elementary Improvements

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