Recent developments in logology compel me to come out of retirement, setting the record straight. Articles and/or Colloquy items in the February 1976, May 1976, and February 1981 issues of Word Ways have presented numerous transposals of 15 or more letters. Most of these transposals have been of the trivial variety, involving interchanges of individual letters or of blocks of letters. Such transposals have the same standing in the realm of transposals that tautonymic 10x10 word squares have in the domain of geometric forms

Cloudesley, Ravenscroft J.

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1. a radial tire. to one re­describe the )nship. Oc­stringed sessions. dne cOITlpeti­paperback, ~arlier two )ns, but will l Ways: lout on Roth's ') ; The goo autobiogra­r) ; tallyho ring Presiden­man) e bombardier) ITlpanion) t-glance Cal­ogenarians) - the one in 1.bo the Ele­:th Little Pep­opening a res­t drink contains Ninth / Q. fITlpathy / other- in-law? r + taurus, d by poli­P.M. C.) 93 TRIUMPHAL TRANSPOSALS RAVENSCROFTJ. CLOUDESLEY Recent developments in log-ology compel me to corne out of retire­ment, setting the record straight. Article s and/ or Colloquy items in the ~e bruary 1976, May 1976, and February 1981 is sue s of Word Ways have presented nUITlerous transposals of 15 or more letters. Most of these transposals have been of the trivial variety, involving interchang­es of individual letters or of blocks of letters. Such transposals have the same standing in the realm of transposals that tautonymic lOxlO word square s have in the domain of geoITletric forITls. The only mildly interesting trivial transposal is the longest one known: FRIDERICHSEN- WATERHOUSE SYNDROME / WATERHOUSE­"FRIDERICHSEN SYNDROME. This 30-letter kingpin, discovered by Dar ryl H. Francis of London, England, has, so far as I can dete rITline , never appeared in Word Ways. Both terms are synonyms for the ITlalig­nant form of meningococ cus meningitis. They appear in recent editions of Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. The Word Ways issues cited include only 7 genuinely interesting long transposals: reasonably well- shuffled, nonsynonymous transpo sals of 15 or more letters. Since the number of such transposals known in English is not 7 but 14, the first purpose of this article is to bring all 14 together for the first time ever. Each word or name not to be found in Webster Two and/or Webster Three is identified following the list. 15 letters	 CINEMATOGRAPHER / MEGACHIROPTERAN COLOR- SENSATIONS / CONSOLA TORINESS DECHLORINATIONS / ORNITHOSCELIDAN NONREALISATIONS / SIARESINOTANNOL PHOTORESISTANCE / STENOCROTAPHIES PORTE SAINT-DENIS / PREDESTINATIONS PRESENTATION SET / SEPTENTRIONATES 16 letters	 ALCOFRIBAS NASIER / FRANCOIS RABELAIS HEMATOC R YST ALLIN / THERMONASTICALL Y RECLASSIFICA TION / SAC RIFICIAL STONE 17 letters	 AGOSTINO COLTELINI / OSTILIO CONT ALEGNI BASIPARACHROMATIN / MARSIPOBRANCHIATA COUNTERISOTHERMAL /INTERCOSTOHUMERAL 18 letters	 INARTICULATENESSES / NATURAL NECESSITIES I 94 Alcofribas Nasier is the pseudonym of Francois Rabelais, the French humorist and satirist, in the New Century Cyclopedia of Names ( 1954) Color- sensations are defined by The Century Dictionary ( 1889-1914) as sensations of the kind produced by exciting the retina of the eye. The extralexical term counterisothermal was coined by Howard B. Mc­Pherrin of Denver, Colorado, and can be found on page 6 of the Nation­al Puzzlers' League publication, The Enigma (June 1925). He simi­larly coined the term presentation set, the extralexical multivolume analogue of a dictionary term (presentation copy) ; this can be found in the same is sue of The Enigma. Ago stino Coltelini was an Italian poet of the seventeenth century who used the pseudonym Ostilio Conta­legni; both names are listed in the British Museum General Catalogue of Printed Books. Nonrealisations is the British spelling of nonreali­zations (compare realisation in The Random House Dictionary, Una­bridged Edition ( 1966) ). Porte Saint-Denis is the full form of the ab­breviated Porte St. -Denis, the triumphal arch on the Boulevard St.­Denis in Paris, listed in the New Century Cyclopedia of Names ( 1954) . A sacrificial stone is a circular stone cup in which human hearts were burned as sacrifices by the Aztecs, according to the New Century Cyclo­pedia of Names (1954). Finally, The Century Dictionary Supplement (1909-14) identifies siaresinotannol as the compound C12H1403 con­tained in Siamese gum benzoin. Two long Italian transposals can be found in an old edition of the Italian-language Enciclopedia Itali ana , in an article on wordplay. 18 letters	 INCARTAPECORIMENTI /IPERCONTAMINATRICE INTERPOSIZIONCELLA /IPERCONSTELLAZIONI These have been included in this article because they surpass in quality all known Engli sh transposals: all four of the words used are solid, whereas the lone 18-letter English specimen uses one two-word term. It is possible that some or all of these words are coined -- their mean­ings suggest that possibility (parchment-colored things / supercontami­nating; a small, intermediate position / super constellations) . Further, they have not been located in medium- sized Italian dictionaries. The se-eond purpose of this article is to record the longest known specimens of the special kind of transposal known as the reversal. In general, the longest reversals are 8-letter ones, including all- Webster examples such as DESSERTS / STRESSED, DIORAMAS / SAMAROID, and DETAINAL / LANIATED. There are, however, five known 9-letter reversals, described below. DELESSERT / TRESSELED Baron Jule s Paul Benjamin Deles se rt ( 1773-1847) was a French naturalist and philanthropist, listed in the New Cen­tury Cyclopedia of Names (1954). Tresseled is the past tense of the verb tressel, variant of trestle, in Webster Two. DELIVERER / REREVILED The verb rerevile, an extralexical te rm, is formed by ex­press authorization of The Century Dictionary ( 1889-1914) . DE NO,~ SEA The thir sole 18-lett NECESSITI1 land in 1980 trans po sal J must the wo posal?) The singulars is are not muh existence of Under wl INARTICUL, postulate the inf5 from str herence. NE can be spoke ber 1978 Wo but that does set standard1 ical axe to gJ ization accep Even if it devil the log< osophy desig that definitio relation. On Is it poss fine the caus; some or all < , the French ~ames (1954) 1889-1914) ,f the eye. award B. Mc­of the Nation-He simi­.ultivolume can be found an Italian 'stilio Conta­al Catalogue of nonreali­,nary, Una­~m of the ab­1evard St. ­rame s ( 19 54) . l hearts we re Century Cyclo-Supplement con-H 140 3 ition of the >rdplay. INATRICE LAZIONI pass in quality are solid, )-word term. - their mean­supercontami­ms). Furthe r , larie s. 1gest known rever sal. In 19 all- Webster SAMAROID, known 9 -lette r 847) was a the New Cen­is the past n Webster Two. ,rmed by ex­(1889-1914) 95 In defining the inseparable prefix re-, the dictionary states explicitl y that it is 'I applicable to any English ve rb what­eve r, whethe r of Latin origin or of Anglo- Saxon or othe r origin. II DE	 MAILLET / TELLIAMED Telliamed is the title of a work by De Maillet, an autho r not more specifically identified. Both names are in The Encyc­lopedia Britannica, lith Edition (1911), under 11 Anagramll . NOSTREBOR / ROBERTSON Nostrebor is a community in Nottoway County, Virginia, in­dexed and mapped in Rand McNally's Comme rcial Atlas of America (1911). Robertson is a common English surname. SEALCREST / TSERCLAES Sealcrest is the trademark for a brand either of furniture or upholste ry t listed on page 662 of The Trademark Registe r of the United States (1977). Albert M. Hyamson s A Dictionary' of Universal.Biography, 2nd Edition (1951) lists the Flemish noble Jean Tserclaes de Tilly, and The Times Index-Gazetteer of the World ( 1965) contains a Belgian town,' t Se rclae s. The third purpose of this article is to assess the legitimacy of the sole 18-letter English transposal, INA R TICULATENESSES / NA TURAL NECESSITIES, discove red by Charles E. Holding of Silver Spring, Mary­land in 1980. (Since he discove red the previous longe st- known English transposal BASIPARACHROMATIN / MARSIPOBRANCHIATA in 1971, must the world of logology wait patiently until 1989 for a 19-1etter trans­posal?) The fact that both of the words involved are plurals rather than singulars is justified by the circumstance that the corresponding singulars are not mutual transposals. What may, howeve r, be que stioned is the existence of the plurals as words in a nonlogological context. Under what conditions would one need, or be able, to use the word INA R.TICULA TENESSES? To envision using the word, one must first postulate the existence of different kinds of inarticulateness: one result­inlS from strong emotion, anothe r from mumbling, a third from inco­herence. Next one must create a situation in which these different kinds can be spoken of collectively. As Philip Cohen pointed out in a Novem­ber 1978 Word Ways article, it is possible to find a context for anything, but that doe sn I t make it normal English. It is, therefore, nece s sary to set standards avoiding absurdity: the standards of those with no logolog­ical axe to grind, restricting themselves to normal usage. Is this plural­ization acceptable by such standards? Even if it is, the question of NATURAL NECESSITIES remains to be­devil the logologist. The singular happens to be a specific term in phil­osophy designating the necessity of the causal relation. The wording of that definition is singular: the (one and only) necessity of the causal relation. On what grounds :-then, can pluralizing the term be justified? Is it possible to demonstrate that different philosophical systems de­fine the causal relation in different ways, so that someone surveying some or all of the differing concepts of the necessity of the causal re­96 lation could, conceivably, be induced to refe r to NA TURAL NECESSI­TIES? Alternatively, should one be so audacious as to imagine the ex­ WORDS istence of different universes, in which causal relations might well be diffe rent, justifying dialogue about various NATURAL NECESSITIES? Let us consider a totally different approach to the problem. Web­ster Two, as already noted, defines the term thus: The necessity of the causal relation BORIS RA Los AngelBy contrast, the 'Funk & Wagnalls unabridged contains the following: Take t Inevitable certainty resulting from the operation of physical laws and natural agencie s AL AK AF ME MI MT The Century Dictionary, yet again, defines the term in this fashion: SC SD TN Necessity which springs from within, from an internal principle and placeof development, not from outward compulsion five-lettet The very different nature of these definitions suggests the following so­ I. car lution to the problem: let the term defined in Dictionary A be one natu­ 2. livE ral necessity, the term defined in Dictionary B be a second, and the term 3. mo. defined in Dictionary C be yet a third. Lo and behold, three natural 4. tow necessities have been invented, justifying the use of the term! 5. disc ~. hoi: A s a third approach, the phrase NATURAL NECESSITIES could be 7. boyused in layman's language to refer to almost anything which the speaker 8. dra or writer; regards as very important (for example, 11 food and shelter 9. spo are among the natural necessities of life 'l ). However, such a use con­ If). shiJ stitutes picking two consecutive words out of a sentence, words which II. mot do not represent any dictionary term. Under these circumstances, the 12. flee transposal would be no more valid than, say, the transposal of 13. in c TERPSICHOREAN into the phrase CHINESE PARROT. 14. que 15. are It is entirely possible that I have overlooked some reasonably ob­vious interpretation of this term which renders it unimpeachable. Can 1. fum Word Ways readers come up with some interpretation which will re­ 2. in a move the cloud of doubt hanging over it? 3. acb 4. met 5. car 1 6. sou 7. call 8. flyi Answers c "Fo r those possible n' preci se , 1, or Third e 

Triumphal Transposals

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Triumphal Transposals

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