Definition:
A type of word play in which a word or phrase is formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase, such as united to untied.
Etymology:
From the Greek, "to rearrange letters in a word"Examples and Observations:
- "But should this Method fail, recourse might be had to others more effectual, by Learned Men called Acrosticks and Anagrams. First, might be found Men of Skill and Penetration who can discern that all initial Letters have political Meanings. Thus N shall signify a Plot, B a Regiment of Horse, L a Fleet at Sea. Or secondly, by transposing the Letters of the Alphabet in any suspected Paper, who can discover the deepest Designs of a discontented Party. So for example, if I should say in a Letter to a Friend, Our Brother Tom has just got the Piles, a Man of Skill in this Art would discover how the same Letters which compose that Sentence, may be analysed into the following Words; Resist,-- a Plot is brought Home--The Tour. And this is the Anagrammatick Method."
(Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Part III, Chapter Six) - "My name is only an anagram of toilets."
(T.S. Eliot) - Arnold Schwarzenegger: he’s grown large n’ crazed
Britney Spears: best PR in years
dormitory: dirty room
New York Times: monkeys write
evangelist: evil's agent
Clint Eastwood: Old West action - "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
(Neil Armstrong)
"A thin man ran; makes a large stride, left planet, pins flag on moon! On to Mars!" - "The head of the organic food giant Whole Foods has been caught touting his company and trashing a competitor in anonymous writings on the Internet. Using a pseudonym, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey . . . wrote under the screen name Rahodeb, an anagram for the name of his wife, Deborah."
("Lacihte? Whole Foods CEO Spams Under Anagram," Frank Langfitt, NPR, July 12, 2007)
Pronunciation: AN-uh-gram
