Definition:
A sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet. Adjective: pangrammatic.
Etymology:
From the Greek, "every letter"Examples:
- Two driven jocks help fax my big quiz.
- Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
- The five boxing wizards jump quickly.
- Bright vixens jump; dozy fowl quack.
- Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz.
- John quickly extemporized five tow bags.
- Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.
- Quick wafting zephyrs vex bold Jim.
- Brown jars prevented the mixture from freezing too quickly.
- The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy brown dog.
- New job: fix Mr Gluck's hazy TV, PDQ
- Sixty zippers were quickly picked from the woven jute bag.
- We promptly judged antique ivory buckles for the next prize.
- J.Q. Schwartz flung V.D. Pike my box.
- Viewing quizzical abstracts mixed up hefty jocks.
- Farmer jack realized that big yellow quilts were expensive.
- My girl wove six dozen plaid jackets before she quit.
- My favorite proposal for a 26-letter pangram requires an entire story for comprehension (thanks to Dan Lufkin of Hood College):
During World War I, Lawrence's Arab Legion was operating on the southern flank of the Ottoman Empire. Hampered by artillery fire from across a river, Lawrence asked for a volunteer to cross the river at night and locate the enemy guns. An Egyptian soldier stepped forward. The man was assigned to Lawrence's headquarters [G.H.Q. for 'general headquarters'--this becomes important later] and had a reputation for bringing bad luck. But Lawrence decided to send him. The mission was successful and the soldier appeared, at dawn the next morning, at a remote sentry post near the river, dripping wet, shivering, and clad in nothing but his underwear and native regimental headgear. The sentry wired to Lawrence for instructions, and he replied:
(Stephen Jay Gould, Bully for Brontosaurus, W. W. Norton, 1992)
Warm plucky G.H.Q. jinx, fez to B.V.D.'s
Pronunciation: PAN-gram
Also Known As: holoalphabetic sentence, alphabet sentence
