fun with words

I'm pleased to see you checking in one by one. Do be brave and post original messages too - not just comments. New messages are a good place for introductions (or re-introductions).

Do you have an idea about something, a question or a request for a particular lesson? Just post it as an original message.

Recently I've added about half a dozen new students to the class, so you may see them here eventually - but not until they complete the entire first lesson. Unfortunately, online classes have a high attrition (drop out) rate, especially at the beginning. Because of that, I decided not to invite new students to join the blog right off.

I've been posting a lot of study resources lately. Now it's time for some fun. Having fun, even useless fun, with words advances your language skills. Even if it does not seem to, you still need to enjoy language to make the best use of it.

Jokes are one way to have fun with language. They can be quite confusing though. The humor often depends on a play of words - multiple meanings and even misunderstanding. Additionally, jokes are often culture specific. You may need to understand the cultural context, to "get" or understand the joke.

Word games are another. Anagrams and palindroms may be too complicated but let's try them out. Do you have them in your own language?

An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase.
For example, Elvis to Lives. What anagrams can you make from your own name or other words?

Here are links to anagram generators:

• Internet Anagram Server / I, Rearrangement Servant (anagram of preceding) http://wordsmith.org/anagram/ (look over the rest of the Wordsmith site while you are at there)
• Brendan's On-Line Anagram Generator http://www.mbhs.edu/~bconnell/cgi-bin/anagram.cgi
• Anagram Genius Server (anagrammatize online or download to your hard drive) http://www.anagramgenius.com/server.html

We'll save palindromes and jokes for another time. Now, have fun trying out those anagram generators. Share some good ones with the rest of us.

One of mine, for Vanessa Vaile" is: "AVAIL AS SEVEN"

More fun with words sites:

• Word Play
• Fun-with-words
• WordWizard