In my post “Do You Play With Your Words When You Read Them?” I presented a list of children’s books with word play such as puns, hidden words, creative poetry, etc. I want to assure you that word play is not just for kids, there are plenty of books for grown-ups, too!
Wordplay: The Philosophy, Art, and Science of Ambigrams delves into the fascinating world of ambigrams and other creative visual word play. Ambigrams are words that can be read right side up and upside down. The animation above is an ambigram pin-back button I made. Can you ‘read’ what it says?
Lost in Translation artistically presents unusual words with no English equivalents. Some of my favorites include: gurfa, German for ‘the amount of water that can be held in one hand', karelu, Tulu for ‘the mark left on the skin by wearing something tight', and ‘akihi, Hawaiian for ‘listening to directions and then walking off and promptly forgetting them'.
Just My Typo reveals unintentional grammatical errors and Damn You, Autocorrect! showcases unintended texts, both with hilarious results. The Book of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks and I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar show how tiny errors can sometimes make for big laughs...or groans.
So, in honor of word play, I have written a poem inspired by 101 Two-Letter Words, a collection of two letter words allowed in Scrabble that are presented in rhyme and illustration (click on the picture below to enlarge the entry for mu):
“Ode to a Savvy Scrabble Player”
There’s an and as, and at, of course
and no, and so, and to.
But who knew Scrabble players
could get away with mu?
Hope you find something here that you enjoy! ~Toby
The Book of "unnecessary" Quotation Marks
