Calling All Verbivores
by Harld Fox



Welcome to another year of Between the Lines and “Calling All Verbivores” (CAV).

This column is addressed to devourers of words, those of us described by Richard Lederer’s term, “verbivore.” I hope you will find something in this and succeeding numbers to amuse, delight, stimulate, provoke, enlighten, tease, or confirm you in your fascination with words and the oddities of the English language.

If you have found yourself reading this number of CAV by accident or misdirection, I hope you will find something in it to provide a glimmer of insight into what makes us verbivores tick. There is no prohibition of your continuing with this number or visiting subsequent numbers of CAV. Be careful, though, or you might find yourself infected by the bug—beginning to giggle at puns or guffawing at unexpectedly outrageous linguistic gaffes. You might even catch yourself puzzling out anagrams, constructing palindromes, or working crossword puzzles. Just don’t say that I didn’t warn you.

Whether you are a newcomer or a seasoned reader of CAV, I hope you will find in it both enjoyment and an appreciation of the wonder of words.

But that’s more than enough prelude. Here follow a few examples of the sort of things you may expect to find in succeeding numbers of CAV.

Here are two oddities from L. M. Boyd:

"Only" is a tricky word. Insert it in each of the eight positions, one at a time, designated by three dots, to give the following sentence eight different meanings: "… I … hit …him … in … the …eye … yesterday… ." Curious, what? Dayton Daily News, July 6, 1989

Q. What are those 25 words said to account for a third of all English writing?
R. The, and, a, too, of, I, in, was, that, it, he, you, for, had, is, with, she, has, on, at, have, but, me, my, not.
Dayton Daily News, August 10, 1989

Here is a game that might engage your creativity and enliven coffee break conversations. It is attributed to Richard Good, whose column, “Our Man in Michigan,” appears in some weekly newspapers in the Dayton area.

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen are defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed? Bob Batz, "Seen & Overheard,"
Dayton Daily News, June 1, 2004

Will you take up the challenge to provide some other examples in this genre? Batz published some results in “Seen & Overheard” once since then, but I missed clipping that. We will have to be content with the ones quoted on June 1, 2004. I will acknowledge you by name if you send me your products.

Here is another word challenge that I will leave for you. Send me your solution(s), and I will acknowledge you by name with your solution(s). I have handwritten notes on it in my files, and I can’t remember whether it is something I found somewhere or whether I originated it. In either case, with apologies to an unknown source, who must go without attribution here if I am not the originator, I throw down the gauntlet:

An Ice Challenge

Even though our weather recently has not been typical of a southwestern Ohio summer, this is the season when ice has considerable significance for us. There are many English words that end in the letters “-ice.” For example, consider “rice,” “dice,” “justice,” “solstice,” “police,” and “caprice.” The letter “i” is pronounced in three different ways in those examples—as a long “i,” a short “i,” and a long “e” respectively. The challenge has two parts. First, can you give me a two-syllable English word ending in “-ice” whose second syllable rhymes with “ice?” Second, for a harder challenge, can you give me an English word ending in “-ice” in which the “-ice” is pronounced other than the three above-mentioned ways?

Until next time, send me your solutions (or suggestions or complaints or stumpers) at hfox@juno.com or 2005 Burroughs Drive, Dayton, Ohio 45406.