Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1898-02-02

CAPABILITIES OF ENGLISH.
II Il Most Flexible and Mobile
Tongue


AS our alphabet now stands-cvrn
after G,o00 years of pcrfccting-it il
a string Of singularN ambiguous
signs, and affords an uuoQualed on
portunity for torucntms. Just es n
manwho cannot express himself clear
ly can bc plagued with sophisticated
questions. The confusion Of English
sound and letters is well illustrated
by spelling coffee without one cor
rect lcttcr-knuphy, which spelling
is ncarr the original than the one
in use, for pamphlet was printed in
Oxford in 1859 on "1'hc Nature OF
the Drink kauphi, or Coffee"
The artistically bad or,hography
OF many OF onr funny. writers is made
possible by the glaring inoonsistcn-
cios of our alphabet But some in
stances Of naturally funny bad spell
ing are perhaps equal to any arti-
fetal ones. Here is a note that was
sent to doctor:
"Cer--Yole obligc me NJ yolc KUN
nm ce mo | hev Bad kowd am IIill an
hev lost my Happy Tight"
The following. received by school
master, was likely to be misundcr-
stood:
Sur--As You are man of nolcge
| intend TO inter my son in your
skull"
Here is a bill sent 10 n gentleman:
nosafada a........ n
fads-J. JXxN
The items arc not apothccarics' ar
ticlos, as might be supposed, but
merely ~ horse half DAY and a TAX
ing Of him home again"
Many eccentric devices OF litorn-
ture depend on the peculiar arrange
ment Of letters. Some Of these have
fine-sounding names. and arc rccog-
nized as famous rccrations OF the
learned. The palindromc. which il
a line that reads alike backward and
forward. is one Of the most difficult
OF all feats Of letter juggling, and has
engaged the attention Of the worlds
clcvcrest brains.
While in exile Napoleon was asked
by an Englishman If he thought he
could have sacked London, and re-
piled: cable was ere / saw Elba"
the most skillful palindrome on
record. Run the letters Of the reply
backward II you would test it. A ia
nous Latin example is the lawyers
motto-"Si Nummi immunis" The
following sentence is not only palm
drome, but extraordinary in other re-
spects, "Sator arcpotcnet opera ro-
tas."
This spells the same backvS,rd and
forward; all the first letters Of the
words spell the first word: the second
letters OF the words spell the second
word, and 80 on through the third.
fourth and fifth. The last letters spell
the last word; the next 10 the last Of
each word spell tho next word, and
go on 10 the beginning.
The anagram has occupied a most
pretentious place in literature Wits
and wiseacres 81 the olden times
looked into the names and places for
satires and for omcns. Several as
tronomeTs have used anagrams 70 Sc
cure the credit Of discoveries which
they did not wish 70 reveal. Louis
Kill retained ir his service On ana
grammaist named Thomas Billion,
with pension Of l.2OO liyrcs.
Calvin acknowledgements
matte name of Aleuinus, in the tile
Of his Institute" printed At Strus-
burg. Alcuinus was the great r-
stOrer OF learning IN thct.mc of Char
lemaRne, and substituting u Tor =
(the letters in those days being equiv
aient), the name is an anagrnm for
Calvinus.
IL was deemed a prophecy Of fate
when it was found that the name II
Louis de Bouherat could be trans
posed 20 "cst Ia bouche du roi Gs The
mouthpiece of the king)," that q
Francis dc Veloys 10 ode facon suis
royal (of royal sirain) The fas1in-
ating Marie Touchct procured lib
eral pension FOR the writer Who de-
duccd from her name "Je charme
tout" u charm alb.
But history doesnt mention anv-
thing about Napoleon Bonaparte pen
sion a. the transposer a his name
into bona ropts lcno pone" (fascal,
yield up your stolen p0ssessions) ~
London Mail