An
anagram is a type of word play in which a word or phrase
is formed by rearranging the letters of another word or
phrase. The original letters should be used exactly once.
For example, "Mother-in-Law" can be rearranged
to "Woman Hitler".
The
construction of anagrams is of great antiquity. Their invention
is often ascribed without authority to the Jews, probably
because the later Hebrew writers, particularly the Kabbalists,
were fond of them, asserting that "secret mysteries
are woven in the numbers of letters." Anagrams were
known to the Greeks and Romans, although known Latin examples
of words of more than one syllable are nearly all imperfect.
They were popular throughout Europe during the Middle Ages
and later, particularly in France, where a certain Thomas
Billon was appointed "anagrammatist to the king."
The
original word or phrase is known as the subject of the anagram.
Someone who creates anagrams is called an anagrammatist.
In
this brain tickler section, try some of the popular and
funny anagram made out of the following subjects.
