a weblog of wordplay by Eric Harshbarger
Front Hook: G
The front hook exhibit for the letter G is a doozy. This is one of the examples that impressed me so much that it prompted me to start this whole twenty-six article endeavor. While CUPBEARER or EVANISH might have made me pause and think, "oh, that's neat," the example for the seventh letter of the alphabet made me think, "WOOOW!"G is for GREENGAGE
This really has it all. The two words, GREENGAGE and REENGAGE, are completely unrelated. The longer word is noun, a type of plum, while the shorter is simply the verb meaning "to engage again" (it's not found in every dictionary, and some might think it must have a hyphen between the E's, but REENGAGE is certainly acceptable in Scrabble).But the coolness goes beyond the two words being different parts of speech. We also get another example (like BROADSIDE) where the pronuciation is changed. And it's more than just a change in pronunciation, the number of syllables changes, with the longer word having fewer (!).
Simply put, this is a beautiful surprise in wordplay and what this front hook business is all about.
-- Eric
P.S.: I should also point out an example that was nominated for G by a friend of mine (thanks, Sandy): GMELINITE. A strong candidate, for sure, but I still feel the GREENGAGE example is better (also, while the longer word is found in Merriam-Webster's 3rd, it is not acceptable in the Tournament World List for Scrabble, which is a bit of a detraction). Readers are again encouraged to comment below on these articles and add their own favorites.
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Comments about this article:
I've been enjoying this series. Gotta love G/LUNCHPosted by: Lynda Finn
GANTELOPE has always tickled me.
Posted by: Mark Milan
GMELINITE is not just in MW3, but also in CSW/Collins, so it is acceptable to some Scrabble players.
So it doesn't look like I'm (g)rousing, here's a cool one from TWL: (G)ROUNDWOOD.
-Quinn
Posted by: Quinn James
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