a weblog of wordplay by Eric Harshbarger
Redividers
In The Dictionary of Wordplay Dave Morice documents a type of fun called a "charade" or a "redivider" (I prefer the latter term). The challange is to respace a given text to form a new text. Some of his examples include:BEDEVIL = BED EVIL PLEASURE = PLEA SURE SOAP OPERA = SO A POP ERA"Charade-anagrams", "poetry", "sentences", and "squares" are also explained.
I have become interested in a "redividing" category that is closely related to "charade sentences" but not exactly as described in that book. My goal is to create a single sentence which comprises the same text repeated as a whole but respaced. An example would be:
An orc hid an orchid.This is not the best example because it repeats a word exactly ("an") in each half. It would be nice if no word were repeated in the same position within respective halves. So, maybe the above sentence should be expanded to:
One orc hides alone or chides Al.This one has the nice property of having the halfway point embedded within a word ("al/one"), but I'm not sure how I feel about the inclusion on the proper name ("Al") -- as with creating palindomes, using proper names is sometimes considered a bit of a "crutch". Here's another with a name:
Fearsome nana fears omen, Ana.And a few more that I've come up along the way:
Martin, is our martini sour? "Sunglasses," sung lasses. Sexists exist! Winsome duelists win some due lists. Barflies barf lies. Pitchforking pitch for king. Stuntwomen stun two men. Bothersome colloquialists bother some colloquia lists.
To summarize preferred qualities of a redivided sentence:
- All words in the first half are somehow respaced in the second half.
- Proper names are avoided.
- The halfway point falls within a word, not between two words.
After years of creating original palindromes, it definitely requires a shifting of gears to create redividers. Sure, the same letters are being used again in the seconds half, but not reversing their order takes some serious mental effort at this point.
Feel free to add your own examples in the comments below.
-- Eric
[24 July 2015]
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