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August 19, 2011

Strange But True!

Q. The Oxford English Dictionary described finding “kangaroo words” as a “fiendishly difficult word game.” Are you word-maven enough to cite a few examples?

A. Within the letters of a “marsupial” word “nestles” (and “nests”) a small word, or “joey” (baby kangaroo), that means the same as the grown word, says wordsmith Richard Lederer online. The letters of the joey must be in proper order though not entirely adjacent; for example, playing with kangaroo words, your mind will “blossom” and hence “bloom.” Balled up inside your “stockings” are your “socks.” Hiding in “nougat” and “neurotic” are two different kinds of “nut.” Things “Brobdingnagian” and “lumbering” are “big.” Some kangaroo words even contain multiple joeys: Open up a “container” and you get a “can” and a “tin”; when you've “feasted, you “eat” and have “fed”; and when you “deteriorate,” you “rot” and “die.”


 
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