Permed Ends

Authors

Susan Thorpe

Abstract

The readers of Word Ways will be familiar with words whose first few letters are repeated, in the same order, at the end of the word. John Ferguson of Maryland called these Heads 'n Trails (Feb 1970, p 48). Example of the genre include ICELANDIC, TORMENTOR, OUTSHOUTS, and UNDERGROUNDER. By way of contrast, the first few letters might be repeated at the end of the word in reverse order, as in DETONATED and SELAGINELLALES (dfpf). The current investigation explores a third way in which the letters at the beginning of a word are repeated at the end of the word, namely in any permutation other than the same, or reverse, order. SIKORSKI and AESTIVATES are examples.

Recommended Citation

Thorpe, Susan (2002) "Permed Ends," Word Ways: Vol. 35 : Iss. 1 , Article 15.
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol35/iss1/15