What is the point of anagrams?
Essentially, anagramming is a recreational activity. Great pleasure can be obtained when one finds a witty anagram in someone’s name. We will often find the ‘hidden truth’ in an anagram of a person’s name: • Matthias N. Ritchie. = I am the Antichrist! (Mick Tully, 1998) A ‘visitor’ to alt.anagrams presented the above false name for anagramming. Practical joking is not unknown in alt.anagrams . An important aim is to find a relevant or apt anagram that is amusing, poignant, or abusive in content, and one that either paraphrases the original text or creates an ‘antigram’, an anagram with the opposite meaning to the subject text. Occasionally anagram puzzles are presented to be solved, e.g., a book title and author. It is a great feeling when you crack the code. Topical anagrams from current events are frequently a source of interest. For example: • Bosnian War Crimes. = Serbian racism won. (Tom Myers, 1999) • Whitehouse Intern Miss Monica Samille Lewinsky = Hey! William Clinton arouses m
