Significant Anagram/Real Life

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Significant Anagrams in Real Life include:

  • Peter Scott, a British biologist, has suggested Nessiteras rhombopteryx ("The Ness monster with diamond-shaped fin") as a scientific name for the Loch Ness monster; this would allow the monster to be added to the list of protected species. It was soon noted that the name is an anagram of Monster hoax by Sir Peter S, but he denies this was intentional. To paraphrase, "If I was going to make an anagram, do you really think I couldn't work the "cott" of my last name in?"
    • The letters in "Nessiteras rhombopteryx" can also be rearranged to spell "Yes, both pix are monsters. R." In 1970, a man named Dr. Robert Rines used sonar on Loch Ness to prove that large objects inhabited the Loch. Both "Robert" and "Rines" begin with an R.
  • For complicated reasons, Galileo Galilei used to release his scientific discoveries in the form of anagrams. One particularly inventive one was: Salve umbistineum geminatum Martia proles - "Be greeted, double knob, children of Mars", which appears to refer to the discovery of Mars' two moons, but was actually an anagram of Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi - "I have observed the most distant planet to have a triple form", i.e. the discovery of Saturn's rings (Saturn being the most distant known planet in the 17th century). Another one was his discovery that Venus had phases like the Moon in the form "Haec immatura a me iam frustra leguntur -oy" (Latin: These immature ones have already been read in vain by me -oy), that is, when rearranged, "Cynthiae figuras aemulatur Mater Amorum" (Latin: The Mother of Loves [= Venus] imitates the figures of Cynthia [= the moon]).
  • Robert Hooke also did this, but he just sorted the intended words into alphabetical order, "ceiiinosssttuv" for "Sic tensio, ut vis", the Latin translation of his famous law for springs.
  • Spiro Agnew, Nixon's vice president, can rather famously be anagrammed to "grow a spine". Of course, "spine" happens to be a (significant?) anagram for... another body part, as pointed out by both Dave Barry and Jon Stewart.
  • Buttsex. On a similar note, it's been pointed out that "dyslexia" is an anagram of "daily sex".
  • Hank Green, who produces video blogs with his brother, the author John Green, once did an anagramming guide to some of the presidential candidates at the time. Some worked better than others. Joe Biden in particular became "I NEED JOB!"
  • Virginia Bottomley, health secretary in John Major's government, is an anagram of "I'm an evil Tory bigot"
  • The Labour government which followed was headed by "Tony Blair PM" = "I'm Tory plan B"
    • And just "Tony Blair" is an anagram of "Tory in Lab."
  • And before John Major there was Margaret Thatcher, whose administration included "The Right Honorable Nigel Lawson, MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer", whose fiscal policies prompted a Private Eye reader to work out the anagram "Axe N.L. now - hell-hog, home-loan filcher, grotesque three-chin crap-tub", heavens preserve us...
  • In the 19th century, Lewis Carrol came up with "Wild agitator. Means well." for PM William Ewart Gladstone.
  • Rudy Giuliani got it worse than Biden -- "Rudy Giuliani" anagrams to "Gaudily I Ruin!", and his full name Rudolph Louis Giuliani anagrams to "I Pious Liar! I'll Undo Hug!"
  • Silent movie star Theda Bara (born Theodosia Burr Goodman), famous for Femme Fatale roles, anagrammatises to "Arab Death". Deliberately.
  • Clint Eastwood=Old West Action.
  • The Towering Inferno = "not worth fire engine".
  • TV critic Clive James "reviewed" period drama Poldark by pointing out that its name was an anagram of Old Krap.
  • During World War II, Soviet spy (against the Nazis) Alexander Rado had the codename "Dora."
  • Space Shuttle = Tech Pulsates.
  • English football manager Neil Warnock is often referred to as "Colin" by those who don't like his abrasive style.[1]
  • During the 1990s the England rugby team featured both Nick Beal and Neil Back. One was a forward and one was a back; Back was the forward, to avoid confusion.
  • I warm billions.
  • An April 1989 Scientific American issue published a letter from "Arlo Lipof" about South American underhanded operations where balls of gold are duplicated by means of the Banach-Tarski paradox. The paradox states that it is possible to decompose a three-dimensional set into a finite number of (non-measureable) pieces and assemble them into a set with a different volume, e.g. a sphere into two spheres of the same volume as the original sphere; however, this can't be done with physical objects, and Arlo Lipof is an anagram of April Fool.
    • On a related note, the old math joke: What's an anagram of Banach-Tarski? Banach-Tarski Banach-Tarski
  • At the 2006 AFI Lifetime Achievement presentation for SeanConnery, Mike Meyers demonstrated some skill with meaningful anagrams for actor names. In addition to the "Clint Eastwood = Old West Action" as mentioned above, he also provided one for Tom Cruise(I'm So Cuter) and Sean Connery(On Any Screen)
  • Osama Bin Laden = Old man in a base.
  • As he's pointed out, Mike Rowe's name can be rearranged to spell "Me(e) I work". Granted, there's an extra 'e' in there, but it's still oddly fitting for the man in question.
  • Finnish actress Natalil Lintala's unique first name was deliberately contrived to be an anagram of her last name.
  1. ↑ The remaining letters can be rearranged to spell "wanker."
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Significant_Anagram/Real_Life?oldid=1926089"