An anagram is simply a rearrangement of letters in a word or sentence to form another word or sentence. They can be fairly straightforward, or quite elaborate. One simple anagram can be formed by rearranging the letters in the word 'listen' to become (rather conveniently) the word 'silent'. However, anagrams can be formed from more substantial chunks of text. For example, an anagram of the first sentence in this Entry is:

At noon I, an ace water westerner mammogram, eats no finer, rare toasted filleted prongs nor CS Ron Henry.

Incidentally, this may be a good time to mention that most anagrams make absolutely no sense. It's very easy to manipulate the English¹ language to create an anagram. However, it is maddeningly difficult to create an anagram that is more than a random collection of words. Even harder to find are those which relate to the word or phrase from which they spring - as a sort of answer to an unasked question. Those kinds of anagrams are more entertaining. Since it is so difficult to create these clever anagrams, variation in punctuation and capitalisation between the two words and phrases is commonly ignored.

If you ever desire to create your own anagram, you can save yourself the agony of wasted paper and headaches by using the Internet Anagram Server.

Words and Things

There are quite a lot of things out there, and many of them have words to describe them - words whose letters can be rearranged. The incredible multitude of things increases the likelihood that some of the rearrangements will be entertaining or provide insight about the original word. However, for every word which can be pleasingly rearranged, it is important to remember that there are quite a few more that cannot be suitably jumbled.

Antigrams

Antigrams are words that have been rearranged to form anagrams with meanings that are opposite (or nearly opposite) the original word.

People

Some people are remembered for very specific things. The clever wordsmiths of our times often come up with word manipulations concerning these figures, presumably because they have little else to do. Here are a few...

Phrases, Quotes and Longer Ones

Many serious anagram enthusiasts spend their time working on finding clever anagrams in quotes or phrases. Some can apparently reveal truths, or at least a complete sentence.

Uses for Anagrams

Proficiency in anagrams can be used for other kinds of word play. For instance, certain kinds of crossword puzzles frequently make use of anagrams as clues (generally giving the anagram as the clue, then leaving the reader to rearrange the letters into the original word for the solution). Another type of wordplay often found in newspapers is the Word Jumble, which is essentially a rearrangement of the letters of a word into a meaningless mess, or jumble. Basically, they're anagrams without a new meaning. For instance, the clue might be 'D-U-Q-I-L-I' and the solution would be 'liquid'.

The board game 'Scrabble' requires a mind which can mentally reshuffle letters with speed. For instance, 'S-T-A-I-N' may not fit on the board, whereas 'S-A-T-I-N' would.

Anagrams of screen names also make handy 'costumes' - it's become a tradition on h2g2 to scramble nicknames for Halloween, albeit a somewhat controversial one. The fictional vampire Count Dracula is also known to disguise himself in this way, and Harry Potter's arch nemesis, Lord Voldemort, acquired his chosen appellation through use of an anagram⁶.