XPost: rec.puzzles, alt.usage.english   
   From: peter@pmoylan.org   
      
   On 05/08/25 20:06, Richard Heathfield wrote:   
   > On 05/08/2025 10:57, Pimpom wrote:   
   >> On 05-08-2025 05:44 am, HenHanna@NewsGrouper wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>> This word has 10 letters.  namely:    1234567890   
   >   
   > Those are digits, not letters.   
   >   
   >>> 1234 - carries heredity 456 - is a period of time 567 - is a   
   >>> pest and 890 - is a charged particle   
   >>>   
   >>> What is the word?   
   >   
   > Trivial.   
   >   
   > Here are some clues:   
      
   [snip long list]   
      
   It's impressive how many anagrams one can find of a moderately long   
   word. I'm put in mind of an incident from my past. A colleague had been   
   hired as a lecturer before he had submitted his PhD thesis. This can be   
   done if the interview committee is convinced that the PhD is not far   
   away, but it puts pressure on the person to finish the job.   
      
   My colleague put in many long nights writing up the thesis. One day we   
   arrived to discover that he'd taken the day off, leaving a big note on   
   his office door saying "It's finished". I printed a number of copies of   
   that message in the same font and size, and then reassembled them,   
   ransom note style, with scissors and tape. I then plastered his office   
   door with lots of messages like "dis fine shit fIts in shed".   
      
   After realising how many anagrams I could find I wrote a poem, several   
   pages long, where every line was an anagram of "it's finished". It even   
   made some sort of sense.   
      
   That work of art is now lost.   
      
   --   
   Peter Moylan       peter@pmoylan.org    http://www.pmoylan.org   
   Newcastle, NSW   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)