Orbit 18
Page 26
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Faithful readers will recall that in Orbit 16 we invited them to submit temporally scrambled words to be added to the “Little Lexicon for Time-travelers” in that volume. We offered a small prize for the five most outrageous entries, thinking that, if lucky, we might get that many. To our surprise, twenty-nine readers responded with a total of six hundred ninety-six words and phrases. Luckily, the operative word in our offer was “outrageous,” not “ingenious” or “difficult”; even so, we found it impossible to reduce the list of prize winners to five. Accordingly, the following are being sent $5 for each word, and a copy each of Orbit 18:
J. Kevin Branigan, 75 W. Squire Drive, Rochester, New York: postater.
Dick Curtis, 52 Brattle Street, Holden, Massachusetts: childery.
Penny L. Davis, 127 E. Main Street, Washingtonville, New York: minutei.
Eva Free, 501 E. 32nd St., Apartment 504, Chicago, Illinois: P. M. Sterdam.
Leonard N. Isaacs, Justin S. Morrill College, East Lansing, Michigan: aright paearly, raoutstem.
Larry W. Martin, Department of Linguistics, 568 EPB, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa: Passiacome.
Len Rosenberg, 3530 DeKalb Avenue, Apartment 5-G, Bronx, New York: Geol Dolfe.
Aljo Svoboda, 2182 Cheam Avenue, Santa Susana, California: clifroris.
Fran Wilson, 1315 Euclid Avenue, Syracuse, New York: gout and toffic, MML
The following also sent entertaining lists of words: Michael Bishop, Pine Mountain, Georgia; Tim Breslin, 419 56th Street, Altoona, Pennsylvania; L. R. Enders, 935 Ninth Street, Albany, New York; Robin H. Kreutzberg, 1548 W. University #3, Tempe, Arizona; Jay F. Petersen, 11 Ash Road, Branford, Connecticut; William Sanders, 316 W. 21, Little Rock, Arkansas; Ellen M. Seidenian, 1415 Holt Road, Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania: but since our prizes are exhausted, we can offer them only gratitude.
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A number of readers asked, “Please, what is ‘Math E’Nar’?” We won’t tell, but will offer some help. The time-word in “Math E’Nar” is concealed, like a face in a puzzle drawing, by being spread across all three words of the phrase. (If you get this one, you should have no trouble with the prize-winning “Geol Dolfe.”) Among the prize winners, Larry W. Martin’s “Pass£-acome” is so elegant that we could not resist it, but so difficult that we think we should give you a hint: the solution is the name of a city.
Anatomy was a favorite topic among the contestants: besides the prize-winning cright paearly and clifroris, we got afterskin (Enders), comenads and mink (Davis), and penwas (appropriately, Petersen). Other recurrent topics are summarized below.
The arts: godian and presentoral (Davis); Borwas Karlon (Wilson); retrose (Branigan). Natural history: fhigher and shellfwash (Petersen); oldt (Branigan); planktoff (Kreutzberg); offioff (Rosenberg); fromafro (Branigan). Religion: Geneswas, athewast, fetwash, Waslam, and Vwashnu (Enders); postearly (Martin and Wilson); Anowa (Rosenberg and Curtis); pericalypse (Svoboda); Postsbyterian and Maharwashi (Sanders). Geography: Louwasikata (Sanders); Was-real and Wastanbul (Enders); Coffey Wasland (Wilson).
Other words that particularly pleased us were afbacked and vigilpost (Bishop); loutguistics (Svoboda); excomet, boutcome, sexit, and exinorable (Wilson); apchild, calisnowics, bespring and cyouth (Curtis); thover (Breslin); punderty (Seidenian); up-and-in, out-cunabula, and garcomeyle (Enders); telestarboardation and paleoprene (Branigan); futurery and onicial (Rosenberg).
Michael Bishop submitted a “Little Lexicon for Intra-temporal Football”: goal ante, linefronter, quarterfortk, split beginning, sudden birth, and touchup.
Several readers sent letters written in timese; Mark Alexander, for instance, wrote: “Your cofftest in Orbit 16 concerning the linicon for time-travelers is an iste of time, if I may be so bnew to suggest. I kthen it might seem amusing to some fans, but I think it’s nlate fleftening to see retrofessional people in the fore-back of science fiction such as yourself publwashing such noffsense. Let us hope that thwas bdark upon science fiction does not contexue. Your punishment should be to read A. E. van Vogt’s The Weapon Shops of Washer, if you have not done so already.” And William Sanders wrote at the bottom of his list, “These are all I have to supermit to your protest, Mr. Kday (and dwasmit, don’t tell me that’s unretronounceable, after ‘pfirstic’ for Chrwast’s sake) and if I win a copy of the anthology I hope you will aufromgraph it for me. P.S.: I postdict you will regret having exstigated this entire nearce.”
Not only undeterred but manically resolute, we offer another lexicon (it appears on page 64) and another contest. Prizes will be given as before; entries should be sent to Damon Knight, 3334 W. 14th Ave., Eugene, OR 97402, and must be received before November 15, 1976.