In a Word

accismus
n. feigned disinterest in a desired object

His and Hers

Many masculine nouns can be converted to feminine with a suffix, as HERO-HEROINE and HOST-HOSTESS.

Name a feminine noun that can be converted to masculine with a suffix.

	Select Click for Answer
I was thinking of WIDOW-WIDOWER, but two readers point out that BRIDE-BRIDEGROOM also works if GROOM counts as a suffix.

Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweth sed, and bloweth med,
And springth the wude nu–
Sing cuccu!

— English round, 1260

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.

— Ezra Pound, 1917

The names of the 12 months can be anagrammed into these lines:

Merry, durable, just grace
My every future month embrace;
No jars remain, joy bubble up apace.

But poet and journalist George Ellis (1753-1815) summed them up this way:

Snowy, Flowy, Blowy,
Showery, Flowery, Bowery,
Moppy, Croppy, Droppy,
Breezy, Sneezy, Freezy.

hindermate
n. a companion who hinders; opposite of helpmate

checkbook

… balances. The bottom half of each letter mirrors the top.

unlove
v. to cease to love

New York florist Max Schling once placed an ad in the New York Times that was written entirely in shorthand.

Hundreds of curious businessmen passed the ad on to their secretaries, requesting a translation.

The secretaries read: “When getting flowers for the boss’s wife, remember Schling’s Florist.”

A puzzle by Isaac Asimov:

What word in the English language changes its pronunciation when it is capitalized?

	Select Click for Answer
Asimov was thinking of polish, but there are many others: august, herb, job, lima, natal, nice, rainier, reading, rodeo, tangier … … and the delightful Mousehole, a village in Cornwall whose name is pronounced mau-zill — and which presumably contains mouseholes. Thanks to Wade and Dominic for the long list.