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A self-inventorying Spanish sentence, discovered/invented by Miguel Lerma of the Universidad Politecnica of Madrid:

Esta frase contiene exactamente doscientas treinta y cinco letras: veinte a’s, una b, dieciseis c’s, trece d’s, treinta e’s, dos f’s, una g, una h, diecinueve i’s, una j, una k, dos l’s, dos m’s, veintidos n’s, catorce o’s, una p, una q, diez r’s, treinta y tres s’s, diecinueve t’s, doce u’s, cinco v’s, una w, dos x’s, cuatro y’s, y dos z’s.

See also The Quick Brown Fox, Bills of Lading, and Inventory.

Auto-Antonyms

More self-contradicting words:

  • AUGHT (“anything” and “nothing”)
  • BULL (“edict” and “nonsense”)
  • ENJOIN (“prescribe” and “prohibit”)
  • KICK OFF (“begin” and “die”)
  • NERVY (“brash” and “timid”)
  • RAVEL (“tangle” and “disentangle”)
  • TEMPER (“harden” and “soften”)
  • UNBENDING (“rigid” and “relaxing”)
  • WEATHER (“withstand” and “wear away”)

Zing is appeal, but zinging is criticism.

In a Word

spoffle
v. to make oneself very busy over a matter of very little consequence

“An Eastern Counties word.” — Charles Mackay, Lost Beauties of the English Language

Extensive Mutation Pair

The word EXTENSION can be rearranged into the words ONE, TEN, and SIX.

String together the numbers 1, 10, and 6 and you get 1106.

Add them and you get 17.

The word EXTENSIVELY can be rearranged into the words SIXTY and ELEVEN.

String together the numbers 60 and 11 and you get 6011.

Add them and you get 71.