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Spoken Anagrams

word WRITTEN crossed out   Anna of movie Frozen with words Princess of Arendelle   grandma   grandma

No. of Players: 2+
Type of Game: spoken
What you need: nothing

Goal

To solve anagrams spoken by others.

How to play

One player thinks of a word whose letters can be rearranged to spell another word (i.e., it is an anagram) and says this word to a second player. If the second player successfully solves the anagram, he must think of a new anagram and say it to the next player, and so on. But if the second player fails to solve the anagram, he drops out for that round (or for the remainder of the entire game), and the next player must solve the unsolved anagram. To gradually increase the difficulty of the game, players can first use just 3-letter words, then 4-letter and 5-letter words, and so on, in subsequent rounds.

Example

Alvin: First we do 3-letter words, right? How about the word OWN?
Branson: WON. The word is RAT.
Casey: TAR. The word to you is EAR.
Alvin: ARE. How about EAT?
Branson: TEA. SAP to you.
Casey: SPA. I give you SAP again, but you can't say SPA.
Alvin: ASP. Ok, let's do 4-letter words now. SKIN.
Branson: SINK. How about HEAL?
Casey: ah...I give up.
Alvin: HALE! You're out of the game Casey.

The game continues between Alvin and Branson.

Did you know?

Your family may call her grandma, granny, or gram. But these nicknames are relatively recent, historically speaking. The full word 'grandmother' actually dates back to 1375–1425. It derives from the Old English ealde mōdor, literally meaning 'old mother.'

boy sitting at table with open book   woman sitting at table with cup of coffee   grandmother in rocking chair knitting

The origin of 'great-grandmother' (þridde mōdor, or 'third mother') is slightly more recent. It was first recorded around 1520–30. Incidently, the prefix grand- is used to refer to a person who is one generation removed, and the prefix great- indicates yet another generation.

boy sitting at table with open book   woman sitting at table with cup of coffee   grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting

Following this convention, 'great-great-grandmother' would be fēowerþe mōdor (fourth mother) and great-great-great-grandmother would be fīfte mōdor (fifth mother). Given that the average person lived just 35 years in the Early Middle Ages when Old English was spoken, few people back then would have had use for these terms. Other than speaking of mothers who were long since gone, of course.

boy sitting at table with open book   woman sitting at table with cup of coffee   grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting

However, that is not true today. There have been a few cases of single families with six generations alive at the same time. And even one family with seven. This occurred with the birth of Christopher John Bollig on January 21, 1989, which made Augusta Bunge Pagel a very-much-alive sixte mōdor – that is, a great-great-great-great-grandmother!

boy sitting at table with open book   woman sitting at table with cup of coffee   grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-great-great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting

According to Guinness World Records, Augusta was born on October 13, 1879 in Tonawanda, New York. This made her 109 years, 3 months, and 8 days old at the time. Followed by her daughter Ella Sabin (aged 89), her granddaughter Anna Wendlandt (70), her great-granddaughter Betty Wolter (52), her great-great-granddaughter Debra Bollig (33), her great-great-great-granddaughter Lori Bollig (15), and her great-great-great-great-grandson Christopher.

boy sitting at table with open book   woman sitting at table with cup of coffee   grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-great-great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting   great-great-great-great-grandmother in rocking chair knitting

Augusta died on May 18, 1989 in Medford, Wisconsin – no doubt quite proud of her amazing family!

In case you're wondering, the images under the title of this word game form a rebus puzzle:

SPOKEN + ANA + GRAMS = SPOKEN ANAGRAMS

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