Sunday, August 18, 2013

Elfin Jar Hog, or: How to Turn Your Pet's (or Anyone's) Name into an Anagram

Hey, wanna know a secret? I can't believe I'm writing a how-to on making pet name anagrams. Because why didn't someone do it a long time ago?! Think of all the fun we've all been missing!
Thanks for listening. ;)

* * * * *

Anagram: A word (e.g., name), phrase or sentence formed from another by rearranging its letters. 

What the peanut butter fudge?! ;)

 I happened to walk by the TV the other morning at precisely the same time a certain network news program was running a segment on name anagrams. Not pet name anagrams, specifically, just proper names, in general. And during the segment, the three anchors on camera learned humorous rearrangements of their own names, as previously chosen by producers, using the website anagramgenius.com.

Naturally, I ran straight to my computer, found the website (plus a couple others), and anagrammed Jon Farleigh and Dewi's names, six ways from Sunday. (In case you're not familiar with that vernacular: I spent at least 2 hours, using their call names, nick names and AKC kennel names, trying to find anagrams that suited their personalities/traits.) 

Good googly moogly, y'all! The number of word combinations were mind-boggling! 

That's a REAL anagram of his full name, Dewi Vaughn!

As you all know (and if you don't, you do now), I can't stand to keep fun stuff to myself, so I'm gonna show you how you can find unlimited anagrams of your own (in a fraction of the time it took me), using two different (free) websites!

Insider's Tip: Several more hilarious anagram-captioned photos of my Corgis are dotted throughout this tutorial.

The first one (mentioned above, as touted by a certain network news) is anagramgenius.com.



Just scroll down the home page to the free "Anagram Server" option, and click "Try it now."


Type whatever name you want in "The text to be anagrammed" field, and click "Generate Anagrams" at the bottom of the page. 


With this particular website, only one anagram will result* (based on your search criteria), even though there might be thousands of possible word combinations (the larger the name the more possibilities). In my example above, the anagram of Jon Farleigh is "Jr of Healing." (What the heck is that, by the way?) ;)

For the record, I like this anagram (of Jon's full kennel name) much better! ;)

And, that is why I'm going to show you how to find multiple results using a different (free) website!

But first, here are a few search tips:

<> The more letters in the name, the better search results (obviously). But obvious aside, if your pet's name is Fifi, or Bob, for example, you're gonna have to use both a first and (your?) last name, or a longer nick name, or full kennel name (like I used above with Jon Farleigh, if applicable) to get good results. 
<> Leave the gender "inanimate." 
<> Three-word anagrams are better than two (if possible).
<> Set minimum word length at 2 (if you have the option) to get more results.
<> Don't be afraid to play around! You can't break these websites (probably)!

From Dewi's full kennel name. I don't even want to know. :P 

The next website is easypeasy.com/anagrams.



This page is overwhelming to look at, so don't (look at it)! Just trust me, and click the first link, "Solve/Make Anagram," in the left side bar, under the Start Here menu.


Enter your search criteria on this screen. Note: The numeric selection criteria will be prefilled. To get the best results, however, enter "2" as the shortest word size, and nothing higher than 3 for must have size.

Your max words number should vary, the longer the name you enter. For example, I entered his full kennel name, Cadnocluns Jon Farleigh, and selected 4 for max words. If I'd used just Jon Farleigh, though, I would have changed that criteria to 3.

Remember! You can't break this stuff, so, frankly, you can enter whatever criteria you want, and just play around until you get what you're looking for. 

If you traded the "e" in "geranium" for a "c," and moved the "g" over in front of the "ash," it would say
Vain Dwarf Cranium Gash. EW!

Anagram Engine Results Screen


Scroll down the page until you see Part 1: The words used to create your anagrams. Here, you should see a long list of words that were generated using the letters in the name you provided. You don't need to do a thing with these words, BUT...you might find it fun to glance through some of them - because not all of them will be used in your anagrams - just to see if there's anything particularly "fitting" or  even, "shocking"!

Once enough time has elapsed (and the engine starts spitting out anagrams), you can continue to scroll down the page to Part 2: The resulting anagrams. They will be listed in some sort of alphabetical pattern, so you might need to scroll a lot to see all your results (depending on how long the name is, and/or the maximum number of search results you listed on the (previous) search input screen).

To change your results at any time, just scroll back up the page to the left side bar in Part 1, and click tweak these results. If you do, you'll be directed back to the previous page. 

Aren't ashamed and Nirvana mutually exclusive?
Perhaps Dewi just needs to find his fir wig, aka Christmas tree hat!? ;)

And, friends, that's all there is to it! 

So, you think you'll try it? Or, have you already?

And if you do try it, I'd love for you to share some of your results, especially the wacky ones, either here or on the Facebook page!

P.S. You can post pics there, too! Like this one, perhaps:

Let me just be the first to say that if, in fact, Jon Farleigh was being bathed in margarine,
he would not be looking at the camera. Nor would I be dumb enough to publish photographic evidence.

Or this:

Sweet! ;-)

Have fun, y'all!


* At anagramgenius.com, there is the option to download some free (and fairly robust) anagram software, with which you can input many custom criteria, and generate thousands of results (among other things). I downloaded it, frankly, before I realized I needn't have, to get, for my simple needs, the same results. If you decide to download the free software, though, be advised that you only get 10 searches before your "trial" ends, at which time, you'll have the option to purchase an "upgrade," or go to easypeasy.com/anagrams (for example) and do it for free. :)

6 comments:

  1. That sounds like fun,. We will have to give it a go. Have a marvellous Monday.
    Best wishes Molly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No joke, one of Riley's is:

    "Adventurous Hellish Pal"

    How fitting!!! :)

    Elyse (and Riley)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, poor Riley! :) I actually had to censor Dewi's (full kennel name anagram) for the blog. I mean ALL of it! ;P

      Delete
  3. BOL!

    Vlad (Black Russian Terrier w/Romanian name) is:
    "Dried-up vagabondage illustrates."
    Offensive words NOT excluded:
    "Vulture's deep-seated plagiarist." I don't understand what's offensive?

    Barkly (Cardi Corgi) is:
    "Oh Dear Me! Kind thrashes favorably."
    Offensive not excluded: The same


    That thing is hilarious! Thank you for the giggle!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hilarious. I love the gonads one. (Is that weird?) But "View and hug" is CLASSIC! Yes! That's what I want to do.

    Rita Bouchard = "A bitch ardour." Too funny.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh boy, mom is going to like this
    Benny & Lily

    ReplyDelete

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