Happy Groundhog Day!

Groundhog Day is a popular tradition celebrated in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerging from its burrow on this day sees a shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks, and if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early. While the tradition remains popular in modern times, studies have found no consistent correlation between a groundhog seeing its shadow or not and the subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather. The weather lore was brought from German-speaking areas where the badger is the forecasting animal. This appears to be an enhanced version of the lore that clear weather on Candlemas forebodes a prolonged winter.

In this lexigram of GROUNDHOG DAY, we explore the train-of-thought of our weather forecasting rodent. Each word of the piece is made from only letters found in that phrase. Although it is customary for these words to be capitalized, a more readable format has been adopted here. This PURE-LEXIGRAM is an original masterwork lexigram. ©2007, Steve Miller, Intrinsic Development.

Learn More

The letters in a name or phrase can form many other words. Several descriptive lexagrams can be made from them and, when place together, can create a biographical perspective. A lexagram (or lexigram) is a form of wordplay where the letters in a name or phrase are shuffled to create new words. These new words make short statements that, ideally, describe the original term. For example, the word ASTRONOMICAL has letters to make the words STAR, SOLAR, and CORONA, as well as to create each word in the phrases AN ASTRAL SAILOR IN NASA and ROMANTIC MOONLIT MARTIAN CANALS. Look for where the letters in each word can be found in ASTRONOMICAL. To make a lexagram, find words hidden in the letters of your name or a short phrase, then use those terms to make sentences that describe the original name. To make it easy to read, the original phrase and any words found within it are CAPITALIZED.

When searching for words-within-words, shuffling the sequence of letters in the name or phrase is very helpful. While an online generator is great to quickly obtain a list of candidate words which are valid for lexagrams or anagrams, there is much fun to be found in searching for words yourself! Changing the sequence of the letters in a phrase give our brains a fresh perspective on the situation. New words will seem to jump out after simply re-arranging the letters into a new pattern. Rearrange the letters carefully and find new words. Continue exploring by studying the sequences of letters in this name.

Make your own lexagrams. Read about it and look for key words hidden in the letters of the phrase.