mnemonic
A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding.
Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and image ...
device frequently employed by tournament
Scrabble
''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left ...
players (the word anamonic is itself a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsUK: "bonus") plays. Just as importantly, a player can quickly verify that he or she should not waste valuable time looking for a word in a set of letters that is ruled out by an anamonic.
A successful anamonic will typically have some memorable semantic relationship to the stem. It will usually avoid unnecessary or easily confused words, which might lead to a misconception of just which letters combine with the
stem
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushr ...
.
When no vowel combines with the stem, an anamonic phrase will typically make use of multiple vowels that are meant to be ignored. A skilled Scrabble player will typically be able to verify that at least one of these vowels does not form an acceptable word with the stem, thereby avoiding confusion.
Authorship
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
of particularly noteworthy anamonics is often acknowledged, although this is not necessarily expected by the Scrabble community.
The term "anamonics" was coined in a private letter to Nick Ballard in 1993. The coiner was Bob Lipton, who was probably the first or second player in history to make extensive use of anamonics before they even had a name. Lipton's first anamonics were constructed in the summer of 1987. It was Ballard who first popularized the technique in a series of articles published in the now-defunct newsletter "Medleys."
John Chew
John Chew Hiang Chea (; born 4 October 1947) was the third Metropolitan Archbishop and Primate of the Province of Anglican Church in South East Asia as well as Bishop of Singapore. He retired as the 8th Bishop of Singapore on 4 October 2012. He ...