A gramogram, grammagram, or letteral word is a letter or group of letters which can be pronounced to form one or more words, as in "CU" for "see you".
They are a subset of
rebus
A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...
es, and are commonly used as abbreviations.
They are sometimes used as a component of
cryptic crossword clues.
In arts and culture
A poem reportedly appeared in the ''
Woman's Home Companion
''Woman's Home Companion'' was an American monthly magazine, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930s and 1940s. The magazine, headquartered in Springfield, O ...
'' of July 1903 using many gramograms: it was preceded by the line "ICQ out so that I can CU have fun translating the sound FX of this poem".
[
The ]Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
"readymade" L.H.O.O.Q. is an example of a gramogram. Those letters, pronounced in French, sound like "''Elle a chaud au cul'', an idiom which translates to "she has a hot ass", or in Duchamp's words "there is fire down below".
The William Steig
William Steig (November 14, 1907 – October 3, 2003) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books, best known for the picture book '' Shrek!'', which inspired the film series of the same name, as well as others that i ...
books CDB! (1968) and CDC? (1984) use letters in the place of words. Steig has been credited as being a founder of this literary technique.
The suicide prevention charity R U OK?'s name is a gramogram, with supporters encouraged to text "R U OK?" to friends and family to see how that person's mental health is going.
A short gramogram dialogue opening with a customer asking "FUNEX" ("Have you any eggs?") appears in a 1949 book ''Hail fellow well met'' by Seymour Hicks
See also
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References
{{reflist
Word play
Word games