Reframing English Words

Reframing is a popular psychological tool. It helps people see a situation, thought, or problem in a new way. The goal is to shift your thinking. Instead of focusing on the negative, try to see it in a more positive or realistic way.

A few days ago, creator Andrea Corwin shared a short piece about ananyms. You can think of them as word reframing. You can read Andrea’s story here.

Her description of an ananym related to one’s name spelled backwards, sometimes used as a pseudonym.

She invited readers to provide their own name ananym as a comment.

I didn’t know the term for it, but I remember my dad. He painted in oils and always signed his name backwards: "Nodnol."

The only trick with names that I was aware of was the one we did at school to get your name if you never became a porn star. You take the name of your first pet and put it in front of your surname.

You end up with some great names. Mine would have been "Fleet London," but unfortunately, I never made it to the big screen. 😁😁

I responded to Andrea. Mine was:

Nivlac Nodnol

The challenge I accepted was to compose a rhyming poem that incorporated my anagram. Here is my attempt:

My first name would be nivlac,

Calvin, I have got your back.

When it comes to my surname,

It doesn’t sound the same.

From the city of British fame,

London becomes nodnol

So nivlac nodnol doesn’t sound too bad at all.

There are some famous ananyms if you do a Google search.

- Alucard is the ananym of Dracula. Many characters in pop culture use this name, including in the film "Son of Dracula."

- Namor is a Marvel Comics character whose name is the ananym of Roman.

- Harpo Productions is the media company founded by Oprah Winfrey.

- Yen Sid is the sorcerer in Disney's Fantasia, whose name is the ananym of Disney.

- Nevaeh has become a popular girl's name in the US, derived from spelling heaven backwards, and

- The Scottish name Segna is thought to have been invented by (mostly) reversing the name Agnes.

Some have even made it into the English dictionary. For example,

“yarooh” is “a humorous stylised representation of a cry of pain created from the ananym of “hooray”.

"Kayo" is a funny way to say "OK". It flips the sounds of the letters, not the letters themselves. It is slang term for knockout.

“skoob” is the ceremonial burning of a book or books, created from the ananym of “.”

Antonyms are not to be confused with antonyms. An "ananym" is a pseudonym formed by reversing the letters of a real name. An "antonym", on the other hand, is a word that means the opposite of another word.

Till next time,

Calvin