Man of Letters

Whatever else he may or may not be, Ronald Wilson Reagan probably has the most anagramable name of any American President. Its 18 letters can be rearranged to spell INSANE ANGLO WARLORD, for example, or I ERR; AND GALLOWS ANON? or NO, DARLINGS, NO E.R.A. LAW.

Some of these were devised by ruminative anagram fans. A computer programmed by Mike Morton of Hanover, N.H., generated several hundred thousand word lists from the letters in the President’s name, relatively few of which made even vague sense. Morton’s findings were reported in the quarterly magazine Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics. The most natural-sounding of the anagrams was LONDON WARNS ALGERIA. Others included A RAW, SNARLING NOODLE, LENINGRAD SALOON WAR, ALL WRONG ON A SARDINE and ENGLAND, IRAN, LAOS: ROW! The last one has two possible meanings. It is either a report on a three-way international dispute or the starter’s call at a racing-shell competition.

Where Reagan has it over many of his predecessors is that his name’s letters are well distributed between 7 vowels and 11 consonants, and there is only one unusual letter, W. George Washington, by comparison, has three G’s, and Thomas Woodrow Wilson has three W’s. Other presidents are saddled with J’s, Z’s, V’s and X’s in their names.

Score one more for Reagan. LAND WAR GLORIES ANON. A DOLLAR GROWN INSANE.