LOGICAL THINKING XXIII

FIGURING OUT AUNT MATILDA I

The Play of Words

Richard Lederer

Aunt Matilda's likes and dislikes are based on the patterns of letters or sounds in words. For example, Aunt Matilda like apples, but not oranges. She likes tennis, but not golf. Butter but not margarine, supper but not lunch, waffles but not pancakes, and jazz but not rock. Aunt Matilda likes things that contain double consonants. Can you explain Aunt Matilda's preferences in the following examples?

1. Aunt Matilda likes:

    Birthdays but not anniversaries

    Cupcakes but not pastries

    Suitcases but not luggage

    Highways but not roads

    Baseball but not hockey

    Airplanes but not trains

 

2. Aunt Matilda likes:

    Oboes but not clarinets

    Picnics but not outings

    Downtown but not uptown

    Voodoo but not magic

    Redheads but not brunettes

    Singing but not dancing

 

3. Aunt Matilda likes:

    Pets but not dogs

    Golf but not squash

    Pool but not billiards

    Rats but not mice

    Flow but not ebb

    Desserts but not snacks 

Answers:

 

1. Aunt Matilda likes compound words.

 

2. Aunt Matilda likes words with internal rhyme. 

 

3. Aunt Matilda likes perfect anagrams - words which spell a different word when spelled in reverse.