Logic board games, charades - a tool useful for training logic, memory, quick thinking, which will be relevant at all times. In this article we will talk about one of the most popular and accessible such riddles-puzzles - the metagram.
What is a metagram?
The word "metagram" comes from the Greek. meta - between, gramma - letter. This is one of the varieties of charades - you need to unravel the word at the prompts in the riddle. Most often, this is given ready or implied by another word in which you need to replace one or more letters in order to get the desired one. Otherwise, by means of a chain of substitution of letters it is necessary to turn one word into another, using only the number of steps specified by the author.
In a charade, a metagram can be played both alone and in company. Each player is given a piece of paper with the same metagrams for all. Whoever is faster than the others and at the same time correctly converts one word into another with a verbal chain, he won in this game.
Metagram Appearance
The world learned about what a metagram is on March 29, 1879. The first such charade was published in an English publication called Vanity Fair. Its author was none other than Lewis Carroll, writer, logician and mathematician. And the creator of the legendary "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice in the Looking Glass."
The history of charades in Russia
It is not known for certain when the first metagrams for words appeared in the Russian press. Many of these puzzles belong to the following domestic creators: E. Efimovsky, R. Verdin, O. Stepanov.
In her work, Elena Katsyuba uses metagrams as an artistic device. “Natural mutations,” as she calls them, can be found in her works such as the poem “Dump” (1985), the series “Games Paradise”, released in 2003. It is interesting to observe how the author’s pen transforms darkness into light, an elephant into a fly, and a face into a face.
Having examined what a metagram is, we will go directly to the views of these fascinating puzzles.
Puzzle Metagrams
Metagrams of this type are mysteries in poetic form, in the majority - quatrains. Usually two words are made up that are different in one letter - the task indicates which one. Basically such metagrams with answers are set.
Here are some examples:
With the letter "3" the word glistens,
In the bins of the bank sits.
With "B" there will be a rotten place,
Where zemlytse - well, like a dough!
The answer is gold and swamp.
The following riddle:
With the letter "T" -
Spring is a month,
But with "C" -
Red Planet.
Here we are talking about March and Mars.
The task is more difficult:
With a deaf consonant
I ripen in the field.
But with voiced -
Link in the open.
Here the answer will be the words "ear" and "voice".
Finally, imagine a metagram where not two, but three words were guessed:
With "G" I will become part of the word,
I will be similar to the stratum with “Y”
With "N" - not a bull or a cow,
Let with legs and tail.
The answer: syllable, layer, elephant.
What is a mystery metagram? Now we are more than clear. We turn to the charades of another, no less interesting type - it was them who were first introduced to the public by Lewis Carroll.
Metagram Games
What is a metagram game? In other words, this charade can be called a chain of words. The player is given a leaflet with two words - usually these are antagonistic concepts consisting of an equal number of letters. The participant of the game must, in a few steps, changing only one letter, get the final result from the initial word.
At the same time, intermediate words should differ by just one letter and be equal in data to the number of characters. And, of course, they must exist in Russian. The meta "w mba tar" will not be counted as the correct move. The winner is the player who, faster than the rest, using the very minimum of transformations, forms the final from the initial word.
We give examples of such problems. For example, we were asked to turn a whale into a catfish. The following chain will be correct: whale - cat - com - cat.
A popular but more complex option is to turn a goat into a wolf and vice versa. Transformation can be done in just four steps. See: wolf - regiment - gender - pose - goat.
Now a rather complicated metagram is the conversion of speech into a toast. We go the following way: speech - flow - shadow - awning - test - toast.
Elephant Fly Record
The metagram-question "How to make an elephant out of a fly?" Is very interesting. It is understood that this should be achieved by the same replacement of one character in four-letter words. The record for solving this charade was set in 1992 by Sergei Melnikov. This man without the help of computer technology in 11 stages made an extraordinary transformation:
- fly;
- Mura
- tour;
- container;
- couple;
- a park;
- scout;
- rogue;
- raft;
- slot
- elephant.
However, Sergei lost to artificial intelligence - the computer was able to go this route in just 9 steps. The following algorithm was used for this:
- elephant;
- clone;
- clan;
- koan;
- root;
- bark;
- handicap;
- truck;
- Mura
- fly.
In 2011, a new record was set by a living person - the champion took only eight steps to turn a sedate elephant into a annoying insect. However, the author does not deny that in solving the puzzle he resorted to the help of search engines to find the right words. His chain of transformations came out like this:
- elephant;
- clone;
- clot;
- icon case;
- kilt;
- keel;
- kula;
- mule;
- fly.
What is a metagram? A great way to train your smarts, the ability to build logical chains. In addition, with their help, you can and significantly expand the vocabulary. Such a game will be interesting not only for children but also for adults - even a completely erudite person can hardly solve some problems.
Of course, in our age of search engines, you can easily pick up a word that doesn’t come to mind using a gadget, but it’s much more pleasant to solve such charades on your own.