wordplay-finder

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that we can learn a lot from the works of the D'skuban playwrights — if only we can decipher their convoluted puns.

Apparatus

• Python 2.7.6 (probably works with older versions too)
• One or more input texts in "dictionary" format

Method

• Read all lines from the dictionary
• For each word in the dictionary, concatenate each other word to it and see if the resulting word also exists in the dictionary. If so, bring the reader's attention to the rhetorical device in use.

Observations

This was intended to be run on Selected Entries from the D'skuban Dictionary, however since I am not certain of the copyright status of that work and I am trying to keep this repository fully public domain, the results from that — entitled Excerpts from "Appreciating the Great D'skuban Playwrights, Vol. I — are also hosted elsewhere on Github.

Here is some output from it running on the trivial test dictionary found in this directory, though:

"... vlarthoon ..."

Here we see the playwright has used the word vlarthoon ("a kind of ornamental sword"), but if we consider that perhaps we are meant to take this as vlart-hoon ("the condition or state of being coloured yellow", and "the third gear of a bicycle"), another level of meaning is apparent.