Voila: A Scornful Spy

When I have a bit of a fever -- the beginnings of an "angine blanche" -- my brain turns to mush. I abandon attempts to accomplish anything that requires common sense, decision-making or editorial judgment. Resigned to faire le cocooning in my apartment, swaddled in polaire (polar fleece) and sipping tisanes. The rest of the world has to go away. Whatever intellect my febrile cerebellum may have had before, all it could muster yesterday was making lists of words. Such as:

Fully Spoons Caviar
Canal Frivolous Spy
Oops: Sinful Cavalry
Voila! Play, Cross, Fun
Cavalry Of Upsilons
Safari Pulls Convoy
Voila Snafu, Cry Pols
Vanilla Scoops Fury
Flouncy Saliva Pros
Soupy Naval Frolics
A Colossal Fun Privy
Voila A Scornful Spy
Voila Puns, Cry Loafs

What on earth are these? Why, they're anagrams of "Polly Vous Francais," of course.

Don't worry, I didn't spend the day rearranging letters on my own. I didn't have the energy for that. But I did discover the Internet Anagram Site.

So I decided to check out anagrams of names of some of my favorite people, sayings and so on. Trust me, you can kill a whole day -- bedridden or no -- oh say, finding deliciously evil anagrams of despised individuals you'd love to get even with. Or, more kindly, discovering witty anagrams of famous people or companies you'd like to charm. The cool part is that you can plug in any word or phrase and search for anagrams in French or English (or a number of languages.)

For example, I learned on the site that an anagram for "New York Times" is "Monkeys Write." Anagrams just don't get more adorable than that! "Clint Eastwood" is "Old West Action."

Here are samples of a few other of my favorite publications I wasted an afternoon finding....

Le Figaro
Log Afire
Frail Ego
A Frog Lie

Le Monde
Led Me On

Libération
Alien Orbit
Alibi Toner
Latrine Bio
Able in Riot

Le Canard Enchainé
Adrenaline Chance
Cancan Header Line
Adrenal Acne Niche
Enhanced Clean Air

International Herald Tribune
Threadbare Nutritional Linen
Rehabilitation Errand Tunnel
Rattlebrain Unlined Antihero
Trainable Indentation Hurler

Le Parisien
Praise Line
Alien Spire
A Lie Ripens
I Repeal Sin

and, finally, a glossy anagram that I couldn't resist:

Madame Figaro
Afraid-Age Mom

I checked on my hometown numero uno rag, the Boston Globe, and came up with a cheerful list:

Longest Boob
Bootleg Snob
Blog Sob-Note

Fortunately, today I'm feeling much better. Anagrams and milligrams of vitamin c: the new cure-all. Any further attempts at word lists would mean that I am simply engaging in "A Certain Sport". Go ahead, you figure out that one.