Hardly. I *can* do it in my *spare* *time*, when I'm semi-bored, and an
interesting phrase happens across my email.
> OK, I'll bite. How DO you come up with these?
It's a fairly straightforward C program, which I'm trying to find time to
Javafy one of these days. Nothing very pretty, but it works. It scans a
"dictionary" and builds a list of every word (or phrase) which can be subsumed
into the phrase. For efficiency, the list is built in decreasing size-order;
that way, for each subphrase, I'm not searching through thousands upon
thousands of entries which can't possibly match. There are some other subtler
enhancements, but that's the gist.
The key part of this is the "dictionary". It's really a word and phrase list
that started out fairly plain, and got many, many twisted enhancements over
time. Like the "SPAMmermoor" variation of the phrase "Lucia di Lammermoor".
Any phrase used in common parlance, especially if extreme in some way, plus
many cultural references; it all helps the interesting stuff to float to the
top of the sized-ordered list.
When attacking a large phrase like that last one, I start by looking just at
the matches first. The output (which I pipe through more) looks like the
following. The matched word or phrase is first, and the remaining letters are
last.
[international terrorism bbbccccdeeeeeeeeilllmmnnooooprssssssttuu]
[Transmission: Impossible abbccccdeeeeeeeeelllmnnnoooorrrrssttttuu]
[unidirectional currents abbbcceeeeeeeeilllmmmnnoooooprrssssssttt]
[percussion instruments aabbbcccdeeeeeeeeiillllmmnnooooorrrsssttt]
[sub specie aeternitatis bbcccdeeeeeeillllmmmnnnnoooooorrrrssssttu]
[unidirectional current abbbcceeeeeeeeilllmmmnnoooooprrsssssssttt]
[binomial nomenclature bbcccdeeeeeeeeiillmnnooooprrrrsssssssttttu]
[blue-ribbon committees aacccdeeeeeeeiilllmnnnnooooprrrrsssssstttu]
[Commission: Impossible aabbcccdeeeeeeeeelllnnnnooorrrrrssstttttuu]
[Dominican Republicans bbcceeeeeeeeeilllmmnnooooorrrrsssssstttttu]
[percussion instrument aabbbcccdeeeeeeeeiillllmmnnooooorrrssssttt]
[Public Enema Number One abcccdeeeeeeiiilllmnnooooorrrrsssssssttttt]
[Admission: Impossible abbcccceeeeeeeeelllmnnnnoooorrrrrssstttttuu]
[blue-ribbon committee aacccdeeeeeeeiilllmnnnnooooprrrrssssssstttu]
[contemporaneousness abbbcccdeeeeeeeiiiillllmmnnooorrrrssssttttu]
[Dominican Republican bbcceeeeeeeeeilllmmnnooooorrrrssssssstttttu]
[Dulles International bbbcccceeeeeeeeiilmmmnnoooooprrrrsssssstttu]
[industrial pollution abbbcccceeeeeeeeeeilmmmnnnoooorrrrssssssttt]
[post-traumatic stress bbbcccdeeeeeeeeeiiillllmmnnnnnooooorrrssstu]
[Remission: Impossible aabbccccdeeeeeeeelllmnnnnoooorrrrssstttttuu]
...
A total of 31396 matched phrases
Then, I pick a phrase which tickles me, and I can specify that as a base to
start with. For example, in the following, a9 is the program (the 9th
variation -- started as a simple permutation generator), the options are "c"
for inclusion of crude language, "u" for suppressing the list of unused phrases
and "x 5" for limiting the output to matches involving no more than 5 phrases.
doofus.fnal.gov> a9 -cux 5 "Internet-based electronic commerce solutions to
real business problems." "nuclear submarines"
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiots bolometer orbit
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiots briolette broom
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiots Biltmore booter
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiots bloomier bettor
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiots bottomer boiler
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiots libretto boomer
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiots boomlet orbiter
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot briolettes broom
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot embroilest robot
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot slobberier motto
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot bloomiest Robert
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot bolometer bistro
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot bolometer orbits
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot bottomers boiler
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot briolette brooms
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot Biltmore booster
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot Biltmore booters
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot bloomest orbiter
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot bloomier bettors
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot bottomer boilers
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot libretto boomers
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot libretto bosomer
nuclear submarines connecterlessness complete idiot limboest Roberto
...
I don't really see much here that I like, so I might go on to another base
phrase, or I could generate a list of unused phrases using that base, like
this:
doofus.fnal.gov> a9 -cx 0 "Internet-based electronic commerce solutions to real
business problems." "nuclear submarines"
A total of 0 anagrams produced from
bbcccdeeeeeeeeiiilllmmnnnooooooprrrsssssttttt
[connecterlessness bbcdeeeeiiillmmoooooprrstttt]
[connectorlessness bbcdeeeeeiiillmmooooprrstttt]
[indecent liberties bcceeeellmmnooooooprrssssttt]
[triple letter score bbccdeeeeiilmmnnnooooosssstt]
[incomplete idiots bbcceeeeeellmnnoooorrrssssttt]
[intermittentness bbcccdeeeeeilllmooooooprrssst]
[contortionistic bbcdeeeeeeeelllmmnoooprrsssstt]
[correspondences bbceeeeeiiilllmmnoooorsssttttt]
[decommissioners bbcceeeeeeilllnnooooprrssttttt]
[decommissionest bbcceeeeeeilllnnooooprrrsstttt]
[electric pencils bbdeeeeeilmmnnoooooorrsssstttt]
[electric toilets bbcdeeeeeilmmnnnoooooprrsssstt]
[emotionlessness bbcccdeeeeeiillmnooooprrrstttt]
[incomplete idiot bbcceeeeeellmnnoooorrrsssssttt]
[inconsistencies bbcdeeeeeelllmmoooooprrrsstttt]
[most incompetent bbccdeeeeeeiilllnoooorrrsssstt]
[non compos mentis bbccdeeeeeeeiilllooorrrssstttt]
...
And then add on to the base phrase:
doofus.fnal.gov> a9 -cux 4 "Internet-based electronic commerce solutions to
real business problems." "nuclear submarines' electric toilets"
A total of 88 anagrams produced from bbcdeeeeeilmmnnnoooooprrsssstt
nuclear submarines' electric toilets non compos mentis bolsterers Do Bee
nuclear submarines' electric toilets non compos mentis slobberest erode
nuclear submarines' electric toilets non compos mentis bolsterer Do Bees
nuclear submarines' electric toilets non compos mentis slobbered stereo
...
nuclear submarines' electric toilets complemented obsession Robertson
...
And then pick a phrase I like, do some rearrangement, and save it. Just takes
a minute or two.
Nuclear submarine's electric toilet complemented Robertson's obsession.
Cheers,
Wayne