Gourt > Recreation > Humor > Wordplay > Ambigrams
An ambigram, also sometimes known as an inversion, is a graphical figure that spells out a word not only in its form as presented, but also in another direction or orientation.
Douglas R. Hofstadter describes an ambigram as a "calligraphic design that manages to squeeze two different readings into the selfsame set of curves." The first published reference to the term was by Hofstadter, who attributes the origin of the word to a friend. The 1999 edition of Hofstadter's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Gödel, Escher, Bach features a 3-D ambigram on the cover.
Ambigram types
Ambigrams usually fall into one of several categories: More on [ Ambigram ]
Beer Brothers
A man walks into a pub and says, "Give me three pints of Guinness, please." So the bartender brings him three pints and the man proceeds to alternately sip one, then the other, then the third until they're gone. He then orders three more and the bartender says, "Sir, I know you like them cold, so you can start with one and I'll bring you a fresh one as soon as you're low." The man says, "You don't understand. I have two brothers, one in Australia and one in the States. We made a vow to each other that every Saturday night we'd still drink together. So right now, my brothers have three Guinness Stouts too and we're drinking together." The bartender thinks it's a wonderful tradition and every week he sets up the guy's three beers as soon as he enters in the bar. Then one week, the man comes in and orders only two. He drinks them, then orders two more. The bartender sadly says, "Knowing your tradition, I'd just like to just say that I'm sorry that one of your brothers died." The man replies, "Oh, my brothers are fine - I just quit drinking."
Talk Dirty to Me
What is it when a man talks dirty to a woman? Sexual harassment. What is it when a woman talks dirty to a man? $3.99 a minute.
Bad Drivers
There's a senior citizen driving on the highway. His wife calls him on his cell phone and in a worried voice says, ''Herman, be careful! I just heard on the radio that there was a madman driving the wrong way on Route 280!'' Herman says, ''I know, but there isn't just one, there are hundreds!''
Old Ladies' Noggins
Three old ladies are sitting in a diner, chatting about various things. One lady says, "You know, I'm getting really forgetful. This morning, I was standing at the top of the stairs, and I couldn't remember whether I had just come up or was about to go down." The second lady says, "You think that's bad? The other day, I was sitting on the edge of my bed and I couldn't remember whether I was going to sleep or had just woken up! The third lady smiles smugly, "Well, my memory is just as good as it's always been, knock on wood," she says as she raps on the table. Then with a startled look on her face, she asks, "Who's there?"
Texas Sphincters
On the seventh day, God said, "Let there be football." And it was good. Later that day, God said, "Let there be one team to rule the others and set the standard for excellence." With that, he plucked a star from the heavens and placed it on the helmet of silver and blue. God said, "Let it be called, ''The Dallas Cowboys'' - America''s team." Later that day, God said, "Even Cowboys need a**holes." So he made their fans.
Choking
One day at a local buffet, a man suddenly called out, "My son is choking! He swallowed a quarter! Help! Please, anyone! Help!" A man from a nearby table stood up and announced that he was quite experienced at this sort of thing. He stepped over with almost no look of concern at all, wrapped his hands around the boy's balls and squeezed. Out popped the quarter. The man then went back to his table as though nothing had happened. "Thank you! Thank you!" the father cried. "Are you a paramedic?" "No," replied the man, "I work for the IRS."
01101001 Ambigrams - A gallery of ambigrams by 01101001, a computer fan.
Meta Description: [ 01101001 Ambigrams ]
Ambigram Art and Tattoos - Commercial site with stencils for the body from Wowtattoos.
Meta Description: [ Custom Ambigrams, Ambigram Tattoos and Ambigram Clothing, Illuminati Ambigram Tattoos - More than 1000 ambigram tattoo designs and names available for instant download. Tattoo Image Gallery. Dan Brown, Davinci Code Movie, Angels and Demons Illuminati designs. ]
Ambigram Clothing - First and only line of all ambigram clothing T=shirts from Inversion Clothing.
Meta Description: [ Ambigram Clothes, Shirts and Apparel - Inversion Clothing Company - Our designs are all ambigrams. T-Shirts for Men, Women, and Children. Ambigrams for the next generation. ]
Ambigram Designs and Framed Art - Includes tattoos from Wowdesigns.
Meta Description: [ Custom Ambigrams, Gifts and Ambigram Framed Art - We have more than 750 framed ambigram designs ready for purchase. Gifts for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas... ]
Ambigram Designs by Brett J. Gilbert - A varied collection of elegant ambigram designs.
Meta Description: [ Ambigrams by Brett J. Gilbert. ]
Ambigram.Com - Contains Ambigram-Matic for creating your own personal ambigrams online, plus reversible matchbox art and links.
Meta Description: [ Ambigrams are words or phrases written so that they can be read right side up or upside down! Visit this site to find out more about this amazing form of wordplay! ]
Ambigram.net - Various ambigram designs, based primarily on peoples' names.
Meta Description: [ Ambigram Designs, Tattoo Designs and Custom Ambigram Service ]
Ambigrams - Contains a few ambigrams including 2 four-word ones and a circular one.
Meta Description: [ Ambigrams ]
Ambigrams by Brett J. Gilbert - Small gallery of typographic designs based of people's names. Includes a variety of different ambigram types and some explanatory text describing the challenges and successes of each design.
Meta Description: [ paragraphic.co.uk is, amongst other things, an online portfolio of creative work by Brett J. Gilbert ]
Ambigrams by D H-N - Ambigrams and artwork by artist David Hughes-Narborough.
Ambigrams by Robert M. - Ambigrams of famous celebrities and expressions.
Ambigrams by Stefan Gustavson - Introduction to ambigrams, information about how the writer got involved in them, recommended book, and some of the author's own ambigrams.
Gef's Ambigram Gallery - French site in English, involving ambigrams of French people and phrases.
Japanese Ambigrams - Some ambigrams in Japanese characters.
John Langdon - Presentation of his artistic-like ambigrams.
Planet Perplex Wordplay - Gallery of ambigrams, drawings with words and other wordplay.
Meta Description: [ Gallery of amazing art such as optical illusions, hidden images and impossible objects. The images are accompanied by explanations and links to related resources. ]
Punya's Visual Wordplay Gallery - Includes ambigrams of Hindu words and names plus others.
Scott Kim's page - Contains examples of Scott Kim's ambigrams.
Spanish Ambigrams - Although in Spanish, the viewer can appreciate the ambigrams by clicking on the figures.
Uahlim's Ambipur Gallery - Ambigram gallery with a matrioska ambigram. Mostly in Italian but still appreciable by all.
Upsidedown Truths - Ambigrams involving Christian concepts.
World Play - Ambigrams by Cihan Altay in Turkish, translated into English.
Meta Description: [ Word Play by Cihan Altay ]
| This is me, drawing an ambigram! Can you read what it says? :) Sorry for the bad video-quality! Please tell me what you ... | |
| Next Video | |
