Friday 5

A good trick: Cat, Hat, thing, do...

From our friends over at Boing Boing comes this sweet little idea: Write a poem, or a story, or whatever, using only the words that appear in the Dr. Seuss classic “The Cat in the Hat.” Ready, set... GO!

But what are those words? And how many are there (articles cited either/or/and 223 or 236 words). And though I did (eventually) find an online list, I needed something better.

My solution? Type every word of the book into a spreadsheet, run a couple of filters and functions on the prose and ... voila! I got an alphabetized, numbered list of every word Dr. Seuss used to write his easy-reader. And yes, I eventually came up with 236.

You can find that list on Charleston.net, or as a numbered list right here, or as a single-page, printable PDF. And if you do bother to try this little challenge, please send me the results  (if snail-mail suits your results better, try: Dan Conover, The Post and Courier, 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC, 29403).

Garrison Keillor's private tango obsession

Editor’s note: Writer and radio humorist Garrison Keillor of A Prairie Home Companion fame will play the North Charleston Coliseum on Monday, March 12. He sat down recently -- with tongue planted firmly in cheek -- and answered 10 e-mail questions from Friday 5 guy Dan Conover...

Q: There's a soothing quality to your on-air persona, which makes me wonder: When long-time listeners meet you in person, do they seem either comforted or alarmed by your actual personality?

A: I wasn't brought up to expose strangers to my actual personality. In public I am calm, unfailingly polite, soft-spoken, and modestly intelligent. My actual personality is rather different and involves velvet bellbottoms, heavy oak furniture and torches in wall sconces, the consumption of absinthe, and an obsession with the tango.  That is all I care to say about it at the moment. Tall languid olive-skinned women are attracted to me for reasons I can't fathom, and I am putty in their hands. Hours, days, pass in a whirlwind of passion before we return to our senses and for that reason, I am way behind on home maintenance chores.