Technical name for a new language-based concept
April 13th, 2010 by Onamography
Onamography is a writing technique that involves creatively incorporating proper nouns (company names, celebrities, etc.) in regular English sentences.
A few examples to clarify the concept:
Onnicle 1: The man at the bar acknowledged that he found the job amateurish.
Onnicle 2: The SMS said..Bob ill. The rag ate sick shellfish!
The first sentence has ‘Barack Obama’ embedded in it and the second one has Bill Gates. The concept can be extended to include multiple names in a paragraph.
I’ve been trying to find out if there is already a technical name in English to describe it. Onamography is a coined word (Greek origin: onuma –> name, graphe –> writing) as I couldn’t find anything else that comes close to describing the concept.
Any inputs?
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We (i.e. the creators of Pain in The English) developed a series of iPhone apps to teach preschool kids how to recognize letters and words. (My wife developed the characters and I did the coding.) Our own 4-year old daughter has been enjoying them. They are now available on Apple's App Store. You can search for "bitskis" on your iPhone, or visit the official website at bitskis.com.
If you have kids and own an iPhone, please check it out. It's $2.
Haha, that’s clever name dropping, hidden in plain English sentences.
If it were only for me, I’d be glad to rename the obscure “Onamography” to a much clearer “crypto-namedropping”
I’m quite smitten with onamagraphy (I think the name should stick).
I created a couple of my own:
1. It was a drab radiation; farther up, it turned brighter.
2. You get a one dollar bill if you kill a lemur; ray gun not needed
3. Bajas on the sand, and on the hill: eels.
Where do you people come from? When I was younger we were just into cars and guns and shit
Steve, you must find it marginally interesting if you’re reading it, eh? Incidentally, I’m into cars as well. Not so much guns. Definitely not shit.
Interesting, seems to be a sub-genre of Steganography.