Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde
Encyclopedia
Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde (written in 1981) is a book dedicated to peculiarities of the Dutch language. It was written by 'Battus', one of many pseudonyms of Hugo Brandt Corstius
. The title means "Upperlandic Language and Linguistics", where "Upperlandic" is word play
on "Netherlandic
". The book has ten chapters, numbered 0 through 9, that humoristically use the Dutch language. Chapters are interleaved, with all odd pages belonging to different chapters than the adjacent even pages. This confusion is, of course, intentional. Different fonts are used for both sets of pages.
Chapter 0, titled "Programme and Constitution of Upperlandic" explains what is Upperlandic.
Other chapters include various wordplays such as palindrome
s, spoonerism
s, shortest possible sentence containing all letters, shortest and longest possible words (and note that Dutch allows for word-chaining), chessboard poetry, anagrams, lengthy pieces of prose containing no vowel other than the e, or containing no "tall" letters as on a typewriter (e.g. oeain but not j or b) and so forth.
In 2002 the sequel, Opperlans! Taal- & letterkunde (intentional misspelling) was printed. Because the chapters in this new version were even more mystifying, in 2007 another book "Opperlans woordenboek" was released to let people find out what the actual question was. It's in fact just a list of Opperlandic words with reference to the big book - and some new words.
Hugo Brandt Corstius
Hugo Brandt Corstius is a Dutch author known for his achievements in both literature and science....
. The title means "Upperlandic Language and Linguistics", where "Upperlandic" is word play
Word play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
on "Netherlandic
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
". The book has ten chapters, numbered 0 through 9, that humoristically use the Dutch language. Chapters are interleaved, with all odd pages belonging to different chapters than the adjacent even pages. This confusion is, of course, intentional. Different fonts are used for both sets of pages.
Chapter 0, titled "Programme and Constitution of Upperlandic" explains what is Upperlandic.
- Upperlandic is Dutch on vacation. Upperlandic is Dutch without the awful utility generally attached to that language. Upperlandic words and sentences look like their Dutch counterparts at first glance. But then, Upperlandic is meant for the second glance."
Other chapters include various wordplays such as palindrome
Palindrome
A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction, with general allowances for adjustments to punctuation and word dividers....
s, spoonerism
Spoonerism
A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched . It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner , Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency...
s, shortest possible sentence containing all letters, shortest and longest possible words (and note that Dutch allows for word-chaining), chessboard poetry, anagrams, lengthy pieces of prose containing no vowel other than the e, or containing no "tall" letters as on a typewriter (e.g. oeain but not j or b) and so forth.
In 2002 the sequel, Opperlans! Taal- & letterkunde (intentional misspelling) was printed. Because the chapters in this new version were even more mystifying, in 2007 another book "Opperlans woordenboek" was released to let people find out what the actual question was. It's in fact just a list of Opperlandic words with reference to the big book - and some new words.