We build "Word Ladders" by changing one letter at a time at each step while maintaining the exact order of letters from the previous word, naturally at each step we have to form a proper word, until all letters of the initial word are changed:

B I G
B I T
B A T
C A T
Let us change the rules.
At every step only one letter may be changed.
Once changed you have to keep that letter.
All letters from the previous word must occupy a new position, in effect we create an anagram of those letters but with one replaced.

S P A N
P A N T
T R A P
R A T E
T I E R

Now, can you change PORE into a medicinal container and DRUM into summer confections that it might also contain? No letters of the original word are to be present in the final one.

Be prepared to offer of your own making too. Maybe add the thought to your Parlor Games list.

(In reply to re: More Laddergrams.... by brianjn)

NARC may be American slang. It is a term for a Narcotics Officer or a snitch for one.

RANI is the Hindu princess or wife of a raja, a Hindu prince.

PEIR was a mistake, thus I removed the chain it was part from the list. It was to be PERI [a beautiful girl; a fallen angel (Persion folklore)], but that spelling shares the same position for
the letter R.

PLAT is a map showing planned or actual features of an area.

KNAR is a knot or burl on a tree, piece of wood or lumber.

ANKH is an Egyptian symbol for life/fertility. It is a cross with a loop instead of the top arm.

All these words entered my vocabulary in my youth, thus I never considered them obsolete, though some could be considered uncommon (such as PERI).
 

Posted by Dej Mar on 2010-06-15 02:02:43