Monograms and Calligramsīoth elements of ambigram have plenty of use in the English lexicon, but there are a few -gram terms especially worth mentioning here because of their close semantic kinship. The word appears in the title of the 1992 book Wordplay: Ambigrams and Reflections on the Art of Ambigrams, by John Langdon, which suggests the word dates at least as far back as the first years of the 1990s. The word's coinage has been attributed to scientist and philosopher Douglas Hofstadter, in 1984, but our preliminary research has not yet confirmed that assertion. Stephen Wilder, The Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, 15 Dec. Then, the ending becomes the beginning when the second story tells the message of Jesus and His resurrection. Through images, children will watch the Easter book unfold to show the activities with the Easter Bunny. This is second upside-down children's book which opens eyes and minds to discover this unique and awe-inspiring artform called an ambigram.… are upside-down images with two different messages. Firmage, The Alphabet Abecedarium, 1993īut sometimes ambigram is used for an image of a word that shows a different word when it is inverted, turned, or reversed:Īmbigram tattoos are word designs that can be read as two different names, words or phrases depending on the direction from which they are viewed.… One common theme for spring break partiers is to create an ambigram tattoo that expresses multiple sides of their personality, like an ANGEL/DEVIL ambigram.Īnd sometimes ambigram leans heavily on the 'drawing' meaning of -gram to refer to an artistic composition that features one image in a primary position and an entirely other image in an inverted position: the ingenious monograms and ciphers artists and designers have created since ancient times, as well as the more recent work of Scott Kim, John Langdon, and others who attempt to construct designs of words ('ambigrams,' as Langdon calls them) that will read the same when reversed, turned or otherwise inverted. Josh Heinemann, The Montague Reporter, 8 Sept. It reads the same way right side up or upside down. The sign is an 'ambigram,' designed by Frank Gregory of Greenfield. The most common use of ambigram is to refer to an image of a word that is unchanged by being inverted, turned, or reversed: We'll wait while you flip your computer upside down.

Ambigram two words