Buzz
A pangram, derived from the Greek words 'pan' meaning 'every' and 'gramma' meaning 'letter,' is a sentence that includes every letter of the alphabet at least once. Pangrams serve various purposes. One common example is a pangram that showcases every letter of a font on your computer screen. They also appear in typing exercises, ensuring all alphabet keys are used. Additionally, pangrams are a form of constrained writing, where the goal is to create the shortest possible sentence containing all the letters while maintaining coherence. A flawless twenty-six-letter pangram is essentially an anagram of the English alphabet. This list focuses on English pangrams, though there are exceptions, and I've included authors when possible.
10. Self-Counting Pangram
“This pangram contains four a’s, one b, two c’s, one d, thirty e’s, six f’s, five g’s, seven h’s, eleven i’s, one j, one k, two l’s, two m’s, eighteen n’s, fifteen o’s, two p’s, one q, five r’s, twenty-seven s’s, eighteen t’s, two u’s, seven v’s, eight w’s, two x’s, three y’s, and one z.” (183 characters, English)
Explanation: This is quite simple; it accounts for every letter in the sentence, even those that wouldn't appear if the entire alphabet weren't included. Crafted by Lee Sallows.
A conversation between Douglas Hofstadter, Rudy Kousbroek, a Dutch linguist and essayist, led Lee Sallows to create a self-enumerating pangram. Hofstadter had presented the challenge of crafting sentences that describe themselves. The original pangram Sallows devised exceeded 300 characters and failed to include a j, q, and z. In response, Kousbroek released a Dutch version, which motivated Sallows to use his background in electronic engineering to develop The Pangram Machine. This machine took the description of the sentence fragment and worked to fill in the missing parts, resulting in the pangram shown above. It was featured in Scientific American in 1984.
9. The Alphabet Song
“a-b-c-d-e-f-g h-i-j-k-l-m-n-o-p q-r-s t-u-v w-x y and z Now I know my 'ABCs,' Next time won’t you sing with me” (68 letters, English)
Explanation: It's the singing of the alphabet! Created by Charles Bradlee, arranged by Louis Le Maire.
The song was initially copyrighted in 1835 by Boston's Charles Bradlee, with the title 'The A.B.C., a German air with variations for the flute and a simple piano accompaniment.' The musical arrangement was credited to Louis Le Maire, an 18th-century composer. The theme used is from Mozart's piano variations (shown above) and is titled: 'Ah, vows dirai-je, maman.' This theme is more widely known as 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' and 'Baa Baa Black Sheep.'
8. The Original German Version
“Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den großen Sylter Deich.” (53 Letters, German)
Explanation: Victor chases twelve boxers across the vast Sylter dam. Author Unknown.
The German 'Victor-jagt' pangram, in use since before 1800, contains all the letters of the German alphabet, including the umlauted characters ä, ö, and ü. It is widely recognized and is considered the German equivalent of the 'The quick brown fox' pangram (see below).
7. The Iroha
“Iro wa nioedo Chirinuru o Wa ga yo tare zo Tsune naramu Ui no okuyama Kyō koete Asaki yume miji Ei mo sezu.” (47 letters, Japanese archaic hiragana)
Explanation: Even the blooming flowers / Will eventually fall / Who in this world / Remains unchanged? / The deep mountains of vanity – / We cross them today / Without being misled by shallow dreams / Or delusions. Author disputed.
This flawless Japanese pangram, woven into a poem, was once attributed to the Heian-era Japanese Buddhist priest and scholar Kūkai (774–835 AD). However, this attribution is disputed, as it's believed that during his time, the kana table included separate 'e' sounds for the 'a' and 'ya' columns. The poem holds a significant place in Japanese culture, frequently appearing in motifs and in military use. Pre-1945 Japanese weapons were numbered with the opening syllables of the original poem, and it was also used to denote the ranks of submarines in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Additionally, Iroha is used for train car classifications: I represents first class, Ro signifies second class, and Ha stands for third class.
6. The Fast, Agile Fox
“The fast, agile fox leaps over a sleepy dog.” (33 characters, English)
Author Unknown; The phrase first appeared in The Michigan School Moderator, one of the earliest known references.
“The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is a pangram in English. It's commonly used to evaluate typewriters, computer keyboards, and other tools that involve the full alphabet. Thanks to its succinctness and clarity, it has become widely recognized.
5. Ella Minnow Pea
“Fill my box with five dozen liquor jugs.” (32 characters, English)
Written by Mark Dunn.
Ella Minnow Pea is a 2001 novel by Mark Dunn. The story unfolds through letters or notes exchanged among characters, with banned letters gradually removed, causing passages to become more creatively spelled and increasingly challenging for the reader to decode. Set on the fictional island of Nollop, near South Carolina, the island is home to Nevin Nollop, the alleged creator of the famous pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
4. Sphinx Pangram
“Sphinx of dark quartz, judge my vow.” (29 characters, English)
Author Unknown.
This eerie pangram gained attention for its use in Adobe's InDesign publishing software for English. The sentence was inadvertently translated into all the languages supported by the program, and the error went unnoticed for months until a bilingual user, fluent in both German and English, identified the flaw.
3. Claude Shannon’s Ideal Pangram
“Squdgy fez, blank jimp crwth vox!” (26 letters, English)
Translation: A small felt hat with no brim is barely enough to drown out the sound of a Celtic fiddle. This was crafted by Claude Shannon.
Claude Shannon, known as the Father of Information Theory, created this intricate and somewhat nonsensical perfect pangram. It adheres to the most rigorous rules for pangrams, such as avoiding abbreviations, acronyms, contractions, initialisms, proper nouns, and Roman numerals. These kinds of pangrams usually share a common flaw: they lack an essential article (a, an, or the) before the object following the verb.
2. An Exemplary Pangram
“Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx.” (26 letters, English)
Translation: In a headline-like manner, we are informed that Mr. Jock does not capture many lynx. The author remains unknown.
Finding perfect pangrams is a challenging task, but this particular one has earned widespread recognition among those in search of sensible, flawless pangrams. While it offers some room for interpretation and doesn't strictly adhere to all pangram rules—such as avoiding abbreviations and proper nouns—it stands as a more reasonable example of a perfect pangram.
1. Dmitri Borgmann and the Use of Proper Nouns
“Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.” (28 letters, English)
Translation: A forest nymph should dance slowly because rapid movements irritate Bud (likely a character). This was crafted by Dmitri Borgmann.
Dmitri Borgmann created this pangram in his book ‘Language on Vacation.’ It's one of the few to make sense with so few letters, though it includes a proper noun: Bud. Were the use of proper names permitted in the strictest pangrams, a simpler perfect pangram could be: 'I am Joseph Qrutzlfwycxdbvngk.'
