wordplay on S Anand

Calvin and Hobbes Tracer Bullet 2

Sun, 12 Jul 2026 16:59:07 +0530

In 2007, I extracted the first arc of the Tracer Bullet strips. I didn’t realize I never shared the second arc. So, 19 years later, here it is. It remains my all-time favourite series from Calvin and Hobbes.

This is funny at so many levels, but the wordplay is what sticks with me.

“I keep two magnum’s in my desk. One’s a gun, and I keep it loaded. The other’s a bottle and it keeps ME loaded.”

“Snooping pays the bills, though. Especially Bill, my bookie, and Bill, my probation officer.”

Tamil AI

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 03:35:36 +0000

I was testing LLMs’ sense of Tamil humor with this quote:

Extend this post with more funny Tamil words that end with .ai - mentioning why they’re funny.

Chenn.ai is the artificial intelligence capital of India.
Kadal.ai
Kad.ai
Dos.ai
Vad.ai
Ad.ai
Thal.ai
Mallig.ai
Aratt.ai
And finally
Podad.ai
All spoken in namma bash.ai 😅

The Chinese models didn’t fare well.

DeepSeek made up words.

Mood.ai - An AI that perfectly captures your mood.
Sokk.ai - The AI for when you’re bored.
Thanni.ai - A hydration assistant.

Qwen too.

Kozhamb.ai - AI cooking spicy emotional support curry.
Kuttr.ai - it’s got drama and a side of gossip.
Sutta.ai - The AI that’s seen things too many things.

[Kimi](http://Click the link to view conversation with Kimi AI Assistant https://www.kimi.com/share/d3jipjcn907c4b502agg) was confused with Hindi.

Kalyan.ai - The match-making AI.
Gol.ai - rounds up to the nearest “gol” (ten).

Claude didn’t know Tamil well either.

Kumb.ai - Worships AI models every 12 years.
Thamb.ai - Younger sibling AI.
Chet.ai - The AI assistant named after the city.

ChatGPT got every word right, but has no sense of humor.

Sir.ai - “Prison.” Where you go after 15 failed CAPTCHA attempts.
Il.ai - “Leaf.” For all your “green AI” posts. 🌿
Vil.ai - “Price.” Where your token bill lives. 💸

Grok was a bit better. Got the words right and some were funny.

Mand.ai - skull-crushing smarts.
Maapill.ai - the ultimate matchmaker.
Yaan.ai - elephant-powered AI? Trunk calls incoming!

The app that really got this right was Gemini.

Tholl.ai (தொல்லை - Nuisance) - annoyance as a service.
Kaval.ai (கவலை - Worry) - AI that simulates anxiety, so you don’t have to.
Vazhukk.ai (வழுக்கை - Bald Head) - AI satellite imagery to track receding hairlines.
Aam.ai (ஆமை - Tortoise) - slow AI.
Sand.ai (சண்டை - Fight) - Discourse-as-a-Disaster service.
Sodhan.ai (சோதனை - Ordeal) - AI that exists to test your patience.

Hobbes on a calculator

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 04:34:55 +0000

I just learned that any word made of just these letters beighlosz can be spelt on a calculator.

That includes Hobbes! 538804 upside-down looks like this:

I’m surprised I never knew that.

The longest, by far, appears to be hillbillies – 53177187714

Contronyms

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 04:06:02 +0000

Contronyms are words that have two meanings that are the opposite of each other.

Sanction, for example, may mean restricting something (e.g. sanction against imports) or approving something (e.g. sanctioning imports).

Scan may mean to look at cursorily (e.g. scan a document) or look at in detail (e.g. scan an X-Ray)

Fine may mean excellent (e.g. fine wine) or average (e.g. the wine’s fine).

I enjoyed this list of 75 contronyms.

Pun board

Thu, 26 Sep 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Mickey Kapoor owns a restaurant in the US, opposite to Pappadeaux’s restaurant. Every time Pappadeaux puts up a signboard, Mickey puts up a pun-board in retort. Hilarious. via Mala

Fun with words

Thu, 03 Jan 2002 12:00:00 +0000

Fun with words: anagrams, palindromes, oxymora, etc.

Pun of the day

Fri, 17 Aug 2001 12:00:00 +0000

Pun of the day