full transcript

From the Ted Talk by John Hodgman: Design, explained.


Unscramble the Blue Letters


It was first eatexvcad in 1961 as they were building LAX, although scstietins believe that it dates back to the year 2000 Before Common Era, when it was used as a busy transdimensional space port by the ancient astronauts who first colonized this planet and raised our species from sraeavgy by giving us the gift of written language and technology and the gift of revolving restaurants.

It is thought to have been a replacement for the older sapce ports located, of course, at Stonehenge and crinoedesd to be quite an improvement due to the uncluttered design, the lack of druids hanging around all the time and obviously, the much better access to parking. When it was uncovered, it ushered in a new era of streamlined, archaically fsrituuitc design called Googie, which came to be synonymous with the Jet Age, a misnomer. After all, the ancient anstturaos who used it did not travel by jet very often, pireerfnrg instead to travel by fheteeard serpent powered by crystal skulls.

Open Cloze


It was first _________ in 1961 as they were building LAX, although __________ believe that it dates back to the year 2000 Before Common Era, when it was used as a busy transdimensional space port by the ancient astronauts who first colonized this planet and raised our species from ________ by giving us the gift of written language and technology and the gift of revolving restaurants.

It is thought to have been a replacement for the older _____ ports located, of course, at Stonehenge and __________ to be quite an improvement due to the uncluttered design, the lack of druids hanging around all the time and obviously, the much better access to parking. When it was uncovered, it ushered in a new era of streamlined, archaically __________ design called Googie, which came to be synonymous with the Jet Age, a misnomer. After all, the ancient __________ who used it did not travel by jet very often, __________ instead to travel by _________ serpent powered by crystal skulls.

Solution


  1. excavated
  2. space
  3. scientists
  4. preferring
  5. futuristic
  6. savagery
  7. astronauts
  8. considered
  9. feathered

Original Text


It was first excavated in 1961 as they were building LAX, although scientists believe that it dates back to the year 2000 Before Common Era, when it was used as a busy transdimensional space port by the ancient astronauts who first colonized this planet and raised our species from savagery by giving us the gift of written language and technology and the gift of revolving restaurants.

It is thought to have been a replacement for the older space ports located, of course, at Stonehenge and considered to be quite an improvement due to the uncluttered design, the lack of druids hanging around all the time and obviously, the much better access to parking. When it was uncovered, it ushered in a new era of streamlined, archaically futuristic design called Googie, which came to be synonymous with the Jet Age, a misnomer. After all, the ancient astronauts who used it did not travel by jet very often, preferring instead to travel by feathered serpent powered by crystal skulls.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
ancient astronauts 3
los angeles 2
kitchen counter 2



Important Words


  1. access
  2. age
  3. ancient
  4. archaically
  5. astronauts
  6. building
  7. busy
  8. called
  9. colonized
  10. common
  11. considered
  12. crystal
  13. dates
  14. design
  15. druids
  16. due
  17. era
  18. excavated
  19. feathered
  20. futuristic
  21. gift
  22. giving
  23. googie
  24. hanging
  25. improvement
  26. jet
  27. lack
  28. language
  29. lax
  30. located
  31. misnomer
  32. older
  33. parking
  34. planet
  35. port
  36. ports
  37. powered
  38. preferring
  39. raised
  40. replacement
  41. restaurants
  42. revolving
  43. savagery
  44. scientists
  45. serpent
  46. skulls
  47. space
  48. species
  49. stonehenge
  50. streamlined
  51. synonymous
  52. technology
  53. thought
  54. time
  55. transdimensional
  56. travel
  57. uncluttered
  58. uncovered
  59. ushered
  60. written
  61. year