# The Alphabet Game **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2007, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173 "2007-04-08T09:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/1 "2007-04-08T09:32:31Z")
The Alphabet Game We used to play this at a school I worked at in Switzerland. Here is how it is played: Write the alphabet, then pick a sentence at random (read the headlines of a newspaper, or the lyrics of a song) and then write those letters against the alphabet. Find the names of famous people that go with the letters. If you can find more than one name, do so – the winner is the person with the most original famous names. (Duplicate names used by other players on their ballots cancelled each other out – so you try not to go for the obvious or at least list two or three names.) We used the rule that 50% of the general public knew the famous person. (No fictional names from books, movies, etc.). Spelling errors are allowed as long as the first and last initial are correct. **You only get 10 minutes to finish!** EXAMPLE: I will use the sentence: Hi Opal A H Andrew Hamilton B I C O Carrol O’Conner D P Dick Powell E A Ed Asner, Edward Albee F L Frank Langella So on the above example, I couldn’t think of anyone with the initials, B I in ten minutes, but I was able to think of two people with the initials E A (thus, if someone had one of the names, I had a chance to score with the other name). It is also a nice game to play alone if you are stuck on a plane or waiting in line somewhere. If you want to try to play, check out the following next reply. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/2 "2007-04-08T09:34:11Z")
I am using **The Straight Dope Message Board** as the random sentence. Cut and paste onto a new reply. Don’t look at other player’s answers until you have spent the **10 minutes** trying to find f_amous_ names for your list. A T B H C E D S E T F R G A H I I G J H K T L D M O N P O E P M Q E R S S S T A U G V E W B X O Y A Z R ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/3 "2007-04-08T09:44:53Z")
My attempt: A T Alan Thicke B H Bob Hope C E D S Donald Sutherland E T F R G A H I Henry Ibsen I G J H Jack Halley K T Kathleen Turner L D Larry David M O Micheal Ovitz N P O E P M Penny Marshall Q E Queen Elizabeth R S Richard Simmons S S T A Tom Arnold U G V E Vince Edwards W B William Buckley X O Y A Z R And my time is up…geez, I suck at my own game tonight! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/4 "2007-04-08T12:34:08Z")
A T Anne Tyler (author) B H Bob Hoskins C E D S Donald Sutherland E T Edward Teller F R Fred Rogers G A Greg Allman H I I G J H John Hancock K T Ken Tucker (EW writer/critic) L D Linda Darnell (!!!) M O N P O E P M Paul Mazursky Q E Queen Elizabeth. (That counts, right?) R S Roy Scheider S S Sally Struthers T A Tim Allen U G V E W B Walter Brennan X O Y A Z R Damn, too bad my friends Arthur Tobias, Pat Macpherson, Molly O’Brien, and Nancy Parsons aren’t famous… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/5 "2007-04-08T15:18:49Z")
Filling in some gaps: BI Billy Idol CE Chris Evert NP Nick Park UG Ulysses Grant ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/6 "2007-04-08T15:36:33Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] UG Ulysses Grant [/QUOTE] Oooh, good one! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/7 "2007-04-08T17:27:05Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] I am using **The Straight Dope Message Board** as the random sentence. Cut and paste onto a new reply. Don’t look at other player’s answers until you have spent the **10 minutes** trying to find f_amous_ names for your list. [/QUOTE] A T – Alvin Toffler B H – Benny Hill C E – Chris Evert D S – Darryl Strawberry E T – Edward Teller F R – Floyd Reese G A – George Abbott H I – Harold Ickes I G – J H – Jim Henson K T – Kenneth Tynan L D – Leo Durocher M O – Mike Oldfield N P – Ned Pepper O E – P M – Pete Maravich Q E – R S – Roger Staubach S S – Sammy Sosa T A – Tom Arnold U G – Ulysses Grant V E – Vera Ellen W B – Ward Bond X O – Y A – Z R – ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/8 "2007-04-09T02:26:08Z")
Well, I managed to fill in 14 of the 26 slots my first time through this kind of puzzle… I like it. Without looking at earlier responses yet: AT - Alex Trebek (longtime host of TV game show “Jeopardy!”) BH - Buddy Holly (early rock star) FR - Franklin (D.) Roosevelt (32nd US President) GA - Greg “Cadillac” Anderson (NBA player) HI - Henrik Ibsen (playwright) JH - John Henry (the legendary folk hero with a hammer) MO - Mike O’Brien (common name, also US Olympian and Australian politician… PM even?) NP - Natalie Portman (actress) PM - Philip Marlowe (the detective from Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep”) QE - Queen Elizabeth (of England) RS - Ryne Sandberg (Hall of Fame 2nd Baseman, Chi Cubs) SS - Stephen Sondheim (Songwriter) TA - Tori Amos (singer) WB - Warren Beatty (actor) I’ll note that all my replies are in Wikipedia (some did turn out to be fictional characters though), which is a reasonable definition of “famous” these days. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/9 "2007-04-09T04:12:37Z")
While I instantly recognized many other people’s submissions, in some cases as clearly better than what I put out there in terms of recognizability, I also didn’t get quite a few of them and had to resort to Wikipedia to find out who they were (in all cases, older or somewhat obscure Hollywood folks). In the effort to compile a complete list, I’d still like to find names with better Q ratings for the following entries: VE - I think Vera Ellen is “famous” enough based on her biography, it’s just me who didn’t place the name. MO - my entry for Mike O’Brien is pretty weak, but I don’t think Michael Ovitz is all that famous; I recall his name (with help from Wikipedia) only for getting axed as the head of Disney after only about a year but with a huge golden parachute. He’s in Wikipedia though and has been front-page material for the Wall St. Journal, so that’s not bad, but I’d like to see if I can do better. And as for “FR - Floyd Reese”, who’s that? He’s not in Wikipedia. Of course F(D)R is known to all so the slot is filled, I’m just curious about who this guy is. I also got another one (after the ten minutes were long up): YA - **Y** asser **A** rafat (longtime head of the PLO, co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin) And as an improvement on any other GA submission, [Gillian Anderson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Anderson) (Scully from The X-Files). This leaves open (on my list): IG - ? MO - so far, Michael Ovitz… OE - ? VE - so far, Vera Ellen… XO - ? ZR - ? ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/10 "2007-04-09T08:04:15Z")
A T - B H - Billie Holliday C E - D S - Diane Sawyer E T - Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Tudor F R - G A - Giorgio Armani H I - Henrik Ibsen I G - J H - Jennifer Holliday, Jennifer Hudson K T - K.T. Tunstall L D - Laura Dern M O - N P - O E - P M - Paul Martin Q E - R S - Rod Stewart S S - Sharon Stone T A - Tori Amos U G - V E - W B - Warren Beatty X O - Y A - Yuri Andropov Z R - That’s all I had. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/11 "2007-04-09T13:04:43Z")
A T – Art Tripp (rock drummer) B H – Benjamin Harrison (president) C E – Chuck Estrada (baseball player) D S – David Suskind (intellectual) E T – Ellen Terry (old-time stage actress) F R – Fred Rogers G A – George Altman (baseball player) H I – Harold Ickes (FDR advisor) I G – J H – John Hammond (musician) K T – Kate Taylor (sister to James and Livingston) L D – Larry David (TV producer/actor) M O – Merlin Olson (football player/actor) N P – Neifi Perez (baseball player) O E – P M – Paul Masson (winemaker) Q E – Queen Elizabeth R S – Ron Shelton (film director) S S – Susan Sarandon T A – Tom Arnold U G – V E – Vincent Edwards (Actor best known for **Ben Casey** \_ W B – Warren Buffett (investor) X O – Y A – Z R – [Zelda Rubenstein](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0748289/) (actress, best known for recurring part in **Picket Fences** ) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/12 "2007-04-09T13:57:45Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] And as for “FR - Floyd Reese”, who’s that? He’s not in Wikipedia. Of course F(D)R is known to all so the slot is filled, I’m just curious about who this guy is. [/QUOTE] Until recently, Floyd was General Manager of the Tennessee Titans. That’s pro football in Nashville, and while probably only Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and maybe a few other states with enough Titans fans to fog a mirror would know about him, around here he was pretty well known. Take away the ten minute time limit and I could probably have thought of another FR, but I didn’t so I put his name down as a place holder, with intentions to go back and get a better known person for the slot. Time ran out. I have no issue with removing his name, however. As for finding him online, now that you know a little about him, good luck. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/13 "2007-04-09T16:23:56Z")
IG-Indira Gandhi ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/14 "2007-04-09T16:25:57Z")
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine] IG-Indira Gandhi [/QUOTE] Yay! Excellent one! ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/15 "2007-04-09T16:31:22Z")
AT- Anne Tyler BH- Bob Hope CE- DS- David Soul ET- FR- GA- Grant Aleksander HI- IG- JH- Jack hannah KT- Karl Tuborg LD- Linda Darnell MO- mary O’hara NP- Nancy Pelosi OE- PM- Paul Moyers QE- Queen Elizabeth RS- Robin Strasser SS- Susan Strasberg TA- Terrell Anthony UG- VE- WB- Werner Baxter XO YA ZR ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/16 "2007-04-09T21:12:41Z")
Italicized names are ones I thought would fall below the “50% of people would know them” threshold among the general public, but would likely be recognized by most members of this board: A T – _Anne Tyler_ B H – _Betty Hutton_ C E – Chris Elliott D S – Dick Smothers E T – Elizabeth Taylor F R – _Frank Rizzo_ G A – George Allen (football coach), George Allen (senator and son of the other) H I I G J H – John Houseman K T L D – _Len Deighton_ M O – Mel Ott N P – Nancy Pelosi O E P M – Paul McCartney Q E R S – Richard Simmons S S – Shel Silverstein, Suzanne Somers, _Susan Sontag_, Steven Stills, Stephen Sondheim T A – Tim Allen U G V E – _Virgil Earp_ W B – Wallace Beery X O Y A Z R ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/17 "2007-04-09T22:42:13Z")
A T - Alex Trebek B H - Brett Harte C E - D S - Dan Savage E T - Edward Teach F R - G A - H I - I G - J H - John Houston K T - L D - M O - N P O E - Omar Epps P M - Peter Molyneux Q E - Queen Elizabeth R S - Richard Simmons S S - Steven Soderberg T A - Tom Arnold U G V E W B - Wallace Beery X O Y A Z R Best I can do right now. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-alphabet-game/399173/18 "2007-04-09T22:45:01Z")
I’d like to point out that, while I don’t have as many answers as other posters, I do have both a pirate, and an actor most famous for portraying a pirate on my list. By the laws of the internet, I win this thread.