# Gramogram

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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Short description|Group of letters pronounced as if a word}}
[[File:Instant-messaging-icq3.jpg|thumb|Instant-messaging app [ICQ](/source/ICQ) is a gramogram for "I seek you".]]
A '''gramogram''', '''grammagram''', or '''letteral word''' is a letter or group of letters which can be pronounced to form one or more words, as in "CU" for "see you".<ref name="high">{{cite web|title=Cryptic crossword reference lists > Gramograms|url=https://www.highlightpress.com.au/cryptic-crosswords/gramograms|publisher=Highlight Press|access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref><ref name=deal>{{cite web|title=Grammagrams|url=https://www.audreydeal.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=449:grammagrams&catid=42:wordplay&Itemid=72|publisher=Audrey Deal|access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Grammagrams|url=https://www.wordnik.com/lists/grammagrams|website=Wordnik|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref> They are a subset of [rebus](/source/rebus)es, and are commonly used as abbreviations.

They are sometimes used as a component of [cryptic crossword](/source/cryptic_crossword) clues.<ref name=high /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2020-03-01.html |work=[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times) |title=Letter Dictation |author=Caitlin Lovinger |date=29 February 2020 |access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>

== In arts and culture ==
A poem reportedly appeared in the ''[Woman's Home Companion](/source/Woman's_Home_Companion)'' of July 1903 using many gramograms: it was preceded by the line "ICQ out so that I can CU have fun translating the [sound FX](/source/sound_effect) of this poem".<ref name=deal/>

The [Marcel Duchamp](/source/Marcel_Duchamp) "readymade" ''[L.H.O.O.Q.](/source/L.H.O.O.Q.)'' is an example of a gramogram. Those letters, pronounced in French, sound like "''Elle a chaud au cul''{{-"}}, an idiom which translates to "she has a hot ass",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=dvfpAAAAMAAJ Anne Collins Goodyear, James W. McManus, National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution), ''Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture''], National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2009, contributors Janine A. Mileaf, Francis M. Naumann, Michael R. Taylor, {{ISBN|0262013002}}</ref> or in Duchamp's words "there is fire down below".

The [William Steig](/source/William_Steig) books ''[CDB!](/source/CDB!)'' (1968) and ''[CDC?](/source/CDC%3F)'' (1984) use letters in the place of words.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/05/nyregion/william-steig-95-dies-tough-youths-and-jealous-satyrs-scowled-in-his-cartoons.html |newspaper=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |title=William Steig, 95, Dies; Tough Youths and Jealous Satyrs Scowled in His Cartoons |author=Sarah Boxer |date=5 October 2003 |access-date=26 May 2022}}</ref> Steig has been credited as being a founder of this literary technique.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f8ovDwAAQBAJ |page=3 |title=D C-T! |author1=Joana Avillez |author2=Molly Young |year=2018 |isbn=9780525558057 |publisher=[Penguin Publishing Group](/source/Penguin_Publishing_Group)}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303649504577492852506781194 |newspaper=[The Wall Street Journal](/source/The_Wall_Street_Journal) |title=The Surprising Fun of Visual Puns |author=Meghan Cox Gurdon |date=29 June 2012 |access-date=26 May 2022}}</ref>

The suicide prevention charity [R U OK?](/source/R_U_OK%3F)'s name is a gramogram, with supporters encouraged to text "R U OK?" to friends and family to see how that person's mental health is going.

A short gramogram dialogue opening with a customer asking "FUNEX" ("Have you any eggs?") appears in a 1949 book ''Hail fellow well met'' by [Seymour Hicks](/source/Seymour_Hicks)<ref name="hicks">{{cite book|last1=Hicks|first1=Sir Seymour|title=Hail Fellow Well Met|date=1949|publisher=Staples Press|page=183|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWUqAAAAMAAJ&q=%22have+you+any+eggs%22+funex|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref> and was expanded into a longer sketch of [phrasebook](/source/phrasebook)-style gramogram dialogue for the comedy sketch show ''[The Two Ronnies](/source/The_Two_Ronnies)'', under the title ''Swedish made simple''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Brennan|first1=Ailis|title=Ronnie Corbett dies: Here are his funniest seven sketches|date=31 March 2016 |url=http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/ronnie-corbett-funniest-sketches|publisher=GQ|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Ronnie Corbett Christmas return: Puns upon a time |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12068221 |access-date=10 September 2021 |work=BBC News |date=24 December 2010}}</ref>

The 1980s Canadian gameshow ''[Bumper Stumpers](/source/Bumper_Stumpers)'' required contestants to decode gramograms presented as fictional vanity licence plates.

''[Here Come the ABCs](/source/Here_Come_the_ABCs)'', a 2005 children's album by [They Might Be Giants](/source/They_Might_Be_Giants), contains the song "I C U", which is entirely made up of gramograms.

Within the ''[Ben 10](/source/Ben_10)'' media franchise, two transformations used by protagonist [Ben Tennyson](/source/Ben_Tennyson) are named gramograms: [XLR8](/source/XLR8_(Ben_10)), introduced in the [original series](/source/Ben_10_(2005_TV_series)), and [NRG](/source/NRG_(Ben_10)), introduced in ''[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien](/source/Ben_10%3A_Ultimate_Alien)''.

==See also==
* {{annotated link|Logogram}}
* {{annotated link|Rebus}}
* {{annotated link|SMS language}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Wordplay
Category:Word games

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gramogram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramogram) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramogram?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.