# Panalphabetic window

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Text containing all letters of the alphabet in order

A **panalphabetic window** is a stretch of text that contains all the letters of the alphabet [in order](/source/Alphabetical_order). It is a special type of [pangram](/source/Pangram) or [pangrammatic window](/source/Pangrammatic_window).

Natural-sounding panalphabetic sentences are not particularly difficult to construct. Poet [Howard Bergerson](/source/Howard_Bergerson) constructed the following 132-letter panalphabetic window:[1][2][3]

Well, **ab**out porn, I **c**an say **def**initely that althou**gh** **I** loathe **j**un**k** **l**ike that **m**yself, I do**n'**t pr**op**ose to **q**uestion othe**r** people'**s** righ**t** to it, beca**u**se, in my **v**ie**w**, if se**xy** maga**z**ines and X-rated movies are what they want instead of the real thing, more power to them!

Considerably rarer are short, naturally occurring panalphabetic windows. Based on the [letter frequency](/source/Letter_frequency) distribution of a large corpus, [Mike Keith](/source/Mike_Keith_(mathematician)) calculated the expected window size for English text to be around 3000 letters. His computer-assisted search of [Project Gutenberg](/source/Project_Gutenberg) identified the shortest natural panalphabetic window as a 535-letter passage from *The Alkahest*, a translation of [Honoré de Balzac](/source/Honor%C3%A9_de_Balzac)'s *[La Recherche de l'Absolu](/source/The_Quest_of_the_Absolute)*:[4]

Soon, little colloquies followed, a few words said in a low voice behind Emm**a**nuel's **b**ack, trifling de**c**eptions which give to a look or a wor**d** a m**e**aning whose insidious sweetness may be the cause o**f** innocent mistakes. Relyin**g** on **hi**s intimacy with Felicie, Pierquin tried to discover the secret of Marguerite's **j**ourney, and to **k**now if it were rea**l**ly a question of her **m**arriage, a**n**d, whether he must ren**o**unce all ho**p**e; but, notwithstanding his clumsy cleverness in **q**uestioning them, neithe**r** Balthazar nor Felicie could give him any light, for the good rea**s**on **t**hat they were in the dark themselves; Marg**u**erite in taking the reins of power seemed to ha**v**e follo**w**ed its ma**x**ims and kept silence as to her projects. The gloom**y** sadness of Baltha**z**ar and his great depression made it difficult to get through the evenings.

A shorter 408-letter panalphabetic window was identified by Branden Aldridge in 2018, from [Thomas Hart Benton](/source/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(politician))'s 1854 autobiography *Thirty Years View*:[5]

[...] the politicians were to make the panic, by the alarms which they created for the safety of the laws, of the constitution, the public liberty, **a**nd the pu**b**li**c** money: an**d** most z**e**alously did each division o**f** the combination perform its part, and for the lon**g** period of t**h**ree full months. The dec**i**sion of the resolution condemning General **J**ac**k**son, on which a**l**l this **m**achi**n**ery **o**f distress and **p**anic was hung, re**q**ui**r**ed no part of that time. There wa**s** **t**he same majority to vote it the first day as the last; b**u**t the time was wanted to get up the alarm and the distress; and the **v**ote, **w**hen taken, was not from any e**x**haustion of the means of terrif**y**ing and agoni**z**ing the country, but for the purpose of having the sentence of condemnation ready for the Virginia elections—ready for spreading over Virginia at the approach of the April elections.

## See also

- [Pangram](/source/Pangram)

- [Pangrammatic window](/source/Pangrammatic_window)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-shakespeare_1-0)** Bergerson, Howard (August 1980). ["Kickshaws"](http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol13/iss3/12/). *[Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics](/source/Word_Ways%3A_The_Journal_of_Recreational_Linguistics)*. **13** (3): 175–186.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-eckler_2-0)** Eckler, A. Ross Jr. (May 2010). ["Howard Bergerson"](http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol43/iss2/2/). *[Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics](/source/Word_Ways%3A_The_Journal_of_Recreational_Linguistics)*. **43** (2): 82–88.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-dance_3-0)** Eckler, Ross (1997). *Making the Alphabet Dance: Recreational Wordplay*. St Martins Griffin. p. 160. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0312155803](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0312155803).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-keith_4-0)** Keith, Mike (February 2001). ["Panalphabetic Windows in Literature"](http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol34/iss1/23/). *[Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics](/source/Word_Ways%3A_The_Journal_of_Recreational_Linguistics)*. **34** (1): 74–76.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-aldridge_5-0)** Aldridge, Branden (April 2018). ["Colloquy"](https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol51/iss2/13/). *[Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics](/source/Word_Ways%3A_The_Journal_of_Recreational_Linguistics)*. **51** (2): 34.

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