Eodermdrome
An eodermdrome is a form of word play wherein a word (or phrase) is formed from a set of letters (or words) in such a way that it has a non-planar spelling net. Gary S. Bloom, Allan Gewirtz, John W. Kennedy, and Peter J. Wexler first described the eodermdrome in May 1980,{{cite conference | title = Eodermdromes: A Graph-Theoretical Tool for Linguistics | first1 = Gary S. | last1 = Bloom | first2 = Allan | last2 = Gewirtz | author-link2 = Allan Gewirtz | first3 = John W. | last3 = Kennedy | first4 = Peter J. | last4 = Wexler | author-link4 = Peter J. Wexler | year = 1981 | conference = 4th International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Graphs, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 6-9, 1980 | editor1 = Chartrand, Gary | editor2 = Alavi, Y. | editor3 = Goldsmith, D. L. | editor4 = Lesniak-Foster, L. | editor5 = Lick, D. R. | book-title = The Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Graphs, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 6-9, 1980 | pages = 81–94 | isbn = 978-0-471-08473-0 | oclc = 7171840 }} and it subsequently became more widely known after publication in Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics in August 1980.{{cite journal|last1=Bloom |first1=Gary S.|last2=Kennedy |first2=John W. |last3=Wexler |first3=Peter J. |author-link3=Peter J. Wexler |title=Ensnaring the Elusive Eodermdrome|journal=Word Ways|date=August 1980|volume=13|issue=3|pages=131–140|url=http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol13/iss3/2/}}
It is well illustrated by the word eodermdrome itself. Eodermdrome contains only the letters e, o, d, r and m. When plotted as a graph, the lettered vertices are sequentially connected by edges to spell a word. If the graph is non-planar, the word is an eodermdrome. The graph of eodermdrome is the non-planar graph K5.
Eckler searched for all eodermdromes in Webster's Dictionary.{{cite journal|last1=Eckler|first1=A. Ross |author-link=A. Ross Eckler, Jr.|title=Dictionary Eodermdromes|journal=Word Ways|date=August 1980|volume=13|issue=3|pages=141–146|url=http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol13/iss3/3/}} One of his examples is supersaturates. The graph of the complete word contains a subgraph which is a subdivision of the non-planar graph K3,3, and as such is itself non-planar.
By extension, the vertices can be identified with words instead of letters to form eodermdromic phrases or sentences.
The concept has been studied within both mathematics and linguistics.{{cite book|last1=Bloom |first1=Gary S. |last2=Kennedy |first2=John W. |last3=Quintas |first3=Louis V. |title=On Crossing Numbers and Linguistic Structures|series=Lecture Notes in Mathematics|date=1983|volume=1018|pages=14–22|doi=10.1007/BFb0071606|isbn=978-3-540-12687-4 }}{{cite journal|last1=Kennedy |first1=John W. |last2=Wexler |first2=Peter J. |author-link2=Peter J. Wexler |last3=Bloom |first3=Gary S. |title=Linguistic Complexity and Minimal Eodermdromes|journal=Linguistics|date=1980|volume=18|issue=1–2|pages=3–16|doi=10.1515/ling.1980.18.1-2.3|s2cid=143815742 |url=http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ling.1980.18.issue-1-2/ling.1980.18.1-2.3/ling.1980.18.1-2.3.xml?rskey=u3xXnn&result=1|url-access=subscription}} The eodermdrome is one of the constraints used by the Oulipo group.{{cite journal |last1=Andrews |first1=Chris |title=Constraints, Poetry and Play in Jacques Roubaud's Parc sauvage |journal=Australian Journal of French Studies |date=2012 |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=142-152 |doi=10.3828/AJFS.2012.12 |url=https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/pdf/10.3828/AJFS.2012.12|url-access=subscription }}