ABSTRACT
Most everyone has either seen this form of pantomime played out or has participated in it. During the mid-1800s, American families amused their guests with no less than three types of charades. For a while it was faddish to combine talk with action to get players to guess a word. Here is an example: two men begin walking toward one another. As they pass one man says to the other, “How do, Doctor?” That was the only clue. Dumbfounded, few could figure out the charade was “metaphysician” or “met-a-physician.” The two men pass each other a second time, and one says, “How do, again?” This time the answer was “metaphor” or “met-afore.”
