MEAN TIME

Time can be a mean four letter word.

DATE LINE

The date line is a time traveling four letter word.

CITE

Make sure you cite your four letter words.

FACT

Don't be deceived, a fact can be a pretty slippery four letter word.

DANK

Dank is a dreary four letter word.

SWAP

Do you think we can swap this four letter word for something else?

GOOD WILL

Peace on earth, good will to all four letter words.
This is our wish.

TAPE

Tape is a sticky four letter word.

LEAD. RULE.

To lead and to rule are two sides of the same four letter word.

DARK

The dark can be a very long four letter word.

GULL

A gull is a squawking four letter word.

BELL RING? WING.

Teacher says that every time a bell rings, a four letter word gets its wings.

CARD

A card is the four letter word for the season.

HATE

Hate is a four letter word.

READ

To read is a fundamental four letter word.

BUSY

Busy is a rushed four letter word.

BILL

A bill is a constitutional (or unconstitutional) four letter word.

POLE

The pole is an ambitious four letter word.

DRAT

Drat is an annoying four letter word.

MILE

A mile is a far ranging four letter word.

BIRD

A bird is a fine feathered, four lettered, friend.

PASS

Pass is, sadly, another memorable word.

GIST

So, just what is the gist of this four letter word thing?  Follow the link to find out more.

MASH

MASH is a memorable four letter word.

OAHU

For infamy or friendship, O'ahu is a gathering of four letter words.

HACK

Hack is an incredibly bothersome four letter word.

HOME TOWN

Your home town is a four letter word you can always name.

PIER

Down by the river, fishing off the pier for some more four letter words.

TILT

Tilt is a four letter word that moves you ahead.

PIPE LINE

A pipeline is a transportive four letter word.

GRID

Grid is a matrix of four letter words.

MORN

Morn is a rising four letter word.

BASS

Not fishy at all, Bass is a unifying four letter word.

BLUE TAPE

In the hands of a three-year-old, blue tape is a four letter word.

STOP

Stop is a four letter word to remember on this Armistice Day

BERT ELMO BIRD

From Bert and Bird to Elmo, Sesame Street has been the building blocks of four letter words.

BILL

Bill was an encircling four letter word.

POLL

Unsurprisingly, a poll is a political four letter word.

ATOM

An atom is an elemental four letter word.

WILD LIFE

The wild life can be some surprising four letter words.

FALL BACK

It is time to fall back to some standard four letter words.

YAWN

A yawn is a contagious four letter word.

OPEN HERE

Open here to get some new four letter words.

YEAR

A year is a periodic four letter word.

LATE

Late is a delayed four letter word.

FEAR

Fear is a scary four letter word.

LAMP

Lamp is an enlightening four letter word.

GATE SHUT. OPEN!

"Gate Shut! Open!" - some demanding four letter words from the three-year-old.

LISP

(setq lisp '(a four letter word))

CODE

Code is a creative four letter word.

SEED. STEM. SKIN. CORE.

An apple is full of four letter words: seed, stem, skin, and core.

RAIN

Rain is a storm of four letter words.

SELF VIEW

Self view are reflective four letter words.

FROG

Frogs remind us that it isn't easy being a four letter word.

WANT? NEED! HAVE.

Want? Need! Have. Lessons from the four letter words.

TWIN. FIVE. HERO.

Twin.  Five.  Hero.  Some four letter words to mark events of a decade ago.

STAR TREK

Star Trek are four letter words that boldly go where none have gone before.

HIKE

Hike is a four letter word that has its ups and down.

KNOT

Knot is an entangling four letter word.

ROAD SIDE

You can find a lot of four letter words on the side of the road.

SELF

Self is an identifying four letter word.

FAST

Fast is a hungry four letter word.

CAVE

Cave is a four letter word, marking my return.

IDEA

Idea is a patentable four letter word.

SODA

Soda is a yucky four letter word.

WALL

Wall is an imprisoning four letter word.

WORM

Worm is a four letter word.

NAME

Name is your four letter word.

FAIR

Fair is the four letter world... I mean word... of tomorrow.

ROCK ROLL

Rock and Roll are four letter words.

BOOT

Boot is an appreciative four letter word.

THIS

This is a four letter word.

ROSE

A rose by any other name... would still be a four letter word.
My thoughts on the naming issues surrounding Google+.

NAIL

Nail is a constructive four letter word.

PORT

Port is a four letter word.  Welcome home, Atlantis.

STEP LEAP

Thats one small step for a four letter word.
One giant leap, for all word kind.

FACE

Face is a four letter word.

FACE BOOK BLOG SPAM OVER KILL

Thanks facebook!  Not.
Sorry everyone for the problems.

JAIL

Jail is a revolutionary four letter word.

TOUR NINE

Tour is a four letter word... a four letter word.
Nine is a four letter word.

YEAR

Year is a four letter word.

LOSS

Loss is a four letter word.

SOAK

Soak is a four letter word.

SELF RULE

Self Rule are two governing four letter words.

NASA

NASA is a four letter word.

MUTE

Mute is a four letter word.

TREE DARK

Tree Dark are two shady four letter words.

RISK

Risk is a four letter word.

RING

Ring is an independence celebrating four letter word.

FIRE WORK

Fire Work are some explosive four letter words.

SAND

Sand is a four letter word.

SEAT BELT

Seat Belt are two four letter words to keep you safe - a third four letter word.

HALF

Half is a four letter word.
And so is half.

PLUS

Plus is a four letter word

USED

Used is a four letter word.

SHIP

Ship is a four letter word.

CARS

Cars is a four letter word.

RITE

Rite is a meaning-filled four letter word.

YEAH

Yeah is a four letter word.

LONG

Long is still only a four letter word.

SIRE

Sire is a paternal four letter word.

BLUE

Blue is a four letter word urging you to THINK.

WAVE

Wave is a high-flying four letter word.

PLAY BILL

Play Bill - the official four letter word guide to any show you'll see on Broadway.

WORD GAME

Four letter words are a Word Game.  And "Word Game" are two four letter words.

FUEL

Fuel is a four letter word.

ROAD RAGE

Road Rage are two dangerous four letter words.

GALE

Gale is a four letter word.

SKIP

Skip is the four letter word everyone has been looking for.

FLAG

Flag is a four letter word.

BARB WIRE

Barb Wire - some four letter words to think about as we begin this Memorial Day weekend.

GOAL

Goal is a four letter word.

BLOW WIND

The four letter words, my friends, are blowin' in the wind.

Happy 70th birthday to Bob Dylan.  And some thoughts about blowing wind.

BOOK

Book is a four letter word.

LIME

Lime is a four letter word.

BIKE

Bike is a four letter word.

NIGH

Nigh is a four letter word.

ROLL BACK

Roll back.  Two four letter words.

HONK

Honk is a four letter word.

BOOM

Boom is a four letter word.

STIR

Stir is a four letter word.

MAZE

Maze is a four letter word.

COCA-COLA

Coke.  Coca-Cola.  Whatever trademarked name you call it - they're four letter words.

MAMA

Mama is a four letter word.

HOOF

Hoof is a four letter word. 

LAST POST

Last Post - memorial four letter words.

MAYO

Mayo is a four letter word.  

STAR WARS

May the fourth (letter words) be with you!

WANT

Want is a four letter word.

BLOG

Blog is a four letter word.

SIGN

Sign is a four letter word.

Think about what your signature means. It is a promise. A commitment. A concrete, permanently visible action that you are standing by the words you are signing your name under. It is a mark saying you have read something, and that you will abide by that.

What do you think of when you sign something? Do you scribble your name, in hopes to get it over with? Do you read what you're signing? Or do you think what that signature means. Do you ever look at your signature on a document later?

PASS OVER

Pass. Over. Two four letter words to tell together.
The Jewish celebration of Pesach, or Passover, begins this evening. During the passover seder, people tell the story of the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt and ponder the meanings of the symbols.

Edit 31 May 2011: If you're visiting us because of the app "7 little words", you may want to take a look over here.

FILE

File is a four letter word.

Although this comes the day after the traditional tax day in the United States, this wasn't actually what crossed my mind.

Today also marks the 40th anniversary of the File Transfer Protocol for the Internet. Although mostly replaced by more modern web protocols today, FTP was a revolutionary idea in its day, and still contains many aspects that are invaluable for systems today.

SINK

Sink is a four letter word.

99 years ago tonight, the RMS Titanic was on her maiden voyage from England to America when... well... she hit an iceberg and sank.

EDIT

Edit is a four letter word.

RATE

Rate is a four letter word.

A measure of the change of one unit vs a different unit. In this particular case, it was "bits per second" that inspired me to this word today. I was configuring some software and limiting the max transfer speed, but no units were given for the configuration. Further testing finally suggested what the units for the rate limit were... but it would have been nice to have just been able to read that in the documentation.

FORT YURI JOHN

Fort. Yuri. John. Some historic four letter words, today.

150 years ago, the opening shots of the US Civil War were fired against Union troops inside Fort Sumter.

50 years ago, Yuri Gargarin became the first man in space as he launched aboard Vostok 1.

30 years ago, Shuttle Columbia flew for the first time with commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen at the controls.

LAWN

Lawn is a four letter word.

When I look for places to live, I compare them to my childhood, where I lived in a somewhat typical suburban neighborhood with a reasonable, but not huge, lawn. I still think about those yards, not to mention the one I have now. I enjoy my lawns, for the most part. I don't mind taking care of them... I enjoy picnicking on them... running around and playing in them... and as spring begins to blossom, I take advantage more and more of the lawn as a brief escape from being indoors. Could I do the same thing at a nearby park? Perhaps... but there is something about my own lawn that I enjoy.

JUMP

Jump is a four letter word.

This is a great FLW to play word association with. What other four letter words come to mind when you think about JUMP? I came up with five right off the bat, and I suspect there are even more.

DEEP

Deep is a four letter word.

A lot of times there are deep and significant meanings behind the four letter words that I pick. The weight of my mood rests upon them and they become four letters that peer into the inner sanctum of my soul.

And sometimes, to paraphrase Freud, sometimes a four letter word is just a four letter word.

I leave it up to you to figure out which one this is.

MIND

Mind is a four letter word.

"Mind your P's and Q's." It is one of those sayings that has always been a bit odd to me, yet the explanation for it (or at least one explanation for it) has had a most satisfying answer to me. When doing typesetting (using actual metallic moveable type), the letters were the reverse of how they'd be printed and had to be placed in the typesetter reversed as well. A lowercase "p" and a lowercase "q" could easily be confused, so the saying is a reminder to pay attention to details, an aspect which always appeals to me.

And it sounds nicer than reminding you to mind your B's and D's.

PATH

Path is a four letter word.

I'm working on a program and trying to configure it to "normalize" a path correctly, that is to resolve the path in a known consistent way. While doing so, I was pondering the nature of paths and roads... and the paths that we may take through life. This, of course, led me to ponder Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

and from thence to ponder Addventure, and to remember how much of this does feel like my philosophy on life - there are paths in the world that we must choose... but we not only choose the paths, we write what comes next.

MEOW

Meow is a four letter word.

I'm a cat person, but my cats aren't that photogenic. Fortunately, I have a friend who does have quite a few cats who enjoy getting their pictures taken.

DRUM

Drum is a four letter word.

ECHO

Echo is a four letter word.

The interesting thing about echos, to me, is how they're not exactly the same as the original. They're similar... usually unmistakeable... but they have a sound all their own that kinda drifts away on the wind...

YUCK

Yuck is a four letter word.

Happiness is not waking up and finding what the cat left on the floor for you to clean up.

FOOL

Fool is a four letter word.

I haven't liked April Fool's Day since I was in the fifth grade and a prank I was peripherally involved in backfired. Quite badly.

LAMB

Lamb is a four letter word.

...and out like a lamb.

ARCH

Arch is a four letter word.

I know I just did DOME, and here is another architectural four letter word. Not surprisingly, the two are actually somewhat related - if you take a cross-section of a dome, you'll have an arch.

FUME

Fume is a four letter word.

I try to keep a civil mind and a civil tongue. It takes a lot to get me angry... and even more for me to let that anger out. But sometimes I just need to let out everything that has built up within me or I'm gonna explode!

DOME

Dome is a four letter word.

I've always wondered how a dome is built. Seems like it would collapse on itself before it could be finished.

WOOD

Wood is a four letter word.

What a fascinating material wood is. We can burn it, build with it, and wander amongst it. We use it in our sports, in our decorations, and sometimes in our water supply systems. It can be beautiful on its own, or as part of a greater whole - the beauty showing on every level of detail in the hands of a craftsman.

DOOR LOCK ASCH FIRE

Door lock. Asch fire. Historic four letter words.

100 years ago today, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, located in the Asch building in New York City, caught fire. The workers (mostly immigrant women), attempting to flee, were largely prevented from doing so by emergency doors that were locked. The fire remains the 4th worst industrial accident in US history.

DUST

Dust is a four letter word.

I don't like thinking about where all the dust in my house comes from. I just want to get rid of it. Feels like there has to be an easier way... but probably not.

MIRE

Mire is a four letter word.

Ever have a day when you're just trying to get through things and get to the next thing you have to do, and you feel like you're pushing your body through a swamp? Every have a day when you feel like that before noon?

CHAT

Chat is a four letter word.

There is something about a casual conversation that fascinates me. How some of them could remain casual - staying superficial and barely touching anything in our lives. They are a small relief valve of our mundane thoughts. But every so often - they can leap into something far less mundane, yet still taking on a casual nature.

PICK

Pick is a four letter word.

When discussing this four letter word, three out of three people said the obvious connection was "nose". This was NOT what I was thinking of when I... uh... picked this word...

HOLI

Holi is a four letter word.

Celebrated today, the last full moon day before Spring, Holi is a Hindu religious festival primarily marked by joyous and colorful festivities.

MELT

Melt is a four letter word.

After the previous four letter word, it shouldn't be surprising that the remains of the snow are finally beginning to melt!

BALM

Balm is a four letter word.

The first indications that spring is coming - I can almost believe that its moderately tempered today.

LUCK

Luck is a four letter word.

It is, admittedly, an odd sort of word to pick for St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick himself has nothing about "luck" attributed to him. There are stories, mostly apocryphal, about his use of the clover as part of his teachings - but this would have been the three-leaf clover, not the four-leaf clover people associate with luck.

The phrase "the luck of the Irish" was coined centuries later, and is either an ironic statement about how UNlucky the Irish have been for most of their history, or specifically relates to the luck of a few of Irish heritage during the American Gold Rush.

IDES

Ides is a four letter word.

Beware!

Everyone knows what the Ides of March are, right? What about the Ides of all the other months? Did you know every month has an Ides? Now you do.

RISE

Rise is a four letter word.

And after dusk... the sun rises again.

DUSK

Dusk is a four letter word.

As much as I like mornings... I dislike evenings. By this time of day, I'm worn out and getting sluggish. The beauty of the sunset is gone, and it has not yet been replaced by the grandeur of the stars. It is the gloomiest of times for me. And yet, I try to perk my spirits up by recalling these lines from Reflections of Earth:

Every evening brings an ending. Every day becomes a legacy.
Every sunset leads to morning with the promise of opportunity.

MATH

Four. Five. Pir². Even Math is a four letter word.

Happy π day everyone!

DAWN

Dawn is a four letter word.

This is my favorite time of day. Most people either aren't up - or don't want to be. But this is a wonderful time of day for me. The sky begins to brighten and warm... the sun piercing the horizon as it rises. The day is still silent, any sounds are similarly piercing the quiet of the morning. Dawn is full of promise - it is the promise of spring... but it comes every morning.

HOUR

Hour is a four letter word.

In the United States, Daylight Saving Time begins today. I always have mixed feelings about this policy, but probably not for the same reasons most people do. For starters - I tend to adjust quite well to the change in both directions. Never really bothers me.

What does vex me about DST is that it noon no longer represents the point of the day when the sun is at its highest. The only thing that comforts me is that time zones themselves represent a standardized time - the sun is not overhead at noon at all points in a time zone. So once you have an artificial time... why not make it entirely artificial?

JOLT... WAVE... WARN...

This morning Japan experienced a record earthquake. Although well braced for these events, there has been significant damage. And now... we're waiting to see if a tsunami wave hits Japan and/or elsewhere in the Pacific and what damage it may cause.

My thoughts go out to everyone affected by this.

Times like this that I ponder that there are so many natural obstacles facing us in the world... why do we so often seem to feel the need to create our own obstacles?

HIDE

Hide is a four letter word.

Have you ever wanted to look for a good place to hide - and realized how contradictory that sounds?

OVER PASS

Over pass - two bridging four letter words.
My 2-year-old gets excited when we go under overpasses, shouting "tunnel!" every time we do, for no matter how brief a moment.

Edit 31 May 2011: If you're visiting us because of the app "7 little words", you may want to take a look over here.

FLEW

Flew is a four letter word.

This floated across my desk today... and I just found it so neat that I had to share it. Up-Inspired Floating House (14 photos) - My Modern Metropolis. This is not animated. This is real. A real building. Real weather balloons. Really flying in the sky. The experimental aircraft, because thats what it IS, has the registration number "N878UP". This is just totally awesome.

As I thought more about it, however, as cool as it was... I realized that there was a niggling feeling about this. Or more exactly, what it meant about the movie Up. I loved the movie. I'm not sure there was anything about it that I didn't find brilliantly done. But one of the things I love about animated movies is that they can so wonderfully represent the incredible... the fantastical... how they can make you feel that something that can't be real - is. And here someone has taken that unreal and made it... real. So I'm forced to wonder... when are they going to make the live-action version of Up?

EVIL SPAM LINK

EVIL SPAM LINK. Nothing good about those four letter words. Sorry about that folks.

(And if you have no idea what I'm talking about - consider yourself lucky. I got socially engineered into doing something stupid. Very foolish of me.)

BULB

Bulb is a four letter word.

Am I the only one that still remembers little flash cube bulbs on cameras? How they would go off and the bulb inside would then kinda melt and look all funky?

BLUE FISH

Blue is a word.

And Fish is one more.

The letters on each when we count them are Four.

But put them together - now what have you heard?

"Blue Fish" are our Seussian four letter words!

LION

Lion is a four letter word.

March comes in like a lion...

AUTO TUNE

Auto. Tune. Two four letter words that don't go well together.

This evening... the Oscars make fun of the Grammys...

FILM

Film is a four letter word. (And the f-flw you expect to hear at the Oscars...)

PORK

Pork is a four letter word.

A friend of mine is throwing a pork-themed party... the highlight of which sounds like it will be the bacon brownies. I'm jealous - I can't be there.

MELT

Melt is a four letter word.

One of those four letter words that cuts both ways - it is great to see some of this snow melting... but it melts and turns into water... and its cold enough that the water turns into ice...

HYPE

Hype is a four letter word.

There is a difference between celebrating something... and hyping something.

CAPE

Cape is a four letter word.

No capes!

HEAT

Heat is a four letter word.

One can either HAVE HEAT, or LACK it.

GRAY GREY

Gray? Grey? Either one - four letter word.

I've always wondered why there were two spellings for this word, both of which were perfectly acceptable. I can't actually think of another word that is like this.

BORN SELL BOWL BALL FOOT

Lot of four letter words today. Born. Sell. Bowl. Ball. Foot.

I've been told that there was a commercial today interrupted by some sort of sporting event. Or something like that.

RIOT

Riot is a four letter word.

One of the things about watching the news is watching history in the making. Sometimes you know that what you're watching will be, at best, a footnote in someone's thesis some day in the future.

And days like today you know there will be whole courses and textbooks dedicated to what is going on. Watching the protests in Egypt, demanding rights that so many take for granted, is... amazing and heartwarming and terrifying. Would I be so brave if I was there? How often do I stand up and work and fight for what I believe in and for the rights that all of us should share? Are there quieter riots every day that are just as deserving, but do not get the same attention? What sacrifices are the people of Egypt suffering in hopes of something better?

HARE

Hare is a four letter word.

Today is the Chinese Lunar New Year, marking the start of the year of the rabbit.

BOIL AGUA

Boil Agua - two four letter words that should serve as a warning to my friends in some areas of Rockland and Westchester counties New York.

It is amazing how much we in the United States take clean water for granted. These days, it is only when there is a problem with our water that we think about what it takes to get clean potable water to nearly all our citizens. And so many of us turn to bottled water to drink.

Water is a natural resource, mostly renewable, but one that we still need to conserve and be aware of.

SOLO

Solo is a four letter word.

People often ask me if four letter words are supposed to be curse words. No... the truth is far more complex. A good four letter word is both a blessing and a curse. It is both good and evil. It shares the ying and yang.

Such is so very much the case with "solo".

On the dark side, it represents solitude... loneliness... instead of a partnership, one must go it alone.

And yet... one can be alone without being lonely. One can accomplish achievements by oneself.

LEFT

Left is a four letter word.

DARE

Dare is a four letter word.

I double dog dare you!

COLD WARM

Cold is a four letter word. But so is warm.

HAIR

Hair is a four letter word.

The two-year-old got his hairs cut this evening. He was not pleased.

TREE

Tree is a four letter word.

Today is Tu B'Shvat, the new year of trees, in the Jewish calendar. Hug a tree.

KING

King is a four letter word.

In the United States, we take this day to celebrate the ideas, words, and actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. Not only his calls for civil rights, his work towards labor rights, but also his actions against poverty and war. One can only hope that we can all share his dreams and work to make them come true.

MILK

Milk is a four letter word.

I'm watching my 2-year-old drink milk while eating a fresh pretzel and brown bread with butter from a local bakery. Now... if he would only learn to take bites instead of stuffing it in his cheeks.

"STOP! COME BACK!"

Four letter word conversation between my 2-year-old and the cat after the 2-year-old tried to pet him.

CHAO

Chao is a four letter word.

I have never studied Spanish. But back in High School, Senora Coffinet was one of the Spanish teachers whom everyone in the school knew of. She passed today after several months fighting for her life after an accident in Spain.

"Chao" is, apparently, commonly used in Spain and Latin America to say "goodbye".
Goodbye to a great presence in this world.

"MEAT BALL?" "TACO!"

Four letter word conversation with my 2-year-old.

STOP HURT PAIN

Stop. Hurt. Pain. Four letter words.

STAR

Star is a four letter word.

There are few things that beat watching the two-year-old put away his crayons while singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to himself.

SHOE

Shoe is a four letter word.

A haiku I once wrote:

Space, the final frontier.
Alas, I cannot go there.
Theres gum on my shoe.

OVER SOLD

Over sold - an annoying combination of four letter words.

Went to see "Tangled" this evening, and the theater was completely sold out. Ah well... perhaps I'll remember to see it when it comes out on DVD.

TRON

TRON is a four letter word.

I saw TRON: Legacy this evening. Although the original movie was somewhat cheesy, even when I think about it years later, there was still something so very... iconic about it. At a time when the term "cyberspace" was barely in existence, it was one of the first movies to actually try to visually illustrate what cyberspace might be like.

Legacy, however, lacked some of that. Yes, it did a good job with the 3D differentiating one world from the other - but it is somewhat ironic that the "real world" was in 2D while the virtual world (the one that is still very 2D in reality) was rendered in 3D. It didn't really try to represent what was "inside" a computer. As such... it lacked some of the connections that I thought were so brilliant in the original.

The best scene in my opinion? The Disney Castle logo... rendered in 3D.