‘Dactyl’ is a term used in formal English poetry to describe a trisyllabic metrical foot made up of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones; which means that, for example, the word ‘met-ri-cal’ is in fact a dactyl.

And no, I didn’t know that either, at least not until a couple of days ago.

Any name, word or phrase that is comprised of two dactyls is, unsurprisingly, referred to as a ‘double dactyl’; furthermore, ‘double dactyl’ is also the name of a very rigid (and ideally humourous) verse form. Which is all hopefully thoroughly enlightening; more interesting is the fact that the name ‘Reiner Knizia’ is a double dactyl. This fact explains the following:

Higgledy piggledy
Reiner Knizia,
Board game designer and
Weaver of dreams,

Often incorporates
Quite analytical
Counterintuitive
Scoring regimes.

Henceforth I shall be on the lookout for other board game personalities with suitable names. Any ideas?