Saturday fun link: Beowulf, language slayer

Dr. Richard Scott Nokes digs through a musty corner of the pop culture closet:

This issue is a lot sillier than the first one. For example, magic incantations are simply words spoken backwards, so in the first issue when Unferth magically sends Beowulf and company into the swamp, he says "Artsuh Taraz Hcarps Osla," "Also Sprach Zarathustra" backwards. Fair enough, I suppose ... but in the section issue, the Slave-Maiden of Satan issues forth her final magical curse, "Enoyna! Sinnet!" Yes, that's right, she curses them with the phrase "Tennis, anyone?" backwards. Oh, woe unto any who find themselves invited to a tennis match -- in HELL!

Oh, and here's my pop culture cred:

• I haven't read the Harry Potter books, but I've seen all the movies. (Also, I cheated and read LOTR before the third film came out.)
  
• You couldn't pay me to watch Transformers, but I'd pay to see Transmorphers.
• I can't name a single movie, song, or person Jessica Simpson has done.
  
• In the previous line, I used hypozeugma.