Puns are little "plays on words" that a certain breed of person loves to spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way to indicate that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the cleverest person on Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in fact what you are thinking is that if this person ever ends up in a lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl him overboard by the end of the first day even if they have plenty of food and water. -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny" Word Games: ----------- >> Englisch << - What's the most common sentence in usenet (particularly in rec.puzzles) that ends with the letter "q". - What is the strongest day of the week? - Words with Roman numbes. DE*ER, SU*T, A*MET - Are there any words out there that when ROT13'd make new words? - Construct a word chain: bares - wiles - Find a word which ends in -ify but is a noun. - What is the only midwestern state (i.e., excluding gulf and mountain states) whose name is not derived from a Native American word? And on what grounds is this a mathematical problem? from a recent Math Intelligencer 1. (Courtesy James Thurber) The English language contains just three 6-letter words containing the letters of "tiger"? What are they? 2. Note what you get if you delete the initial letter of each word in: Show this bold Prussian that praises slaughter, slaughter brings rout! 3. I know this should go in alt.palindromes.foo, but... what's your favorite palindrome? Mine is: - By the way, the word Indiana has some interesting vowel coincidences, and is order-3 anagramatically palindronomic: aindnia anidina iandnai inadani naidian niadain - HIPE - -------- The name of this game, as I learned it, is HIPE, since that's a tough one to find if we exclude WORSHIPED and the like. - - When I explain it to kids, I call it "unspelling". - - >I worked for *weeks* to get ACUR, and was several days on ABUR when (a very) >adolescent Peter Weyhrauch dialed up Stanford AI and string-searched the >wordlist, and then chased me around threatening to yell the answer. >Which he finally did, pretending great mischief, but in fact with compassion, >since I'm sure he suspected (correctly) that I'd never heard of the damned >word, even though it was in a supposedly common list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALAU (rec.puzzles) Meanwhile here's another enjoyable one to try: RSAP. (Asimov) Easier ones: HQ (one) and ZV (two). (Bill Gosper) Four where, whichever you get first will make it harder to get the rest: OLGA, OLGI, OLHA, OLHO. (These are at least fairly common, not Golgi, nor Rudy's polhode.) (Bill Gosper) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apropos magazine literacy, LIFE just reran a 1938 New Yorker cartoon. Man at typewriter to another, at desk, in what are obviously the offices of LIFE: "Is it O.K., Joe, to refer to our subscribers as readers?" - Element words a. What is/are the longest word(s) you can form using only the atomic symbols which are contained in one group? b. What is/are the longest word(s) you can come up with, using the atomic symbols of several groups? >> German << - _i_i_i_i_i_ - lebendiger oeffentlicher Nahverkehr - Was ertoent im Flachland an der Nordseekueste? - MFG (Ulf Radicke) ULF PS: TEL IIU ESE RSG EIE - Bilde einen Satz, der Genitiv und Dativ enthaelt. - Jeder will es werden, doch keiner will es sein. - Wie heisen Baer und Reh mit Vornahmen? - Welches Wort (deutsch) reimt sich auf Mensch (M"onch)? - ein Wort das mit allen drei Artikeln kombiniert werden kann. (Nicht alles Substantive) - Was ist sieben mal sieben? - Was ist tiefer, Teller oder Tasse? - Satz mit fuenf 'fliegen' hintereinander. - Satz mit fuenf 'und' hintereinander. - Welche fuenf deutschen Worte enden auf 'nf'? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SPOILER - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >> Englisch << - What's the most common sentence in usenet (particularly in rec.puzzles) that ends with the letter "q". For once "Read the FAQ" answers a puzzle rather than annoyedly dismissing it. :-) - What is the strongest day of the week? Sunday (The others are week-days.) - Words with Roman numbes. DE54ER = DELIVER, SU1T = SUIT, SU2001T = SUMMIT A251MET = ACCLIMET - Are there any words out there that when ROT13'd make new words? perl -pe ' tr/A-Z/a-z/; ($w{$_} = $_) =~ tr/a-z/n-za-m/; $_ = $w{$w{$_}}; s/\n$/=$w{$_}/; ' /usr/dict/words yields (sans silliness like abbrevs and singles letters): nag=ant onyx=balk pent=crag snore=faber vend=iraq nor=abe or=be pyrex=clerk tang=gnat vex=irk nyc=alp orr=bee rail=envy terra=green vi=iv [ Roman numerals? ] one=bar ova=bin she=fur try=gel tang = gnat Not only is one word the rot13 transformation of the other, but one is the palindrome of the other! That's gotta be rare! Maybe unique. Certainly interesting. I found about 100 in my word list, but most of them were words I never heard of like "anil" ("the indigo plant or a blue dye obtained from it") = "navy", and "ort" ("a scrap of food remaining after a meal") = "beg". Also the proper name "Cheryl" = "purely". Here are a few familiar words I found that aren't listed above: barf = ones ebbs = roof errs = reef flap = sync frag = sent Here is the result of a search through a wordlist of 344,948 words. ab no bel ory envy rail glar tyne aba non ben ora er re glee tyrr abb noo ber ore era ren gnar tane abba noon bes orf eral reny gnat tang abjurer nowhere bin ova erava renin gra ten abo nob birl ovey erd req graal tenny abt nog bo ob erf res grat teng abu noh bon oba erg ret gree terr ah nu bona oban erk rex green terra aha nun bor obe ern rea greeny terral ahey nurl brava oenin erne rear gul thy aho nub bu oh err ree gun tha al ny bub oho errs reef guna than an na cel pry ers ref gung that ana nan cha pun fanes snarf gunj thaw anan nana chab puno fano snab gur the ane nar chal puny fant snag gurl they anil navy chat pung faro sneb gurr thee ann naa che pur fbi sov ha un anna naan chechen purpura flap sync han una ant nag chee purr flob sybo he ur ar ne cheer purre fra sen heaf urns arar nene cheery purrel frag sent hen ura arb neo chef purs franz senam her ure arba neon cho pub free serr hern urea arc nep clerk pyrex freen serra hes urf arn nea craal penny freer serre hin uva aro neb crag pent freir serve hu uh ars nef cravat pening frere serer iba von arx nek crax penk fry sel in va avar nine crea pern fub sho ing vat avg nit creel perry fubby shool int vag avo nib crex perk fun sha intr vage ba on cry pel funt shag inv vai balk onyx cub pho fur she iran vena ban ona cuba phon furry sheel iraq vend bana onan dhoon qubba gel try irk vex bar one ebb roo gen tra iva vin bare oner ebbs roof gent trag ivin viva barf ones en ra genu trah jun wha be or enc rap gers tref june whar bean orna eng rat ghan tuna jura when becuna orphan engr rate ghat tung juve whir been orra entre rager ghee turr la yn beg ort I can't vouch for all of these words. What is "yn"? - word chain Monacobares dares fares hares mares pares tares wares cares cores bores gores mores pores sores sires fires fifes fives fixes fines lines mines nines pines sines vines wines tines tones bones zones cones canes banes danes dines diner liner miner finer fined dined mined pined wined lined liked hiked biked bikes pikes dikes likes lakes bakes cakes fakes jakes makes rakes sakes takes wakes waker faker maker raker taker baker baked faked naked waked raked rated bated dated fated gated hated sated mated muted mutes lutes lunes dunes runes tunes tuned tuner toner goner loner boner boned zoned toned tined timed tired tiled tiles files miles piles wiles - Find a word which ends in -ify but is a noun. The word is "salsify." The word (yes, it's the one I had in mind) was not in my vocabulary either until I saw it on a menu -- a food menu, not a computer megnu. It looked like a misspelling of a common verb, which however made no sense in context, nor could any other -ify verb. Only a later consultation with a dictionary resolved the mystery. I like that -- "falsify" is a verb, "salsify" is a[n] herb. :-) Noam D. Elkies - HIPE HIPE: ARCHIPELAGO ALAU: REALAUDIO, BACCALAUREATE. - Word Cube Article: 6514 of rec.puzzles From: clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) Subject: A Better Word Cube Date: 1 Oct 93 08:55:32 GMT Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. presto rushes escort shovel terete ostler rushes untame staler halite emetin serene escort staler cagily olives relent trysts shovel halite olives vivers eterne lessee terete emetin relent eterne tinner entera ostler serene trysts lessee entera reseal All words are in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. In fact, this is the only such cube (with the minor fact that "reseal" can be either "reseat" or "reseau"). -- Chris Long, 265 Old York Rd., Bridgewater, NJ 08807-2618 "The proofs are so obvious that they can be left to the reader." Lars V. Ahlfors, _Complex Analysis_ - Element words a. What is/are the longest word(s) you can form using only the atomic symbols which are contained in one group? b. What is/are the longest word(s) you can come up with, using the atomic symbols of several groups? Example: From the group Non-metals -> te-as-p-o-o-n (8) Example: From Alkaline earth metals ->ba-be (4) Example: From Other metals ->ga-in (4) Example: From several groups ->li-ni-ar, be-rb-er, br-as-si-er, pa-ra-si-te C-H-O-CO-LA-TE or C-HO-CO-LA-TE be-ne-f-ac-ti-o-n-s (12) All groups: * Pr-Es-U-P-Po-Si-Ti-O-N (at least six different ways) * In-C-O-N-S-P-I-C-U-O-U-S * K-N-I-C-K-Er-B-O-C-K-Er * Cl-As-S-I-F-I-C-At-I-O-N * Cr-Y-P-Ta-N-Al-Y-S-I-S * C-O-N-Fe-C-Ti-O-N-Er-Y * Re-V-O-Lu-Ti-O-N-Ar-Y * P-Re-Ca-U-Ti-O-N-Ar-Y * P-In-Cu-S-H-I-O-N * H-Y-P-O-Th-Al-Am-U-S * B-I-Ce-N-Te-N-N-I-Al * P-Ra-C-Ti-Ti-O-N-Er * Ne-W-F-O-U-Nd-La-Nd * In-Ho-Mo-Ge-Ne-O-U-S * I-Nd-I-Sc-Re-Ti-O-N * ... and MANY more ... Just the transition metals: * W-Ir-Y * Sc-Re-W * Re-Ti-Re * Cr-Y-Pt * Co-Co Just the lanthanides: * La-Nd * La-Dy * La-Ce * Dy-Er Just the actinides: * Th-Es-Es * Pa-Th Just the other metals: * Ga-In Just the non-metals: * P-O-S-Se-S-S * P-O-N-C-H-O * C-O-C-O-O-N * S-P-O-O-N * S-N-O-O-P * P-O-O-C-H * O-P-P-O-Se * C-O-N-C-H * C-H-O-Se-N * C-H-O-O-Se * C-O-N Just the noble gasses: * Ne-Ar * He-Ar Geat job, Josh, you've tackled the puzzle like I intended. Although you wrote a program to help you, you haven't yet beaten Ian McDonalds 18 letters from all groups: in/te/rn/at/i/o/na/li/s/ti/c. Sorry my words weren't good enough. I didn't know using a program was in good form. r/h/i/ne/n/ce/p/h/al/i/c co/u/n/te/re/ta/li/at/i/o/n/s ObPuzzle: Find the name of an element, using only the letters in the periodic table Ir-o-n (4) ne-o-n (4) zi-n-c (4) xe-n-o-n (5) co-p-p-er (6) ca-rb-o-n (6) si-li-co-n (7) p-h-os-p-h-o-ru-s (10) >Also BiSmUTh (7) and KrYPtON (7) and TiN (3) and As-Ta-Ti-Ne >> German << - _i_i_i_i_i_ Minibikinis (Time magazine, 1st July, 1996, Vol 148 No 1 p48-50, The Bikini Turns 50) - lebendiger oeffentlicher Nahverkehr Bustier (Torsten Sillke/Ulf-Dietmar Radicke 20.06.96) - Was ertoent im Flachland an der Nordseekueste? Marschmusik (Hoer Zu 1996 Heft 30 p 3) - Mutiere fleissig Fluege. (Ulf-Dietmar Radicke 20.06.96) - Bilde einen Satz, der Genitiv und Dativ enthaelt. Geh nie tief ins Wasser, da tief. (Genitiv ins Wasser, Dativ) - Jeder will es werden, doch keiner will es sein. Alt - Wie heisen Baer und Reh mit Vornahmen? Kugelschrei(ber), Witti(ber) Kartoffelpue(ree) - Welches Wort (deutsch) reimt sich auf Mensch? Pensch - von Lampensch(irm) - von Ringelnatz? Ransch, Trench, Quench (ein Fruchtsaftgetraenk) "Der Mensch, der Mensch ist wetterwendsch." (von Hansgeorg Stengel?) - ein Wort das mit allen drei Artikeln kombiniert werden kann. (Nicht alles Substantive) der Nasentropfen, die Nasentropfen, das nasentropfen (Mirco Evermann) der Tropfen, die Tropfen, das Tropfen der Stopfen, die Stopfen, das Stopfen der Propfen, die Propfen, das Propfen der R"ucken, die R"ucken, das R"ucken der Messer, die Messer, das Messer (laut Duden 20.Ed. gebr"auchlich) der Meter, die Meter, das Meter der Springer, die Springer, das Springer(le) der St"ockel, die St"ockel, das St"ockel der Puder, die Puder, das Puder (Duden: Mask., aber regional Neut.) der/das Tunnel? der/das Filter? der Deutsche, die Deutsche, das Deutsche der Thai, die Thai, das Thai derselbe dieselbe dasselbe - Was ist sieben mal sieben? Feiner Sand - Was ist tiefer, Teller oder Tasse? Die Oder - Satz mit fuenf 'fliegen' hintereinander. Wenn Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach.