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Grex > Language > #102: The seven letter word game, 1st edition |  |
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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 1177 responses total. |
albaugh
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response 375 of 1177:
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Jan 17 20:06 UTC 2000 |
mumbles
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aruba
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response 376 of 1177:
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Jan 18 14:42 UTC 2000 |
kibbitz
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prp
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response 377 of 1177:
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Jan 19 19:30 UTC 2000 |
humbird
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kentn
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response 378 of 1177:
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Jan 21 00:55 UTC 2000 |
mumbles 3 (albaugh)
kibbitz 2 (aruba)
humbird 4 (prp)
While I couldn't find an OED dictionary defn of 'humbird' it does seem
to be used fairly frequently as a shortening of 'hummingbird' and
appears in some URLs...so I guess that's good enough for our standards
(I hope).
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aruba
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response 379 of 1177:
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Jan 21 17:38 UTC 2000 |
OK, the word is "humbuzz" - proof in the next response.
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aruba
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response 380 of 1177:
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Jan 21 18:11 UTC 2000 |
peewees 0 (aruba)
apology 0 (albaugh)
humbugs 5 (aruba)
mammoth 1 (aruba)
kibbitz 2 (aruba)
shiatzu 1 (aruba)
Let "-" represent a letter that is definitely wrong,
s(w) be the score of a word or partial word w, and
n(w) be the number of letters in w which are not -'s.
Then clearly
0 <= s(w) <= n(w).
0 = s(peewees) >= s(------s), so s(------s) = 0.
0 = s(apology) >= s(-----g-), so s(-----g-) = 0.
5 = s(humbugs) = s(humbu--) + s(-----g-) + s(------s)
= s(humbu--) + 0 + 0
= s(humbu--)
= s(h------) + s(-u-----) + s(--m----) + s(---b---) + s(----u--)
==> 1 = s(h------) = s(-u-----) = s(--m----) = s(---b---) = s(----u--),
since all five terms are between 0 and 1 and they add up to 5.
1 = s(mammoth) = s(ma-mo-h) + s(--m----) + s(-----t-)
= s(ma-mo-h) + 1 + s(-----t-)
==> s(ma-mo-h) + s(-----t-) = 0
==> s(-----t-) = 0.
2 = s(kibbitz) = s(kib-i--) + s(---b---) + s(-----t-) + s(------z)
= 0 + 1 + 0 + s(------z)
==> s(------z) = 1.
1 = s(shiatzu) = s(shiat--) + s(-----z-) + s(------u)
= 0 + s(-----z-) + 0
==> s(-----z-) = 1.
So therefore
s(humbuzz) = s(humbu--) + s(-----z-) + s(------z)
= 5 + 1 + 1 = 7.
Of course, I don't have any evidence that humbuzz is really a word.
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albaugh
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response 381 of 1177:
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Jan 21 18:24 UTC 2000 |
a buzz you get from drinking a hummer? ;-)
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prp
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response 382 of 1177:
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Jan 21 19:31 UTC 2000 |
HUMBIRD: n. Now U.S. M17. The hummingbird.
from The New Shorter Oxford (1973,1993)
It is not in the Worldbook Dictionary.
HUMBUZZ is not in either.
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orinoco
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response 383 of 1177:
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Jan 21 19:41 UTC 2000 |
Not to further complicate matters, but isn't it "shiatsu"?
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aruba
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response 384 of 1177:
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Jan 21 19:58 UTC 2000 |
Both spellings are in Merriam Webster (www.m-w.com).
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kentn
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response 385 of 1177:
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Jan 22 04:33 UTC 2000 |
Wow, great detective work... Sorry to disappoint, but 'humbuzz'
is a word even though it may not be in your dictionary. From the
OED:
'hum'buzz. dial. [f. hum v. + buzz v. ]
1. A local name of the cockchafer.
1756 Toldervy Two Orphans I. 124 What are there called humbuzes,
by the Londoners cock-chafers.
C. 1820 Mrs. Sherwood May-bee 13 William had caught another
may-bee, or cockchafer, or humbuzz (for so that insect is called
in different places).
2. A thin piece of wood with a notched edge which is swung round rapidly
by a string, and emits a loud humming sound, like the flight of a
cockchafer; a bull-roarer. 1847-78 in Halliwell.
.... Anyway...aruba, you're up!
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aruba
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response 386 of 1177:
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Jan 22 16:10 UTC 2000 |
OK, I'll try to be thinking of a seven-letter word when next I log in.
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aruba
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response 387 of 1177:
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Jan 22 16:13 UTC 2000 |
(I think 45 guesses is by far the longest 6- or seven-letter word game here
on Grex. Dunno about the 5-letter games.)
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kentn
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response 388 of 1177:
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Jan 22 18:16 UTC 2000 |
Yeah, I was getting worried I'd be scoring forever, but I could see some
people were eliminating letters, so figured it would fall eventually.
Hadn't really expected it to be that difficult, though, especially after
'humbugs'...
uncanny
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orinoco
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response 389 of 1177:
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Jan 22 19:53 UTC 2000 |
remotes
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lilmo
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response 390 of 1177:
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Jan 22 22:38 UTC 2000 |
parable
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aruba
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response 391 of 1177:
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Jan 23 05:40 UTC 2000 |
uncanny 1 (kentn)
remotes 0 (orinoco)
parable 0 (lilmo)
humbuzz 0 (lastword)
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kentn
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response 392 of 1177:
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Jan 23 17:00 UTC 2000 |
trident
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orinoco
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response 393 of 1177:
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Jan 23 19:52 UTC 2000 |
ugliest
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aruba
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response 394 of 1177:
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Jan 23 20:03 UTC 2000 |
trident 0 (kentn)
ugliest 1 (orinoco)
A list of guesses dso far is in ~aruba/letter.match7 .
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prp
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response 395 of 1177:
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Jan 24 19:36 UTC 2000 |
upturns
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albaugh
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response 396 of 1177:
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Jan 25 00:36 UTC 2000 |
downers
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aruba
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response 397 of 1177:
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Jan 25 00:48 UTC 2000 |
upturns 2 (prp)
downers 0 (albaugh)
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orinoco
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response 398 of 1177:
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Jan 25 01:19 UTC 2000 |
untruth
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aruba
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response 399 of 1177:
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Jan 25 17:04 UTC 2000 |
untruth 2 (orinoco)
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