repied

(To "pie" is to take a tray of type that has been set and to scramble it utterly. I suppose if that happened once and now you did it again...you're in trouble with the Chief Compositor!)

PS I have a couple of nice follow-ups but they lead to a dead end so I'll wait...

Question for you experts in this game...When you come up with your answers, do you think ahead to what other possible words will be? Maybe that's my problem because I don't do that.

You bet...and that's part of the challenge, coming up with words that don't lead to dead ends. For example -

repies
repiles
reptiles

but now what? See-how-clever-I-am, but it brings the game screeching to a halt. That's counterproductive, (Unless that's your goal after all - Stump-the-Experts, as it were - but that's a different game entirely!)

cake
coke
come
pome
pole
poll
pool
spool
spoil
soil
toil
coil
coal
coral
oral
orale
rale
sale
sable
able
amble
ramble
bramble
gramble (tee hee)
rumble
humble
bumble
tumble
mumble
rumble
ramble
amble
able
ablet
ablest
blest
lest
list
last
lass
ass
as
a
an
ran
rang
sing
sine
vine
ovine
opine
spine
shine
shone
short
sport
sporty
sports
sorts
ports
poets
posts
posits
prosits
profits
profit
prefit
refit
relit
relic
relics
relies
replies
replied
repied
repies
repiles
reptiles

reptile
retile
retime
retire

Note: Can we figure out how to get rid of the "re" at the beginning?

retile
retime
retire

retile
retiled
retailed
retained (or remailed)
remained
remined
remind
remand (not needed but it's such a nice word I didn't have the heart to leave it out)
remend
emend
amend
amen

amen
men
man
many
any

[This message was edited by jerry thomas on Sat Jun 7th, 2003 at 20:02.]

any
cany
cane
cake

Back to where we started!

Someone want to start with a new word? Or shall we continue with cake?

In my whiniest voice, I just want you all to know that I would think of one, only to be beaten to it! I was so looking forward to posting "replied" after "repied", but came to the computer to see "repies", "repiles" and then "reptiles"; of course those were better than mine anyway...so my whine is even louder! I hate not being good at games!

BTW, I couldn't find "repiles" in dictionary.com nor onelook; what does it mean?

I'd better be the one to rationalize --er, defend it...


If one makes a pile of, say, poker chips, and then it is knocked over ("pied," as it were), and then one decides they really should be piled up, what does one do? repiles them, of course.

(Okay, okay, so it isn't in onelook.com. Who ya gonna believe, anyway, me or some strange dictionary? Consider it "onelook.com-derivable.")

quote:

---

Who ya gonna believe, anyway, me or some strange dictionary?

---

Well, I suddenly don't feel quite so whiney!

The fact is, it should be a word, if it isn't. I will try Bailey's 1727 dictionary; who knows, maybe it got lost over the years as "epicaricacy" did.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Morgan:
any
cany
cane
cake

Back to where we started!

Someone want to start with a new word? Or shall we continue with cake?

---

New word....

Word

Circling, changing each letter, and then changing back.

word
cord
core
care
cane
wane
wand
ward
word

VASE

vase
base
bass
bats
cats
cots
cops
tops
tips
taps
naps
raps
saps
sips
sins
fins


okay I think I am done now



heat

heat
heart
hearth
hearths

then there's...

heat
beat
neat
feat
seat
meat
peat
pet
pit
put
pot
pat
sat
sit
sis
his
hiss
miss
piss
kiss

feast

Looks like we have a new version of the game going! I'm game! And a heartfelt welcome back to blues! We've missed your voice here on the forum.

I have the feeling that there are relatively few common words that can't be transformed into each other by following these rules. (Not zero, certainly - I can't think of a single thing to follow "syzygy," for example, or "xysma" - but not many, for reasonable words.) At least the short ones, say six letters or less...

feast
fast
fat
fate
mate
mite
mine
amine
famine


pen
pend
pond
pore
wore
word
sword

How 'bout penny...dollar?

[This message was edited by haberdasher on Fri Jun 13th, 2003 at 19:03.]

quote:

---

How 'bout penny ... dollar?

---

Here's my best shot (bottom line: a pain!!)

penny
benny
beany
bean
dean
dear
deal
real
ream
cream
dream
drear
arear
area
are
dare
dore
dora
dor
dour
door
dolor
dolour

Old saying: "Ching-chong Chinaman, sittin' on a fence, tryna make a dollar outta fifteen cents."

cent ... pound

POUND

round
sound
found
hound
bound
mound
mount



NEVER

Hi blues!

You can add another dimension of difficulty and make the game even more interesting if you post the "starting" word and the "ending" word.

Sorta like ==>

cent
pent
pont
pout
proud
prod
pod
pond
pound

How about NEVER ... SUNDAY ??

~~~ jerry

cent
pent
pend
pond
pound

Tinman

[This message was edited by tinman on Thu Jun 12th, 2003 at 22:17.]

I couldn't make them work either without taking a few liberties, but that said:

cent
cant
cane
mane
mine
miner
miler
miller
diller (you know, the one who puts the spice into the pickle brine)
dillar (as in "a dillar, a dollar, a ten-o'clock scholar...")
dollar


Never
lever
liver
live
lave
nave
navy
nary
unary
undry (in the spirit of re-pile)
sundry
Sunday

(In some cases using a relatively loose definition of the word "word")

Okay, let's try

penny
peony
peon
pen
pent
cent

and take it from there...

Hey, anyone wanna leave some new words for this ever changing game?

Aw, c'mon, Jerry, are you trying to play the game or spoil it? You win, we give up, they're both dead ends.

"... relatively few common words that can't be transformed into each other by following these rules. (Not zero, certainly - I can't think of a single thing to follow "syzygy," for example, or "xysma" - but not many, for reasonable words.)"

Let's back up and start over. How about

single ===> many

[This message was edited by haberdasher on Fri Jun 13th, 2003 at 19:40.]

quote:

---

Aw, c'mon, Jerry, are you trying to play the game or spoil it? You win, we give up, they're both dead ends.

---

Most of what I do is done in a spirit of fun.

The "aardvark ... zebra" thing was posted in a rare moment of youthful exhuberance.

No malice intended.

~~~ jerry

Haberdasher, you are too good for me!

single
mingle
mangle
mange
mang
many

smart
stupid

I'll be honest; I don't have the knack for this yet, so I have no idea how to choose the words.

I can't do Stupid; will you take Dummy?

smart
start
tart
tar
tam
lam
lamp
lump
lumpy
dumpy
dummy

Apple ===> Dell

apple
ample
sample
simple
simile
smile
mile
mill
dill
dell

WORDS ... PHRASE
We haven't decided whether an added or deleted letter is permitted to be in the middle of the word, or only at the start or finish. For this one, middle-permission is granted, because I suspect that's the only way you can move from "phrase".

words
swords
swores
spores
pores
pares
pases
phases
phrases
phrase

May I please ask someone else to post the next two words because I am not good at that? Thanks!

please ===> thanks

please
pleas
leas
lees
tees
thees
these
theme
themes
Thames
thanes
thanks

free ..... style

[This message was edited by jerry thomas on Sun Jun 15th, 2003 at 8:53.]

Great, Jerry! I thought I had you on "lee" or "lea", but they are both legitimate words.

Not to be picky, but ...

quote:

---

... swores ??

---

Jerry, not to be picky, but ...

quote:

---

... thees ??

---

"thees" entered into google gets 14,200 hits

versus only 92 for "swores"

... moving right along ....

I yield to thee.

free
fee
feet
felt
melt
molt
mole
sole
stole
style

How about a grand tour through the integers?

one ===> ===> ... ===> ===> ten

stopping at all the intermediate numbers along the way?

(I think we've agreed to be generous in our definition of allowable words, but we really don't need to invoke this here...)

I am the culprit here. I questioned "repiles". Yes, I think haberdasher is right that we have to be generous. However, you are correct, Jerry; "swores" doesn't work. Correction:
words
word
sword
swore, etc.

As far as haberdasher's suggestion, do you want someone to go through all the numbers, one through ten? It doesn't seem possible to me, or if it is, wouldn't it take forever? Am I understanding this correctly? Just when I catch on a bit, the rules get a lot harder!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kalleh:
I questioned "repiles". Yes, I think haberdasher is right that we have to be generous.

---

Well, I don't feel particularly generous. There must be a standard; otherwise any nonce word will do. I propose the word must be found and defined at dictionary.com, since everyone on this board has access to that site. I would not allow acronyms, such as thees, that are found but not defined at dictionary.com; they are linked to Acronym Finder. I would only allow those acronyms, such as radar and awol that are found and defined at dictionary.com.

By the way, repiles would not qualify.

Tinman

I can tell thee that I love thee.

How many thees in that?

one
on
an
wan
swan
swat
twat ...
twa
two

two
twa
twat ...
swat
shat
shah
shad
shed
she
the
thee
three

[This message was edited by jerry thomas on Mon Jun 16th, 2003 at 2:18.]

three
thee
the
tie
fie
fir
for
four

(PS: also possible, but less picturesque, is
one
on
ton
to
two
to
toe
the
thee
three

and can be made shorter still if you'll accept "two-tho-the")

three
thee
tree
fee
fie
foe
for
four
our
oar
far
fir
fire
five
dive
dine
sine
sin
six
sex
lex
lev
leve
love
live
liven
river
driver
drive
drove
rove
reve
rev
ref
reef
reep
seep
seer
sever
seven

[This message was edited by jerry thomas on Mon Jun 16th, 2003 at 9:15.]

...could have gone straight from SEX to see to seen to seven, but I guess then you would have missed all that lovely afterplay !

quote:

---

Well, I don't feel particularly generous. There must be a standard; otherwise any nonce word will do.

---

Well, with all those lofty standards, at least you have to play the game with us once in awhile!

seven
seen
see
sere
sire
sir
sin
sign
sigh
sight
eight


(thanks, Kalleh, for the heads-up :-) )

[This message was edited by haberdasher on Tue Jun 17th, 2003 at 18:03.]

eight
weight
weigh
neigh
night
sight
sigh
sign
sin
sine
nine
tine
tin
ten

marathon ===> waterloo

[This message was edited by jerry thomas on Mon Jun 16th, 2003 at 17:35.]

ten
teen
seen
seven
even
elven (well, maybe not in dictionary.com but 317,000 hits on Google® )
eleven

eleven
Leven
even
elven (as above)
elve
delve
Telve (something to do with Turkey)
twelve

Jerry, haberdasher, you are fantastic! Shufitz and I spent some time over coffee, writing on a napkin, trying to get "eight" from "seven".
We weren't able to. I don't know how you two do it!

I bet there is a more legitimate way to get from eleven to twelve, as well.

Do we have to stop just because we got to ten?
How about forty ===> fifty

(no need to stop at the integers along the way)

...and also thirty ===> forty, while we're at it!

Edit: My goodness, Page Two already? See also end of Page One!