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 I did this one -- only to come on the board and find that Hab had done it more quickly.  So with further effort:sword swore shore shote shots shops whops woops woods words | |||
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quote: It's not so much having a worksheet as having a dialup connection and not wanting to tie up the telephone by composing online if it can be done beforehand... Someday I'll get a DSL line and not have to worry. Maybe. | |||
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quote:Yeah, yeah, and the pope is Jewish! I live with someone who has words, etymologies, figures, etc., written on numerous worksheets, napkins, envelopes, whatever. How often have I heard, "Hon, do you know where that napkin is where I jotted down those words?" He is cute, though!  | |||
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And now, m'Lords, to the business of the day...(That's Iolanthe, Act I) all four-letter words: word --> line -- four steps line --> poem -- six steps (but it looks as though it should be do-able in fewer, even without invoking the French "pont") | |||
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wore wire lire line | |||
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Optime ! Four changes accomplished in four steps. Now to assemble the lines into a poem! | |||
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line lint list lost post poem "Lint" makes me wonder if we could go from "clean" to "dirty," preferably all in 5-letter words. It seems difficult. Perhaps hab can propound a more feasible one? Edit: oops!  Thanks for the catch, Jerry!  [This message was edited by Hic et ubique on Thu Aug 14th, 2003 at 16:02.] | |||
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post poet poem (without a poet, there is no poem)  | |||
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While we think about making dirty into clean with five-letter words, how about turning your lint into wool with fours? | |||
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DINT DONT WONT WOOT WOOL 'Tis the best I could do. Woot, according to Onelook, is a slang interjection to express happiness. Is there a way in only 4 steps? | |||
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quote: 'Fraid not. As soon as you introduce a letter in your ladder that isn't in the goal word, you have to have another step to get it out. Since there's no word LINT --> wint or lont or liot or linl, the project is doomed. At least with common words. Not to worry. Five steps is nothing to be ashamed of! Lessee now. Can we RING the BELL? Seven steps or fewer. | |||
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RING Bing Binge Bilge Bile Bill BELL Who can go from BAD to WORSE in five or fewer steps?  [This message was edited by jerry thomas on Fri Aug 15th, 2003 at 18:05.] | |||
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Ah, Haberdasher, that's exactly what I thought! However, you seemed so sure... It all goes to show, trust your own instincts! ring bing bine bile bill bell | |||
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Nice sequence, Jerry! bad bade bare ware worse worse this to that in three steps ? less to more ? I don't have an efficient one for that but I didn't work on it very much. | |||
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BAD Wad War Ware Wore WORSE Gorse Goose Goosy Goody GOOD God Got Get Let Lett Lette Letter BETTER Letter Lette Lett Lest BEST | |||
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LESS Mess Moss Mops Mope MORE MANY Mane Mare Fare Fere Fer FEW | |||
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Question...I thought we were keeping the same number of letters in the words. For example, we would use 2 four-lettered words and in between only use four-lettered words. Perhaps I misunderstood.... How about lord to king, using only 4-lettered words all the way through? | |||
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LORD lorn born bore borg bong bing KING NEXT======== TIME | |||
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next text tent tint tine time heavy --> light (I think it will take a lot of steps!) | |||
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I've been trying sooooo long. I've found a lot of good words along the way, like leany, ligny, leary, lerve, ligne, lieve, liane, but I just can't do it! | |||
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Darn right it will take a lot of steps, hab. This does it in 21 steps, but have no clue whether this is optimal. heavy heady ready reads reeds reels peels peens teens terns tarns barns burns burnt burst buret beret beget begot bigot bight light | ||
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heavy heady heads heals teals tells bells balls bales sales sates sites siths sighs sight light {I'm sure this can be improved further. "Sith" is the weak rung on the ladder and I'd be happier with a less marginal word. Even if it puts a few steps back in...) I really liked your "burst - buret - beret - beget" sequence ! | |||
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Wow! I am duly impressed! Do you guys think it has to be started with "heady" (I did try that as well.)? I was mostly trying with "l" words, such as: heavy, leavy, leany, etc. I did have my "worksheets" this time, and I was trying to get to "ligny" or "leggy", but frankly now I can't even remember why! 'Twas frustrating, to be sure, but I learned some great new words in the process! | |||
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...and I thought you were a beer afficionado! Oh well, If you don't like "heady," there's also "heavy - heave" but I couldn't take that any further. Addendum: heavy heave leave lease least ... OK, take it away! | |||
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Haberdasher, I will try another, but not this one again. I cannot tell you the time I spent....! Not again! | |||
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It's laborious, and I'm not happy with Paree (no matter how Gay it may be), and I'm sure it can be done more efficiently, but here it is finally: dirty dirts darts parts pares Paree parse purse nurse Norse gorse gorge gouge rouge rough tough touch torch porch perch peach leach leash least beast blast blest bleat cleat clean | |||
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You are a genius! For all that work (and I know how long that takes, though Shufitz did show me a trick that I haven't used yet; he thinks you use it), I am up to your challenge. What are your next words? | |||
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No trick, just brute force. I'm curious to know what he has in mind. Is brute ==> force doable? I'm coming to the conclusion that four-letter words are more flexible. If b-->f is to formidable (haven't tried it yet) how about golf-->club-->ball-->fore, the order being relatively unimportant ? [No, I don't play, myself.] | |||
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dirty dirts darts parts pares parcs (replaces Paree/parse/purse/nurse/Norse/gorse/gorge/gouge/rouge/rough/touch/torch/porch) parch perch peach leach leash least beast blast blest bleat cleat clean | |||
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quote: Answer: Yes. So are the "golf" variations. golf-->ball-->fore-->club seems to be the shortest. | |||
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It's a beaut. I'm in no position to quibble about "beaus" (beaux"?). | |||
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dolf dalf calf call ball bale bare fare fore ford food flod flob blob blub club I have trouble with the 5-lettered words; I've been working on brute force, but so far, no luck. | |||
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I found a four-step golf==>ball and a ten-step fore==>club sequence. It's longer but the words are all unassailable... And I have a forced brute in twelve steps but with one questionable word in it (a proper noun). And an even shorter one if we'll accept some champagnes as "secs" and some as "bruts" :-) ) I'll post these toward the weekend if no one has gotten them sooner. (Wha' happened? The "edit message" icon didn't appear when I tried to correct a typo earllier this morning!?) [This message was edited by haberdasher on Wed Aug 27th, 2003 at 8:08.] | |||
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Haberdasher, I had the same editing problem in a post the other day. In fact, I was never able to edit it. Now, which of my words (from "fore" to "club") would you call assailable? They all appeared in Dictionary.com (I believe). Changing vowel sequences seems to be a problem (i.e. "fore" to "club"). Let's see yours, at any rate! I love seeing the different thought processes. I did one once, only to see that Jerry had done the same one, and our methods were very similar. | |||
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Well done! If you go from brite to trite and then on, you can eliminate a couple of esoteric words. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not. My versions are brute bruce - derogatory term referring to an effeminate male, or else a kind of exercise test protocol truce trice trite write writs waits warts worts forts force and the shorter brute bruts bouts touts torts forts forte force [This message was edited by haberdasher on Wed Aug 27th, 2003 at 20:26.] | |||
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Hab, you can shorten that last one by stealing from shu (as he stole from you). Instead of your bouts -> touts -> torts -> forts, substitute bouts -> borts -> forts. | |||
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quote: My shortest was golf gold bold bald ball bale bare fare fore ford fond fend feed <--> fees <--> tees (gratuitous !) fled flee glee glue clue club Not as short as some of your sequences, but all quite common words. I tend to be of the school that says these things should be done from one's working vocabulary, so that using a reference book (let alone fishing in OneLook.com) is sort of cheating*. By that criterion flod, flob, and blub are all "assailable," even though they can be substantiated. Don't take it personally; it goes along with my being a prescriptivist. It's part of that (perhaps somewhat arrogant, though I prefer to think of it as "self-confident") "whom-are-you-going-to-believe-me-or-some-strange-dictionary" mentality, and I recognize it as such. *(even when I do it myself) [This message was edited by haberdasher on Fri Aug 29th, 2003 at 18:19.] | |||
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LAGER ---> BEERS | |||
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There's gotta be a better way, but here goes: drink --> lager --> beers (Edit: I took it out and put one possible ladder in the "Answer" thread in Q and A, so as not to spoil it if someone should still want to work on it. Unikely though that seems.) [This message was edited by haberdasher on Sat Sep 6th, 2003 at 12:27.] | |||
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