What is a doubly positive instrument of collective deception?
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A Ouija board (hmm... is it 'a Ouija board' or 'an Ouija board'?), so named from the French 'oui' and the German 'ja'. |
Zack |
How many words can you list that contain no more than six letters in total with a single vowel repeated three times?
e.g. The word “weekend” contains a single vowel, e, repeated three times. If it had one fewer letter in total it would count for this list, but it doesn't, you start with a blank sheet.
Sgt Dudfoot offers:
I'm quite proud that I've got four with the vowel repeated four times: peepee teepee hoodoo voodoo
abaca abacas alpaca banana cabala cabana Malaya manana beefed beeped beeper beetle deemed deepen deeper entree epee epees esteem feeble feeler fleece heeded heeled jeered keeled keened keener keeper levee levees melee melees needed peeled peeler peeper peeve peeved peeves recede redeem reeded reefed reefer reeked reeled reeve reeves sacada seeded seeker seemed seeped seethe sleeve steeve teemed tepee tepees teeter teethe weeper bikini komodo oolong syzygy
Zack offers:
acacia azalea banana bazaar cabana pajama panama [uncapitalized when it's a hat] epee [actually, this one came from me directly] eerie geese levee beefed beefer beetle breeze cheese decree deeded deemed deepen deeper degree delete eleven emerge entree esteem evened exceed feeble feeder feeler fleece freeze heeded heeled keeled keener keeper levees meeker needed needle peeked peeled peeped peeper peered recede redeem reefer reeled reeler revere secede seeded seeder seeker seemed seeped seethe serene severe sleeve sneeze teemed teethe veered weeper bikini cocoon
Venky offers:
banana, cabala, cabana, manana, pajama, panama, papaya, zanana, delete, hexene, recede, renege, revere, secede, serene, severe, bikini, breese, breeze, cheese, fleece, freeze, sleeve, sneeze, tweeze, wheeze, rococo, iridic, iritis, avatar, urubu, agama, levee, melee, tepee, epee, googol
Jim offers:
feeder, feeler, reefer(!), geezer(?), peeler, meeker, keener, needed, heeded, seeded, redeem, delete, reeled, banana
Alan, the champion, offers:
abaca abacas abaka abakas agama agamas alaska albata alpaca amarna anabas arcana argala armada asrama atabal ataman avatar balata banana bazaar beebee beefed beeped beeper beetle beeves beezer bendee beseem beweep bikini booboo boohoo breeze cabala cabana casaba casava cheese cocoon coocoo creese decree deeded deemed deepen deeper degree delete effete eleven emcee emceed emcees emeer emeers emerge emeses entree epee epees ephebe esteem eterne ethene etwee etwees evened evener exceed eyelet feeble feeder feeler feeze feezed feezes fleece freeze geese geezer gelee gelees googol halala hamada heeded heeder heeled heeler heeze heezed heezes holloo hoodoo hoopoo imidic iridic iritic iritis jacana jeeped jeered jeerer jereed kabaka kabala kabaya kamala keeked keeled keened keener keeper keeve keeves ketene koodoo labara leered lessee levee leveed levees lexeme manana maraca meeker meeter melee melees mestee muumuu nagana needed needer needle oology oolong ovolo ovolos pajama panada panama papaya pataca peeked peeled peeler peened peeped peeper peered peeve peeved peeves peewee pensee pewee pewees recede redeem redeye reeded reefed reefer reeked reeker reeled reeler reeve reeved reeves refeed refeel reheel releve remeet renege resee reseed reseek reseen resees retene revere rococo salaam samara satara secede seeded seeder seeker seeled seemed seemer seeped seethe sememe serene settee severe sheeve sleeve sneeze steeve tarama teemed teemer teener teepee teeter teethe tepee tepees terete testee tweeze veepee veered vegete vendee veneer vestee voodoo weeded weeder weened weeper weeted weever weewee wheeze zanana
Proper nouns are problematic; everyone can agree on, e.g. Greece and Amanda and so on, but what about my wife's hairdresser who calls herself "Elleen"?
Abadan Agatha Akaba Amanda Ankara Aqaba Arafat Ararat Aymara Balaam Caaba Canaan Carapa Essene Exeter Geneve Greece Havana Kaaba Malaga Malaya Masada Oporto Parana Rimini Sahara Selene Semele Uhuru Vaasa (I haven't included "Elysee", because the "y" is vocalic).
add "syzygy", in which the "y"s are all vocalic.
Sb As Al Se H O N Re
What rank?
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Major-General. These are the first two lines from Tom Lehrer's "The Elements", sung to the tune of "I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General" from "The Pirates of Penzance":
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Phil
These two men have a similar claim to fame, what is it?
They are the eponymous inventors of highly original and useful musical instruments. Robert Moog and Adolphe Sax.
The Moog (rhymes with rogue) synthesizer was the first analogue synthesizer that helped many artists create entirely novel music. Adolphe Sax invented the saxophone, the great musical invention of the nineteenth century that changed so much of twentieth century music.
A city in Louisiana and a town in New York state might be named after identical unlikely objects. Explain.
Baton Rouge in Louisiana and Painted Post in New York, named after native American monuments.
Zack
Imagine you are a tennis player playing at Wimbledon in the Men's Singles, you are drawn to play a player that is so bad you feel you need to protest against the obscene mismatch. You are instructed that you must play the match. Rather than simply playing your best game you decide to let your opponent win as many games as possible and yet you win just enough games, at just the right time, to win the match. Assuming your ploy works perfectly how many games did you contrive to lose?
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Unfortunately, at Wimbledon they have a rule that the final set doesn't go to a tiebreaker, but continues until one player has won by two clear games; consequently, our hero could contrive to win the final set by 9-7, or 20-18, or 143-141, or... So, let's ignore that rule and assume that the tiebreaker is always in effect. In that case, the most generous score would be 5-7, 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, conceding 32 games to the opponent, and winning only 31. |
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An excellent answer to a badly phrased question. That is indeed the way to ensure your opponent wins the most games although it could make a clearer statement of massive superiority (and this is the question I should have asked) to allow your opponent to win the first two sets six love and to get to match point before pulling back to win the third set, then throw the first five games in the remaining sets before going on to win, even thowing the first 40 points of each game so winning nearly all your points on match point and winning a lot fewer games. Tennis is a funny old game, isn't it?
They were once called the Knights of Walpurgis; by what name are they better known?
The Death Eaters.
(Ref. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
Alan
Where in the world is this?
The river Neckar, running through the beautiful medieval university city of Heidelberg, Germany.
In my trusty old dictionary between a part at a time and mournful I find a minstrel, a bloodsport, a deadly weapon, a golden sham, ornament with perforations, a fine sampling tool, a fancy rotation, a radioactive substance, a central point and a pocket.
Can you find some fish on these pages?
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Between piecemeal and plaintive you find Pierrot, pigsticking, pike (or pile or pilum), pinchbeck, pink, pipette, pirouette, pitchblende, pivot and placket (or plaid-neuk). Also a variety of Pisces, including pike, pilchard, pilot-fish, pinfish, pink, pipe-fish, piranha, plagiostome and plaice. |
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Ornament with perforations? Pink, it's a verb.
A pike is indeed a deadly weapon, like many so called obsolete weapons it is not something you would want to see brandished in a street near you.
Looking at the following six words, what logically should be the seventh word?
rend
mint
tire
mend
term
mind
Jim asks
Could it be DIRT since there are seven letters there (D,E,I,M,N,R,T) all used four times now?
Indeed it could.
Mick T