What Are Russian Doll Words in English Language Puzzles?

[Math Is Hard]

A bizarre word like "re" gives a conservative person like myself the shudders. This is why I don't play scrabble.

Here's more:

money ---> one
bottom ---> otto (I figure names count)
change---> hang-->an

(These aren't too spectacular. I guess I'm the kind of stripper who comes out pretty much nekked to begin with.)

I'll take money and change , but you have to go down to a 2-word root if the word is even, so tt is a deal-breaker for bottom.

 

[quantumdude]

Do acronyms count if they're in the dictionary?

 

[zoobyshoe]

... but you have to go down to a 2-word root if the word is even,...

I have no idea what this means. But anyway:

where--->her
strolls--->troll
plunger-->lunge
king-->in
swing--->win-->I
chew--->he
drums--->rum
power-->owe

 

[zoobyshoe]

strains-->train
grounds--->round
events--->vent
charms--->harm
preserves--->reserve
poverty--->overt
marks-->ark
plates--->late
jellyfish--->ellyfis

 

[Math Is Hard]

Do acronyms count if they're in the dictionary?

That's a really good question.

I would be on board with SCUBA or FUBAR, but a little less inclined toward something like CIA or MIS. There are several acronyms which eventually graduated to words in their own right (e.g. POSH and of course, the F-word ) so that makes the case for acronyms more persuasive to me.

Which acronymns were you thinking of?

 

[Math Is Hard]

I have no idea what this means. But anyway:

It means that if you have an even number of letters, you stop stripping when you reach a two letter word. That two letter word is your "root".
If you have an odd number of letters, you stop stripping when you get down to a three letter word, that word is your root - unless you can pare off those front and back letters (of the 3-letter root word) and get down to a one letter word root. That's a bonus word.

where--->her

works!

strolls--->troll

Doesn't work, since "rol", your root, is not a word.

plunger-->lunge

Here, you have "ung" as your root, so that's a problem.

king-->in

good!

swing--->win-->I

great!

chew--->he
drums--->rum
power-->owe

yep.

strains-->train

sorry, rai won't do for the root word.

grounds--->round

oun is spoiling the middle.

events--->vent

This is very good, but what you actually have is events--->vent --> en

charms--->harm

you would have to make a convincing case for "ar" as a word, matey!

preserves--->reserve

Nope. The buck stops at "eserv".

poverty--->overt

Nice try but "ver" is going to be a tough sell.

marks-->ark

good!

plates--->late

Good. Three words here: plates--->late --> at

jellyfish--->ellyfis

Funny! But, um.. no.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Strip off the first and last letter and get a new word, and then repeat until you get down to a 2 or 3 letter word root. (Possibly down to a one letter word, like A or I.) 2 letter roots are for words with an even number of letters and 3 or 1 letter roots are for words with an odd number of letters.

O.K. I understand now. I didn't understand that a 2 or 3 letter word was the distance you had to go. I just thought you were mentioning it since it was as far as you could go.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I'll take money and change:smile

Incidentally, what are you doing with these? Memorizing them for scrabble?

 

[honestrosewater]

How's the research project going by the way?

It's going.

how about emailed-- maile -- ail -- i ?

I wasn't sure about maile at first but it looks legit, though both listings are classified as obsolete.

1. A small piece of money; especially, an English silver half-penny of the time of Henry V.
2. Rent; tribute.

Sounds good. I'm easy. What about remaileds? Make sure to get the addresses right this time; I don't want to have to remail all of those remaileds again!

Can a word "expire"?

According to this reprint of the Ask Mister Langauge Person column, according to the Ask Mister Langauge Person column, according to Mister Langauge Person, according to The American Funeral Industry Council, the preferred term is "bought the farm."

 

[honestrosewater]

Take a gander at what I stumbled upon while trying to find out if anyone ever picked up verbid: morewords. Searching for flower gives a good idea of what the site does:

What information is available for each word?

For each word:

* Definitions are shown (if available, see above, or a list of links to dictionaries)
* Direct one-word anagrams
* Hooks (all words that can be found by adding one letter to the word - these are in bold)
* All words that can be found by adding one letter to the set of letters that form the word, in any order
* For words under eight letters, all shorter words that can be made from the letters
* Links to pages listing words starting with the word, containing the exact word anywhere, and ending with the word, optionally sorted by length of word (example: words ending with gry)
* Words that can be formed from the current word by changing anyone letter
* Link to browse words which are one character longer
* Link to previous word (alphabetically)
* Link to next word (alphabetically)

Hey, the site's creator's last name, Hoare, is a strip word and part of another: shoared, from shoar, an alt. spelling of shore, which can be used as a verb, as in shore up.

shoared -- Hoare -- oar -- a

 

[Math Is Hard]

What about remaileds? Make sure to get the addresses right this time; I don't want to have to remail all of those remaileds again!

HRW, check this out:
http://www.emailprivacy.info/remailers

remailers --> emailer --> maile --> ail --> i

THAT'S 5, BABY!

According to this reprint of the Ask Mister Langauge Person column, according to the Ask Mister Langauge Person column, according to Mister Langauge Person, according to The American Funeral Industry Council, the preferred term is "bought the farm."

That site is hilarious!

 

[Math Is Hard]

Take a gander at what I stumbled upon while trying to find out if anyone ever picked up verbid: morewords. Searching for flower gives a good idea of what the site does:

That is an awesome site and a terrible distraction. My workday is shot to hell now.

Hey, the site's creator's last name, Hoare, is a strip word and part of another: shoared, from shoar, an alt. spelling of shore, which can be used as a verb, as in shore up.

shoared -- Hoare -- oar -- a

ooh, cool beans! I wonder if the site creator has noticed this about his name? I would imagine so!