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Topic: Self anagramming words.... (Read 663 times) |
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RichardBerger
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Self anagramming words....
« on: May 23rd, 2003, 10:29pm » |
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I haven't seen this puzzle anywhere else, so I offer it for the consideration of this august group.
What English words can you think of that have the following property:
* When split into two halves (A, B) - e.g. A is the first n/2 letters (in order) and B is the last n/2 letters (in order), then:
* A is a word
* B is a different word
* A and B are anagrams
I know of four words that meet this criteria. Of course, all these words have all there letters repeated exactly twice, so one way to solve it is to review lists of those type of words - but that wouln't be any fun would it? 
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maryl
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Re: Self anagramming words....
« Reply #1 on: May 24th, 2003, 11:37am » |
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So, would Abba be an example, if ab was considered a word, which it kinda is, albeit a shortform?
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RichardBerger
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Re: Self anagramming words....
« Reply #2 on: May 24th, 2003, 8:12pm » |
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abba would be acceptable if:
1) "abba" was a word (one can argue that it kinda is) and
2) "ab" was a word and
3) "ba" was a word
I think you might make a case for the truth of each of the three statements above (at least in my quick skimming of dictionary.com) but "abba" was not one of the words on my original list. But yes, you have understood the problem correctly.
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MattyDK23
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Re: Self anagramming words....
« Reply #3 on: May 25th, 2003, 11:22am » |
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I can only think of two...
noon and boob, assuming 'bo' is a word...dictionary.com was of little help
Also, how do we split words that aren't of even length? For example, 'madam' could be split into 'mad' and 'dam' and fit the property...or perhaps we have to split it into 'mad' and 'am' -- exclusive groups -- in which case odd-length words can't fit this property.
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RichardBerger
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Re: Self anagramming words....
« Reply #4 on: May 25th, 2003, 8:08pm » |
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You are correct about odd length words - they are excluded from the problem space. Also, "boob" is not a solution, as I don't believe "ob" is a word. However, your other solution is one of the four that I have found. Only three more to go .
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wowbagger
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Re: Self anagramming words....
« Reply #5 on: May 26th, 2003, 3:47am » |
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Ah! Now I see where you're aiming at!
on May 23rd, 2003, 10:29pm, RichardBerger wrote:What English words can you think of that have the following property:
* When split into two halves (A, B) - e.g. A is the first n/2 letters (in order) and B is the last n/2 letters (in order), then:
* A is a word
* B is a different word
* A and B are anagrams
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I thought your third criterion was meant to require a structure like in "abbaboob". Your intention is that "AB" is an anagram, I suppose.
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"You're a jerk, <your surname>!"
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RichardBerger
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Re: Self anagramming words....
« Reply #6 on: May 26th, 2003, 8:34am » |
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on May 26th, 2003, 3:47am, wowbagger wrote:Ah! Now I see where you're aiming at!
I thought your third criterion was meant to require a structure like in "abbaboob". Your intention is that "AB" is an anagram, I suppose. |
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Good opportunity for clarification - "A and B are anagrams" was meant to describe the criterion that A and B are anagrams of each other. Since one of the words has been guessed here, I will use it as an example.
AB=noon
A = no
B = on
A, B are anagrams of each other
Hope that clarifies!
RB
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SWF
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Re: Self anagramming words....
« Reply #7 on: May 26th, 2003, 5:06pm » |
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Reappear= reap + pear
teammate= team + mate
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Sir Col
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Re: Self anagramming words....
« Reply #8 on: May 27th, 2003, 10:44am » |
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I found a few more dubious ones...
Barbra (names allowed?) = bar + bra
beeb = be eb (beeb is the term we use in England for the BBC)
denned (to hide in a den) = den + Ned
horseshoer = horse + shoer
marram (coarse grass) = mar + ram
natant (floating in water) = nat (obsolete form of not) + ant
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RichardBerger
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Re: Self anagramming words....
« Reply #9 on: May 27th, 2003, 6:32pm » |
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I wasn't including names, but horseshoer was the final one that I had found. Marram and natant are new. Thanks for adding to the list.
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