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Ronin77
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1)What is the longest word in the english language that is in alphabettical order? You can repeat letters if you have too. eg. all, ant.
2)What are the 2 longest words that do not repeat any letter? eg postman, junky.
3)What words have all the vowels in reverse order?
4)What words have all the vowels in alphabettical order?
Not sure if this has been posted before but if it has then please link it.
Changed to show that there are more words that are in reverse alphabetical order and more in alphabetical order
Hints:
1)you're almost there
2)they both have 15 letters
3)think below the ground
4)sorry cant think of a clue for this one.
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| « Last Edit: Jun 15th, 2003, 2:40pm by Ronin77 » |
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Words
« Reply #1 on: Jun 14th, 2003, 8:23am » |
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3) subhyoidean (below the hyoid bone)
4) abstemious, facetious
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| « Last Edit: Jun 14th, 2003, 8:38am by ThudnBlunder » |
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Sir Col
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Re: Words
« Reply #2 on: Jun 14th, 2003, 10:51am » |
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Don't forget for #4, the shortest word in the English language with all the vowels in alphabetical order: caesious (a shade of grey/blue/lavender).
I'll have to work on the rest, but surely there must be more than one word with all the vowels in reverse alphabetical order?
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| « Last Edit: Jun 14th, 2003, 10:52am by Sir Col » |
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Ronin77
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Re: Words
« Reply #3 on: Jun 15th, 2003, 2:36pm » |
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on Jun 14th, 2003, 8:23am, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:3) subhyoidean (below the hyoid bone)
4) abstemious, facetious
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both are correct but i was thinking of something else for 3.
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Sir Col
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Re: Words
« Reply #4 on: Jun 15th, 2003, 4:35pm » |
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It's really sad, but I went out for a meal on Satuday night and we spent a good part of the evening thinking of words for #1. Not surprisingly, we found quite a few.
6-letter words:
abbess, abhors, accent, accept, access, accost, adders, almost, begins, bellow, billow, biopsy, cellos, chills, chilly, chinos, chintz, chivvy, choosy, choppy, effort, floors, floppy, glossy and knotty.
However, I finally came up with this: billowy (7-letters).
I've not had much luck with #2. The best I could find was:
copyrightable, hydromagnetic, unpredictably and unproblematic; which only have 13-letters.
For #3, I found quite a few:
duoliteral (consisting of two letters), muscoidea (two winged fly), pulmonifera (artificially confined body of water), quodlibetal (a dubious adjective form of the noun, quodlibet: formal disputation of a theological issue), subcontinental, subhyoidean, and uncomplimentary.
Similarly, #4 has lots!
abstemious, abstemiously, abstentious, acheilous (lacking lips), acheirous (lacking hands), affectious, annelidous (nature of annelid: type of worm), arsenious (relating to arsenic compounds), arterious (of, like or in the arteries), caesious, facetious, facetiously, placentious (pleasing) and tragedious (tragical).
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| « Last Edit: Jun 15th, 2003, 4:39pm by Sir Col » |
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Sir Col
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Re: Words
« Reply #5 on: Jun 15th, 2003, 5:04pm » |
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I was just preparing lessons for tomorrow and I thought that this problem which I'm giving to one of my younger classes might interest some of you:
5. What is the longest word which, when written in capital letters, has a vertical line of reflective symmetry? What about a horizontal line of reflective symmetry? What about both?
(So as to not influence the problem solving process we can address issues of which letters 'work' as they arise).
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Ronin77
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Re: Words
« Reply #6 on: Jun 15th, 2003, 7:38pm » |
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on Jun 15th, 2003, 4:35pm, Sir Col wrote:It's really sad, but I went out for a meal on Satuday night and we spent a good part of the evening thinking of words for #1. Not surprisingly, we found quite a few.
6-letter words:
abbess, abhors, accent, accept, access, accost, adders, almost, begins, bellow, billow, biopsy, cellos, chills, chilly, chinos, chintz, chivvy, choosy, choppy, effort, floors, floppy, glossy and knotty.
However, I finally came up with this: billowy (7-letters).
I've not had much luck with #2. The best I could find was:
copyrightable, hydromagnetic, unpredictably and unproblematic; which only have 13-letters.
For #3, I found quite a few:
duoliteral (consisting of two letters), muscoidea (two winged fly), pulmonifera (artificially confined body of water), quodlibetal (a dubious adjective form of the noun, quodlibet: formal disputation of a theological issue), subcontinental, subhyoidean, and uncomplimentary.
Similarly, #4 has lots!
abstemious, abstemiously, abstentious, acheilous (lacking lips), acheirous (lacking hands), affectious, annelidous (nature of annelid: type of worm), arsenious (relating to arsenic compounds), arterious (of, like or in the arteries), caesious, facetious, facetiously, placentious (pleasing) and tragedious (tragical).
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all i can say is WHAT THE  !!!! i never thought people could come up with so many words.... well you got 1 right, not sure if there are any longer but i dont think so. The second is a bit harder, unfortunatly i cant give anymore clues as i dont know what the words mean. for 3 and 4 you are correct in all of them but i never thought there were so many. I will try to figure out your puzzle too sir col but it may take a little bit. All i can say about you going out and talking abouit words is i think that is the best way to spend a night. As long as you enjoyed it, thats all that matters.
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Ronin77
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Re: Words
« Reply #7 on: Jun 15th, 2003, 7:49pm » |
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I have another one: What are 2 (or more) words that repeat a letter 6 times and 1 (or more) words that repeat a letter 7 times. eg:keeper (3 e's), limiting (3 i's).
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| « Last Edit: Jun 15th, 2003, 7:52pm by Ronin77 » |
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Words
« Reply #8 on: Jun 15th, 2003, 8:09pm » |
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Quote:| 1)What is the longest word in the english language that is in alphabettical order? You can repeat letters if you have too. eg. all, ant. |
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1) Like this? - alphabetttical 
How about 'aegilops', an ulcer or fistula in the inner corner of the eye? (8 letters)
2)
uncopyrightable
3)
muroidea
subsocietal
unnoticeably
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| « Last Edit: Jun 16th, 2003, 12:48am by ThudnBlunder » |
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Words
« Reply #9 on: Jun 15th, 2003, 8:25pm » |
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Quote:| What are 2 (or more) words that repeat a letter 6 times and 1 (or more) words that repeat a letter 7 times. |
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'Indistinguishabilities' and 'indivisibilities' both have 7 i's.
6) Which easily-understood word contains the same letter 8 times?
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Words
« Reply #10 on: Jun 15th, 2003, 8:38pm » |
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Quote:| 5. What is the longest word which, when written in capital letters, has a vertical line of reflective symmetry? What about a horizontal line of reflective symmetry? What about both? |
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5)
(i) HOMOTAXIA
(ii) CHECKBOOK
(iii) OHIO
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Leo Broukhis
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Re: Words
« Reply #11 on: Jun 15th, 2003, 11:38pm » |
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For a word to have a vertical line of reflective symmetry, it has to be a palindrome to start with. What does AIXATOMOH mean? Where is OIHO?
Typos, typos...
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| « Last Edit: Jun 15th, 2003, 11:39pm by Leo Broukhis » |
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Words
« Reply #12 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 12:08am » |
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Quote:| For a word to have a vertical line of reflective symmetry, it has to ba a palindrome to start with. What does AIXATOMOH mean? Where is OIHO? |
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(i)
H
O
M
O
T
A
X
I
A
A
U
T
O
M
A
T
A
(iii)
O
H
I
O
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| « Last Edit: Jun 16th, 2003, 11:45am by ThudnBlunder » |
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Gerd
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Re: Words
« Reply #13 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 1:05am » |
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on Jun 15th, 2003, 8:25pm, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:
'Indistinguishabilities' and 'indivisibilities' both have 7 i's.
6) Which easily-understood word contains the same letter 8 times? |
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Wooloomooloo
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Words
« Reply #14 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 1:08am » |
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Quote:
Is that the name of your easily-understood local dialect?
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Gerd
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Re: Words
« Reply #15 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 1:30am » |
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on Jun 14th, 2003, 10:51am, Sir Col wrote:Don't forget for #4, the shortest word in the English language with all the vowels in alphabetical order: caesious (a shade of grey/blue/lavender).
I'll have to work on the rest, but surely there must be more than one word with all the vowels in reverse alphabetical order? |
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One word with 7 letters:aerious
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Gerd
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Re: Words
« Reply #16 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 1:46am » |
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on Jun 16th, 2003, 1:08am, THUDandBLUNDER wrote:
Is that the name of your easily-understood local dialect? |
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Do you think STRESSLESSNESSES is a better word? 
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Words
« Reply #17 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 6:59am » |
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Quote:| Do you think STRESSLESSNESSES is a better word? |
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Yes. But not by much, as it seems to be an artificial plural. Isn't this word an uncountable noun?
A trawl of online dictionaries for WOOLOOMOOLOO turns up nothing. What does it mean?
To me, it sounds like something an Aborigine might get up to on his honeymoon.
(My word is not a plural.) 
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| « Last Edit: Jun 16th, 2003, 7:30am by ThudnBlunder » |
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Sir Col
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Re: Words
« Reply #18 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 8:57am » |
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For 6-letter repeats I got:
assessorships, classlessness, dispossesses, indivisibility, invisibilities, odontonosology (dentistry), possessionless, possessiveness, proctocolonoscopy (examination of the rectum/colon), senselessness and taramasalata.
For 7-letters: indivisibilities, stresslessness and successlessness, but I didn't come up with indistinguishabilities; I couldn't find it in my dictionaries, T&B?
I couldn't find any 8-letter repeats at all? 
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ThudnBlunder
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Re: Words
« Reply #19 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 11:01am » |
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Quote:| but I didn't come up with indistinguishabilities; I couldn't find it in my dictionaries, T&B? |
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Well, 'indistinguishability' is there - and 'ability' can take a plural.
However, although somebody can have 'abilities', we usually say 'the ability to [verb] something'. 
BTW, if you view N, S, or Z upside-down they remain unchanged. Do they qualify for horizontal symmetry?
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| « Last Edit: Jun 16th, 2003, 11:23am by ThudnBlunder » |
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Sir Col
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Re: Words
« Reply #20 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 11:26am » |
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That would only work for rotational symmetry, which was going to be my next question.
Being English, I don't like the word, CHECKBOOK (9-letters), so the longest words I found for horizontal symmetry were: BEDECKED and EXCEEDED (8-letters). For vertical symmetry, the best I found was MAMMOTH and MAXIMUM (7-letters), and obviously we'd write them vertically, but I like your 8-letter word: AUTOMATA. If we permit place names, I think that OHIO is the best we can find with both symmetries.
As promised...
7. What is the longest word in the English language which reads as another good English word upside down? Can you find any words that read the same upside down?
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wowbagger
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Re: Words
« Reply #21 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 11:35am » |
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on Jun 16th, 2003, 11:26am, Sir Col wrote:| 7. What is the longest word in the English language which reads as another good English word upside down? Can you find any words that read the same upside down? |
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Isn't the last part (same word upside down) almost the same as horizontal symmetry? Your own words, BEDECKED and EXCEEDED, are the same upside down.
Did you mean some other transformation?
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Sir Col
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Re: Words
« Reply #22 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 11:38am » |
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I think you're interpreting it as T&B did too. Sorry for the confusion, but I meant that if you wrote it on a piece of paper and turned the paper upside down (rotated it 180o), it would either read as another word or the same word.
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Gerd
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Re: Words
« Reply #23 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 11:58am » |
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Hi T&B,
the first time I saw the word 'Wooloomooloo' was in a book of Martin Gardner, and it was part of a riddle made by Sam Lloyd. There I read, that it is the name of the harbour in Sidney (I think, you're right with the Aborigines  ).
And TOOMATOOGOOROO (a spiny New Zealand shrub) comes from the same part of the world.
And possessionlessness is singular but not better than my further word.
I have a lot of fun with languages/words, but of course I can do it better in my native language (german).
I wish you a nice day
Gerd
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wowbagger
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Re: Words
« Reply #24 on: Jun 16th, 2003, 12:03pm » |
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on Jun 16th, 2003, 11:58am, Gerd wrote:| I have a lot of fun with languages/words, but of course I can do it better in my native language (german). |
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Maybe you should post some language/word riddles in German.
It's not exactly my special subject, but a few other people might also be interested. (If I knew good ones, I'd already have posted them.)
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