warack@aero.ARPA (Chris Warack ) (07/25/85)
[Yum] OK, so I blew it with 'ivy' [I thought 'icy' was 'icey'.] That was stupid. I have another though, 'iffy.' This was brought to my attention by Alan Foonberg. He didn't see it as a word island; he was looking for ways to disprove ivy --> ify [no, that's spelled iffy]. Anyways, see if you can do anything with that. Also, 'ecru.' It might lose to a plural, 'ecrus.' I would never use a plural to ecru, but it might exist. In a meta-discussion, I have found it all but impossible to find a two-letter word island. I doubt there are. [This could be easily proved since there are only 312 possible two letter words [26 * 6 [vowels] * 2 [order]], and many of these like 'ez' aren't words.] Three letter words are difficult too. My strategy for looking is to find words with a middle constanant, that end in y or a sibilant [s,z,sh,ch] that takes a non-'s' plural, or that are not nouns or verbs. There are a number that are close: any - and ivy - icy fry - fly chi - phi elk - elks [non-standard but still a legitimate plural] Four letter words, try looking in the pattern vcvc or vccv for words. Has anyone else thought about this, or actually done similar work? -- _______ |/-----\| Chris Warack (213) 648-6617 ||hello|| || || warack@aerospace.ARPA |-------| warack@aero.UUCP |@ ___ | seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!ittatc!dcdwest! |_______| sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwrba!aero!warack || || \ Aerospace Corporation, M1-117, El Segundo, CA 90245 ^^^ ^^^ `---------(|=
eklhad@ihnet.UUCP (K. A. Dahlke) (07/29/85)
> [Yum] > Three letter words are > difficult too. My strategy for looking is to find words with a middle > constanant, that end in y or a sibilant [s,z,sh,ch] that takes a non-'s' > plural, or that are not nouns or verbs. > |/-----\| Chris Warack (213) 648-6617 This is a good strategy, much like my own. Four letter islands are relatively easy to find. "jinx" "lynx" etc Pick on words with non-standard etymologies. There *is* a 3 letter island, which I will not disclose at this time. I believe it is legal. In some metaphysical sense, you could append an 's', producing a plural, but the word is not a noun or a verb. Oops, have I given too many hints? -- This .signature file intentionally left blank. Karl Dahlke ihnp4!ihnet!eklhad