SILENT CONVERSATION
Augustine Carreno
Can you create a meaningful, "silent" dialogue?
The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
word. For example,
WATER:
ans(w)er
le(a)d
chas(t)en
don(e)
Wo(r)cester
"HE GOES:"
(h)eir
don(e)
si(g)n
soph(o)more
don(e)
chassi(s)
Jonathan Haas
Augustine Carreno <aca...@ipgnet.com> wrote:
>Can you create a meaningful, "silent" dialogue?
>
>The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
>of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
>word. For example,
Trivial, since every letter can be used as a silent letter in one word or
another. Although some of the words are awfully obscure.
J.R. Jenks
aca...@ipgnet.com (Augustine Carreno) wrote:
>Can you create a meaningful, "silent" dialogue?
>
>The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
>of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
>word. For example,
>
>WATER:
>ans(w)er
>le(a)d
>chas(t)en
>don(e)
>Wo(r)cester
>
>"HE GOES:"
>(h)eir
>don(e)
>si(g)n
>soph(o)more
>don(e)
>chassi(s)
>
The trick is to find 26 words, each with a different silent letter.
Then we'd be able to make any sentence we wanted to.
You've already come up with 9. Let's see how many of the remaining 17
I can come up with.
le(a)d
bom(b)
s(c)enery
We(d)nesday
don(e)
F???
si(g)n
(h)eir
I???
J???
(k)nob
pa(l)m
M???
colum(n)
soph(o)more
cu(p)board
Q???
Wo(r)cester
chassi(s)
chas(t)en
U???
V???
ans(w)er
X???
Y???
Z???
Hmmm. That still leaves 10 letters. Can anyone help out?
Scott D. Rhodes
aca...@ipgnet.com (Augustine Carreno) wrote:
>Can you create a meaningful, "silent" dialogue?
>The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
>of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
>word. For example,
>WATER:
>ans(w)er
>le(a)d
>chas(t)en
>don(e)
>Wo(r)cester
I suspect that this is fairly trivial. I'm not certain, but I believe every
letter of the alphabet exists as a silent letter in at least one word. I've
been able to come up with examples for 21 of the 26 letters (I'm missing f, j,
q, v, and z). I'm sure the r.p regulars will be able to provide those in
fairly short order. Once that's done, any dialogue you write will be
"silent".
Ob Puzzle #1: The word "knight" has three separate silent letters -- k, g, and
h. What word contains the most different silent letters?
Ob Puzzle #2: What's the shortest list of words, measured in number of words
that contains every letter as a silent letter of the alphabet at least once?
The shortest measured in letters?
Nick Wedd
In article <5gqmkv$htn$1...@news.ipass.net>, "Scott D. Rhodes"
<rho...@ipass.net> writes
>
>I suspect that this is fairly trivial. I'm not certain, but I believe every
>letter of the alphabet exists as a silent letter in at least one word. I've
>been able to come up with examples for 21 of the 26 letters (I'm missing f, j,
>q, v, and z).
colQuhoun (but it's a proper name)
capercailZie
--
Nick Wedd ni...@maproom.demon.co.uk
Chris Lomont
On 19 Mar 1997, Jonathan Haas wrote:
> Augustine Carreno <aca...@ipgnet.com> wrote:
> >Can you create a meaningful, "silent" dialogue?
> >
> >The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
> >of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
> >word. For example,
>
> Trivial, since every letter can be used as a silent letter in one word or
> another. Although some of the words are awfully obscure.
If you think this is trivial, post a word for each letter of the alphabet
with that letter silent. I think you enjoy blowing smoke...
Chris Lomont
P.S. Here's some to help you....
sarsparilla - silent r
come - silent e
bomb - silent b
Get the idea?
Jonathan Haas
Scott D. Rhodes <rho...@ipass.net> wrote:
>aca...@ipgnet.com (Augustine Carreno) wrote:
>
>>Can you create a meaningful, "silent" dialogue?
>
>>The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
>>of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
>>word. For example,
>
>>ans(w)er
>>le(a)d
>>chas(t)en
>>don(e)
>>Wo(r)cester
>
>letter of the alphabet exists as a silent letter in at least one word. I've
>been able to come up with examples for 21 of the 26 letters (I'm missing f, j,
>fairly short order. Once that's done, any dialogue you write will be
>"silent".
"Halfpenny" and "fivepenny" provide silent F and V... pronounced,
respectively, as "ha'penny" and "fi'penny". Both are obscure if not
obsolete, but hey, they work.
--JSH
Chris Behrens
A -
B - bomb
C -
D -
E - come
F-
G - paradigm
H -
I - achieve
J -
K -
L - lilly
M -
N -
O - cushion
P - peppery
Q -
R - sarsparilla
S - sassy
T - tattered
U - vacuum
V -
W -
X -
Y -
Z - snazzy
Note I have kind of cheated here...
In the word tatter, only the second T is pronounced, not the third. If it
were, the pronunciation would be
"tateter."
--
Chris Behrens
spamslaye...@cyberhighway.net
Microsoft Site Builder Level 2
http://www.deltav.net
To email me, remove spamslayer from the address.
"I'm trying to think, but nothing's happening!"
Chris Lomont <clo...@omni.cc.purdue.edu> wrote in article
<Pine.SOL.3.91.970320...@omni.cc.purdue.edu>...
>
>
> On 19 Mar 1997, Jonathan Haas wrote:
>
> > Augustine Carreno <aca...@ipgnet.com> wrote:
> > >Can you create a meaningful, "silent" dialogue?
> > >
> > >The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
> > >of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
> > >word. For example,
> >
Scott D. Rhodes
jje...@rdisoft.com (J.R. Jenks) wrote:
>The trick is to find 26 words, each with a different silent letter.
>Then we'd be able to make any sentence we wanted to.
>You've already come up with 9. Let's see how many of the remaining 17
>I can come up with.
>le(a)d
>bom(b)
>s(c)enery
>We(d)nesday
>don(e)
>F???
>si(g)n
>(h)eir
>I???
Sioux
>J???
>(k)nob
>pa(l)m
>M???
mnemonic
>colum(n)
>soph(o)more
>cu(p)board
>Q???
>Wo(r)cester
>chassi(s)
>chas(t)en
>U???
league
>V???
>ans(w)er
>X???
Sioux
>Y???
may
>Z???
tripod
J.R. Jenks (jje...@rdisoft.com) wrote to rec.puzzles and the world:
aca...@ipgnet.com (Augustine Carreno) wrote:
>Can you create a meaningful, "silent" dialogue?
>
>The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
>of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
>word. For example,
The trick is to find 26 words, each with a different silent letter.
Then we'd be able to make any sentence we wanted to.
You've already come up with 9. Let's see how many of the remaining 17
I can come up with.
X???
well, san antonio is in Bexar County, TX, which is pronounced more or less
like "bear." don't know if that counts...
--CKS
c. kenneth stern * ken....@yale.edu * cks...@cazique.cc.yale.edu
yale 1997 * calhoun college * alpha epsilon pi * mathematics * nice guy
== == == == == == == == == == == == === == == == == == == == == == == == ==
the face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face.
David Zechiel
In article <3330160f...@news.ipgnet.com>, From aca...@ipgnet.com
(Augustine Carreno), the following was written:
> don(e)
I'm not sure that I agree that the 'e' here is totally silent. If you
remove the 'e' from the word "done", it changes the sound to that of the
man's name "Don", quite different from "done".
> soph(o)more
The 'o' here is definitely not silent.
sophomore (sòf´e-môr´) noun
although I will admit that I hear it mispronounced all the time
without the middle sylablle.
Dave Zechiel
--
Replace the "dot" in my return address with a "." in order to reply via e-mail.
Scott D. Rhodes
>> >The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
>> >of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
>> >word. For example,
>>
>> another. Although some of the words are awfully obscure.
>If you think this is trivial, post a word for each letter of the alphabet
>with that letter silent. I think you enjoy blowing smoke...
Thanks to assists from Nick Wedd and Jonathon Haas, I've got it down to every
letter save 'j':
greAves douBt sCene weDnesday siEvE halFpenny liGHt sIoux Knight haLf Mnemonic
hymN siOux cuPboard colQuhoun saRsaparilla fleur-de-liS ofTen leagUe fiVepenny
ansWer siouX maY capercailZie
Perhaps I'm blowing smoke until I get the 'j', but you must admit that it's a
very small amount of smoke in any case.
Rick Banghart
In article <01bc356c$b502c910$a574d7ce@iac165>,
spamslaye...@cyberhighway.net says...
>
>A - forecastle (foc's'l)
>B - bomb, debt, subtle
>C - blackguard (blaggard)
>D -
>E - come
>F -
>G - paradigm
>I - achieve
>J -
>L - lilly
>M -
>O - cushion
>P - peppery
>Q -
>R - sarsparilla
>S - sassy
about 'castle'?
>U - vacuum --- I don't like this either. Though I can't think of an
alternative.
>V -
>W -
>X - faux
>Y -
>Z - snazzy
>
>Note I have kind of cheated here...
>
>In the word tatter, only the second T is pronounced, not the third. If it
>were, the pronunciation would be
>"tateter."
I like 'tattered' because it's creative, but I don't like it because it
doesn't work.
>--
>Chris Behrens
>spamslaye...@cyberhighway.net
>Microsoft Site Builder Level 2
>http://www.deltav.net
>
>To email me, remove spamslayer from the address.
>
>"I'm trying to think, but nothing's happening!"
>
>Chris Lomont <clo...@omni.cc.purdue.edu> wrote in article
><Pine.SOL.3.91.970320...@omni.cc.purdue.edu>...
>>
>>
>> On 19 Mar 1997, Jonathan Haas wrote:
>>
>> > Augustine Carreno <aca...@ipgnet.com> wrote:
>> > >Can you create a meaningful, "silent" dialogue?
>> > >
>> > >The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
>> > >of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
>> > >word. For example,
>> >
>> > Trivial, since every letter can be used as a silent letter in one word
>or
>> > another. Although some of the words are awfully obscure.
>>
>> If you think this is trivial, post a word for each letter of the alphabet
>
>> with that letter silent. I think you enjoy blowing smoke...
>>
>> Chris Lomont
>>
>> P.S. Here's some to help you....
>>
>> sarsparilla - silent r
>> come - silent e
>> bomb - silent b
>>
>> Get the idea?
>>
Rick Banghart
bang...@pilot.msu.edu
Nick Wedd
In article <5grsqi$8rf$1...@halcyon.com>, Jonathan Haas
<posi...@halcyon.com> writes
>
>"Halfpenny" and "fivepenny" provide silent F and V... pronounced,
>respectively, as "ha'penny" and "fi'penny". Both are obscure if not
>obsolete, but hey, they work.
>
Halfpennies aren't worth anything any more, but they still turn up under
carpets.
Nick
--
Nick Wedd ni...@maproom.demon.co.uk
Bob Sifniades
Scott D. Rhodes wrote:
>
> >> >The only requirement is that all words be "silent." That is, made out
> >> >of letters or groups of letters each of which is silent in another
> >> >word. For example,
> >>
> >> Trivial, since every letter can be used as a silent letter in one word or
> >> another. Although some of the words are awfully obscure.
>
> >If you think this is trivial, post a word for each letter of the alphabet
> >with that letter silent. I think you enjoy blowing smoke...
>
> letter save 'j':
>
> greAves douBt sCene weDnesday siEvE halFpenny liGHt sIoux Knight haLf Mnemonic
> hymN siOux cuPboard colQuhoun saRsaparilla fleur-de-liS ofTen leagUe fiVepenny
> ansWer siouX maY capercailZie
>
> Perhaps I'm blowing smoke until I get the 'j', but you must admit that it's a
> very small amount of smoke in any case.
>
>
> >P.S. Here's some to help you....
>
> >sarsparilla - silent r
> >come - silent e
> >bomb - silent b
>
> >Get the idea?
Speaking of blowing smoke, you might try "marijuana". Spoken in Spanish,
the j makes the sound of an English "h", but many English speakers pronounce
the word without the j/h sound.
Wei-Hwa Huang
Bob Sifniades <bob...@interactive.netSPAMBEGONE> writes:
>Speaking of blowing smoke, you might try "marijuana". Spoken in Spanish,
>the j makes the sound of an English "h", but many English speakers pronounce
>the word without the j/h sound.
However, they do seem to pronounce the "j" as a "w"...
--
Wei-Hwa Huang, whu...@ugcs.caltech.edu, http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~whuang/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why are they called "digital" watches? They're obviously carpal, not digital.
Matthew Daly
In article <5h0u6i$3...@gap.cco.caltech.edu> whu...@ugcs.caltech.edu (Wei-Hwa Huang) writes:
>Bob Sifniades <bob...@interactive.netSPAMBEGONE> writes:
>
>>Speaking of blowing smoke, you might try "marijuana". Spoken in Spanish,
>>the j makes the sound of an English "h", but many English speakers pronounce
>>the word without the j/h sound.
>
>However, they do seem to pronounce the "j" as a "w"...
Do you think so? I think it's more likely that they're pronouncing the
"u" as a "w'>
Borrowing the rec.puzzles crown from Karen for a moment, I dub
"marijuana" a word with a silent "j" and, thus, the final part
of the solution to this puzzle.
-Matthew, it amuses us to do so
--
Matthew Daly I feel that if a person has problems communicating
mwd...@kodak.com the very least he can do is to shut up - Tom Lehrer
My opinions are not necessarily those of my employer, of course.
Bob Sifniades
Wei-Hwa Huang wrote:
>
> Bob Sifniades <bob...@interactive.netSPAMBEGONE> writes:
>
> >Speaking of blowing smoke, you might try "marijuana". Spoken in Spanish,
> >the j makes the sound of an English "h", but many English speakers pronounce
> >the word without the j/h sound.
>
> However, they do seem to pronounce the "j" as a "w"...
>
> Wei-Hwa Huang, whu...@ugcs.caltech.edu, http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~whuang/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Why are they called "digital" watches? They're obviously carpal, not digital.
The "wa" sound comes from the "ua", so English speakers pronounce it as if it
were spelled "mari-uana".
John Abreu
Bob Sifniades wrote:
>
> Wei-Hwa Huang wrote:
> >
> > Bob Sifniades <bob...@interactive.netSPAMBEGONE> writes:
> >
> > >Speaking of blowing smoke, you might try "marijuana". Spoken in Spanish,
> > >the j makes the sound of an English "h", but many English speakers pronounce
> The "wa" sound comes from the "ua", so English speakers pronounce it as if it
> were spelled "mari-uana".
In some spanish speaking countries, like Venezuela, they say "mariGuana"
"mariGuanero". The 'G' is pronounced exactly as in 'Guatemala'.
John Abreu
jab...@sfu.ca
Scott D. Rhodes
>>Speaking of blowing smoke, you might try "marijuana". Spoken in Spanish,
>>the j makes the sound of an English "h", but many English speakers pronounce
>However, they do seem to pronounce the "j" as a "w"...
The "w" sound, IMO, comes from the "u" immediately after the "j".
Darren Rigby
In article <5gt3tn$bc1$1...@msunews.cl.msu.edu>,
Rick Banghart <bang...@pilot.msu.edu> wrote:
>In article <01bc356c$b502c910$a574d7ce@iac165>,
>spamslaye...@cyberhighway.net says...
>>
>>A - forecastle (foc's'l)
>>B - bomb, debt, subtle
>>C - blackguard (blaggard)
>>D -
>>E - come
>>G - paradigm
>>H - honor
>>I - achieve
>>J -
>>K - blackguard
>>M - mnemonic
>>N - damn
>>O - cushion
>>Q -
>>R - sarsparilla
>>S - sassy
>>U - build
>>V - fivepenny (pron. fippenny, as given in other posts)
>>W - whole
>>X - faux
>>Y - day
>>Z - snazzy
>>
>>Note I have kind of cheated here...
>>>
>>> with that letter silent. I think you enjoy blowing smoke...
>>>
>>>
>>> P.S. Here's some to help you....
>>>
>>> sarsparilla - silent r
>>> come - silent e
>>> bomb - silent b
>>>
>>> Get the idea?
>>>
>bang...@pilot.msu.edu
>
I have added M, U, W and Y, provided alternatives for A, L and P, and replaced
`tattered' with Rick's `castle'.
We all seem to have a blind spot at D, and there must be something better
for S.
--
djr={gridby, dart, axoq}
Scott D. Rhodes
Okay, everyone, here's the new, improved list of silent letters across the
alphabet. Thanks to all who had a hand in it (I can't remember who all that
is, unfortunately.)
I'm a little disaapointed that no one's tried the challenge I came up with of
getting the silent alphabet in as few words as possible. I thought that was
the sort of thing r.p'ers would go after with almost as much enthusiasm as
they would a nugry hunt. :-)
greAves
douBt
sCene
weDnesday
siEvE
halFpenny
paradiGm
Honor
achIece
mariJuana
Knight
haLf
Mnemonic
hymN
cushiOn
cuPboard
colQuhoun
saRsaparilla
fleur-de-liS
casTle
leagUe
fiVepenny
ansWer
fauX
maY
capercailZie
Naeem Sheikh
Scott D. Rhodes () wrote:
: Okay, everyone, here's the new, improved list of silent letters across the
: alphabet. Thanks to all who had a hand in it (I can't remember who all that
: is, unfortunately.)
: I'm a little disaapointed that no one's tried the challenge I came up with of
: getting the silent alphabet in as few words as possible. I thought that was
: the sort of thing r.p'ers would go after with almost as much enthusiasm as
: they would a nugry hunt. :-)
As much enthusiasm as a nugry hunt? You got to be kidding me! Just take
a look around. [I personally hate nugry hunts -- I like hungry nuts more.]
: sCene
Is it the "s" or the "c" that is silent here? Is there an official
pronouncement on such things?
Naeem Sheikh
nsh...@cs.rochester.edu
--
Scott D. Rhodes
>We all seem to have a blind spot at D, and there must be something better
>for S.
See my list: Wednesday; fleur-de-lis.
Ian Lynagh
Once upon a time, in the land of rec.puzzles, Scott D. Rhodes eloquently
composed:
>greAves
I recon the second E is silent, so siEvE can be removed.
>halFpenny
And the L is silent here, isn't it? That means we can eliminate
haLf.
>Knight
Can you say anything else is silent here?
TTFN
Ian
--
Ian Lynagh - i...@lynagh.demon.co.uk
http://www.sn.no/~balchen/igloo/
We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them
to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.
tripod
Darren Rigby (djr...@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca) wrote to rec.puzzles and the world:
I have added M, U, W and Y, provided alternatives for A, L and P, and replaced
`tattered' with Rick's `castle'.
We all seem to have a blind spot at D, and there must be something better
for S.
like 'aisle' for example. chalk it up.
frankly, i don't think double letters should count. we should be able to
get by without them. so with 'aisle' for S, we are missing D, J, Q, Z.
J - hallelujah.
Z - there are french-derived words that have made it into our lexicon,
like pince-nez (pronounced pance-nay) and laissez-faire (lessay-fair).
other than that, nothing comes to mind.
D - can't think of anything at the moment.
as for a Q, i wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a single one. who
would bother to put such an uncomon letter in a word, only not to
pronounce it!
Chris Welty
If we want a shorter list, we could try knew and gnu for k and g. Or use
'blight' for g and h, and 'worcestershire' for r,c, and e. If I can
think of a word with a silent d, do I get a Pernod?
Scott D. Rhodes
> I have added M, U, W and Y, provided alternatives for A, L and P, and replaced
> `tattered' with Rick's `castle'.
> We all seem to have a blind spot at D, and there must be something better
> for S.
Ken, we completed the list about a week ago. Use "Wednesday" for D.
>frankly, i don't think double letters should count. we should be able to
>get by without them. so with 'aisle' for S, we are missing D, J, Q, Z.
J was marijuana; Z capercailze (I may be mis-spelling that). I forget what
'q' was, but we did find one. I'll try to fig it up and e-mail it to you.