bonanova Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 A vicious worm invaded the [fictitious] online dictionary Sordid Words last night. The effect was all the word entries were scrambled so that the letters in each word were alphabetized. brainden became abdeinnr, puzzle was changed into elpuzz, and so on. And then the scrambled words were listed in their new alphabetical order. Interesting, you thought. Me too. Without thinking about it too hard, what would be the first few and the last few entries in the newly alphabetized word list? And, what's likely the first new word starting with B? Have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 CaptainEd Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 (edited) a aa (the type of lava) banana and aardvark would come soon, but hugely long words with more As would precede. I guess BB would be the first B word Maybe the last word would be US, ending the S section, unless UV (ultraviolet) is permitted, ending the U section edit: sure enough, this gift keeps on giving, how bout TUTUS (STTUU). No, SU comes later.never mindYet another fascinatingly cute puzzle from Bonanova. Thanks! Hope I can think well enough to see some more of the answer. Edited June 17, 2009 by CaptainEd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 I guess the first few would all be "a" my guess for the first B would be "BE" And the last...I am going to need more time, though i suspect it starts with an "o" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Perhaps "WY" since it does appear in some online dictionaries as Wyoming... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 I guess the first few would all be "a" my guess for the first B would be "BE" And the last...I am going to need more time, though i suspect it starts with an "o" ooz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 bbbelo for bobble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 ooz not sure that's a word without an e at the end... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 CaptainEd Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 bbbelo for bobble. Intuition keeps pointing wrong, doesn't it?bobbled BBBDELO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 bbbelo for bobble. I guess flibbertigibbet has four Bs so that would come first. I am going to stop now...probably Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 CaptainEd Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 not sure that's a word without an e at the end... It is, if you see elephants there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 It is, if you see elephants there... I should just go to bed and stop making an a** out of myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 CaptainEd Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 in case we don't get WY or UV, TUTU (alphabetized as TTUU) is looking good to me.still am misled by my intuition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 in case we don't get WY or UV, TUTU (alphabetized as TTUU) is looking good to me.still am misled by my intuition i wonder if TUX is allowed,... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 abracadabra might be pretty close to the front as well as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. as for the last ones, i'm guessing that, if it's allowed, WY (the abbreviation for Wyoming) and us and Zzyzx (settlement in California). the last possible, non proper word is a toughy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 CaptainEd Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 i wonder if TUX is allowed,... It's gotta be! good job! But it turns out that XU is a Vietnamese currency item, alphabetizes as UX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 It's gotta be! good job! But it turns out that XU is a Vietnamese currency item, alphabetizes as UX ...UZ is in a lot of online dictionaries too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 CaptainEd Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 good going! That pushes it to ZUZ (An old jewish coin) -> UZZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 good going! That pushes it to ZUZ (An old jewish coin) -> UZZ And wouldn't you believe I just found "zzz" in an online dictionary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 one of the early words: aab for aba one of the early words for B: bbbeli for bibble (yes, it's a word - www.m-w.com) one of the last words: zytoge for zygote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 CaptainEd Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 And wouldn't you believe I just found "zzz" in an online dictionary. Sounds like there's a tunnel at the end of the daylight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 CaptainEd Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 one of the early words: aab for aba one of the early words for B: bbbeli for bibble (yes, it's a word - www.m-w.com) one of the last words: zytoge for zygote Remember that zygote becomes EGOTYZ And remember that bibbled (BBBDELI) precedes bibble (BBBELI) (thanks for Bibble, by the way, I love these glimpses into alien words) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Remember that zygote becomes EGOTYZ And remember that bibbled (BBBDELI) precedes bibble (BBBELI) (thanks for Bibble, by the way, I love these glimpses into alien words) still doesn't beat flibbertigibbet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 stxy for styx but I vote that zzz be accepted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 still doesn't beat flibbertigibbet 5 bs but with a hyphen.... hubble-bubble (commotion) bbbbbeellhuu- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 EventHorizon Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 (edited) There's a settlement in California called Zzyzx. Zyzzyx is a monospecific genus of sand wasp. Edited June 17, 2009 by EventHorizon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bonanova Posted June 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 Well that was fun.aaaaabbcdrr [abracadabra].By the way, if the original words maintain their association with their sorted versions, what might this worm-infected dictionary be useful for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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bonanova
A vicious worm invaded the [fictitious] online dictionary Sordid Words last night.
The effect was all the word entries were scrambled so that the letters in each word were alphabetized.
brainden became abdeinnr, puzzle was changed into elpuzz, and so on.
And then the scrambled words were listed in their new alphabetical order.
Interesting, you thought. Me too.
Without thinking about it too hard, what would be the first few and the last few entries in the newly alphabetized word list?
And, what's likely the first new word starting with B?
Have fun.
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