April 18, 2009

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    Later edit:  I’m learning how to use Mike Wolfberg’s WHAT program, and my first stab at generating 8-letter -LIKE words with, say, an A and three consonants before -LIKE, the only method I could find that worked was to ask for ALIKE???, and pick out the words ending in -LIKE.  And I missed LATHLIKE and WANDLIKE using this method.  One of the reasons for that is that the display was so large it overfilled my screen and I forgot to scroll.

    Ah, but I found a query that pinpointed just what I was asking for.  ….like,A3(C)

    I’m saying this so I’ll remember the technique.  The comma with no space after it sets the condition that I want three consonants and an A.  The four dots before like asks for the pattern.

    Corrected list appears below this edit.

    SUCH a Long Time …

    …since I’ve posted.  Obama’s been elected, and I’m back to studying Scrabble words, when I’m not blogging as Twoberry and when I’m not keeping up with my hyperactive everlovin’ Barbara and when I’m not paying attention to my day job.

    Let’s get back to Scrabble.  And let’s see if I can remember all of the eight-letter words ending in -LIKE.  How many are there?  Let’s start with AGUELIKE HYMNLIKE LYNXLIKE.  The rest will have one or two vowels amongst the first four letters, unlike AGUE (3 vowels) and HYMN LYNX (none at all).

    ONE VOWEL

    A:  My mnemonic is LAP CAWS 43539 (and I caution readers not to try to figure that out).  I’m just testing myself to see if I can type all 38 of these words from memory.

    BALM
    BARN
    CALF
    CLAM
    CLAW
    CLAY

    CRAB
    DAWN
    FANG
    FAWN
    GNAT
    HAND

    HAWK
    JAZZ
    LADY
    LAMB
    LARD
    LATH


    MASK
    MAST
    PALM
    PARK
    PLAY
    RASH


    SACK
    SALT
    SAND
    SCAB
    SLAB
    SNAG


    SPAR
    STAR
    SWAN
    TANK
    TRAP
    WAND

    WART
    WASP

    Yay!  All 38 accounted for.  3 + 38 = 41

    E:  FEG HENS 22324  (16 in all)

    FELT
    FERN
    GERM
    GLEN

    HEMP
    HERB
    HERD
    NECK

    NEST
    SERF
    SHED
    STEM

    STEP
    TENT
    VEST
    WHEY

    41 + 16 = 57

    I:  DIS IWIS 343 (20 in all)

    BIRD
    DISC
    DISH
    DISK
    FILM

    FISH
    KILT
    KING
    LILY
    MILK

    PITH
    RING
    SIGH
    SILK
    SKIN

    SLIT
    TWIG
    WHIP
    WING
    WISP

    57 + 20 = 77

    O:  COW WOOF 533 (26)

    BOLT
    BOWL
    COCK
    COMB
    CORD

    CORK
    CORM
    DOWN
    FOLK

    FORK
    FROG
    GONG
    HORN

    KNOB
    KNOT
    LOFT
    LORD
    MOSS

    MOTH
    ROCK
    SNOW
    SONG

    TOMB
    WOLF
    WOMB
    WORM

    (Nuts, I missed DOWN.  It’s there now.)

    77 + 26 = 103

    U:  SPUR THUD 32 (18)

    BUSH
    CULT
    DRUM
    DUST
    GULF
    HUMP

    HUSK
    PLUM
    PUMP
    PUSS
    RUBY
    RUFF

    RUSH
    SCUM
    SUCH
    SURF
    TURF
    TUSK

    103 + 18 = 121

    TWO VOWELS

    AA:

    LAVA

    121+ 1 = 122

    AE:  BLEACH SAGE 532 (22)

    BEAD
    BEAK
    BEAM
    BEAN

    BEAR
    CAGE
    CAVE
    GAME

    GATE
    HARE
    HEAD

    JADE
    LACE
    LAKE
    LEAF

    MAZE
    PEAK
    SEAL
    SEAM

    TAPE
    VASE
    WAVE

    122 + 22 = 144

    AI:

    HAIR
    TAIL
    WAIF

    144 + 3 = 147

    AO:  Goa 2 (9)

    BOAT
    FOAM
    GOAD

    GOAT
    HALO
    MOAT

    NOVA
    SOAP
    TOAD

    147 + 9 = 156

    AU:

    AUNT
    FAUN
    QUAY

    156 + 3 = 159

    EE:

    DEER
    REED
    SEED
    TREE
    WEED

    159 + 5 = 164

    EI:  VIEW PILOT 52 (16)

    EPIC
    HIVE
    KITE
    LIFE

    LINE
    PINE
    PIPE
    TIDE

    TILE
    VEIL
    VEIN
    VICE

    VINE
    VISE
    WIFE
    WIRE

    164 + 16 = 180

    EO:  CON IODOPHOR 12 (11)

    COKE
    DOME
    DOVE
    HOME

    HOSE
    NOSE
    OVEN
    POET

    POPE
    ROPE
    ROSE

    180 + 11 = 191

    EU:  JUDGE EFFORT (7)

    DUNE
    FUME
    FUSE
    GLUE

    JUTE
    RUNE
    TUBE

    191 + 7 = 196=8

    II:  none

    IO:

    IRON
    LION

    198 + 2 = 200

    IU:

    SUIT

    200 + 1 = 201

    OO:  HOORAH MAN-WIFE 42 (10)

    FOOT
    HOOD
    HOOF
    HOOK
    HOOP

    MOON
    NOOK
    ROOF
    ROOT
    WOOL

    201 + 10 = 211

    OU: 

    SOUL
    SOUP

    211 + 2 = 213

    end

Comments (3)

  • Since you’re using the WHAT program to generate word lists you might be interested in my company’s new Web site, http://www.lexifind.com. Your 213 eight-letter -LIKE words can be generated on that site by selecting the SOWPODS word list and then typing:

    ….LIKE

    into the Constraints field of the Freeplay Search column.

    If you like to remember things by how many vowels are in the prefix, special lists can be generated for that purpose, as well. For example, if you want all eight-letter -LIKE words having a single vowel in the prefix, just enter:

    [^AEIOU]*[AEIOU][^AEIOU]*LIKE

    sort results by word length (this is the default), and look only at the words having a length of 8. There appear to be 118 of these, starting with BALMLIKE and ending with WORMLIKE.

    Enjoy! If you have any comments, we’d be very interested. Please use the contact form on the Web site.

    Carl

  • “and I caution readers not to try to figure that out”

    I figured it out pretty fast, actually — the numbers correspond to the number of words starting with each consonant as you go through the mnemonic. It’s neat, but I’m not sure I could use it effectively — I can remember short number sequences but I have a hard time remembering what they go to. It’s a miracle I have my PIN number, ATM number and alarm code straight.

  • Oh yeah, I am Quinne James, sowpods intermediate, FYI.

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