Words ending in 'gry'

[Ghost Post]

As the monitor correctly stated, the puzzle over words ending in 'gry' is an old one that has gone through the mill many, many times. Unfortunately, however, that is its very downfall. Every time this puzzle is told, the words change a little. Therefore so does the answer and the puzzlers ability to solve it.

The following…

"Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is."

… is another way of saying the same puzzle, but this time, note the all important full stop after the statement 'There are only three words in the English language'. If I were to now ask ‘What is the third word?’ you may have a better chance of saying ‘Language’, as in ‘The English Language’. The fact that the puzzle states that there are three words ending in ‘gry’ has nothing to do with the puzzle. It’s simply a statement to throw you off course.

The way the puzzle was stated by the monitor may lead you to think that ‘What’ or possible ‘the’ is the correct answer, but unfortunately that would be wrong because the puzzle was stated incorrectly.

[Tom]

For completeness -

The Straight Dope

[Ghost Post]

This is a meta-puzzle. It is a puzzle to which no one knows the answer, and no one even knows the question! Postulated answers to this riddle have included "what," "hungry," "language," "dictionary," "say," "I am hungry," "agree," "ogry," "three," etc, etc.

This riddle has been circulating around in many variations (which I have collected), but they all revolve around several main points. It refers to a certain, unknown "three words." It mentions that some words end in the letters "-gry." It mentions the words "angry" and "hungry." It insinuates that the answer has been revealed in the telling of the puzzle. It asks for either the third word or all three words. Many versions of the riddle have no solution. Here is one version of the riddle:

GRY.1
There are three words in the English dictionary that end in "-gry." One is angry and the other is hungry. Everyone knows what the third one means and what it stands for, everyone uses it everyday. And if you listen carefully, I've given you the third word...
What is ___gry?

What is the answer? First of all, there is no such thing as "the English dictionary."

After much searching and lamenting, someone finally discovered that one obscure word is "ogry," meaning "a tenth of" or "a tenth portion of." The clue that it is used every day "if you think about it" is an indication of the partial use of the human brain, commonly considered to be 10% of the actual capacity. The riddle, however, is misleading. While the word does exist, and was once in use, though NEVER commonly, it fell out of use in most English speaking areas in the mid 1500's to the early 1600's, and was completely removed from texts no later then the early 1800's, so while it is, in fact, a recognized word, in order to actually have experienced it in any meaningful way, one would, at this time, need to be over 160 years old, and well over 300 to have used it in even the most remote of English speaking cultures.

GRY.2
There are 3 words in the dictionary that end in "-gry." Angry and Hungry are the first two. What is the third. And if you listened carefully, I have already given you the answer.

If you read this very carefully, you'll notice the sentence "What is the third" is not a question, but a statement. So the real answer is "what."

GRY.3
There are 3 common words in the English language that end in GRY. ONE is hungry and another ONE is angry. The third ONE is as common as the other ONEs. EveryONE knows the third ONE. If you have been paying attention, I have given you ONE clue after another. What is the third word?

Notice how the word ONE has been highlighted repeatedly in the problem. This is a double clue. It tells you how many letters to add, and what they mean. A ONE-letter word meaning ONE is the indefinite article "a," and the desired third word is "agree." If you don't agree, try reading the puzzle out loud to someONE, without showing him or her the written puzzle, and it will work if you pronounce "gry" all as one syllable, instead of spelling it out.

GRY.4
ANGRY and HUNGRY are two words that end in GRY. However, there are three words in the English language. What is the third word? It is something you use every day.

GRY.5
Think of words that end in GRY. Angry and hungry are 2 of them. There are three words in the English language. What is it? It is something everybody uses everyday. If you've listened carefully I've already told you the third.

It is interesting that "language" is the third word in the phrase "the English language." Language is indeed something that everybody uses everyday! If the earlier versions were considered according to the same logic, the third word in "the English dictionary" would be "dictionary."

GRY.6
I am thinking of three words that end in GRY. They are very common words that most people use often. Can you tell me the three words? Here's a hint: ANGRY and HUNGRY both end in GRY. The three words that solve this riddle are...?

The three words I had in mind are "I am hungry." The phrase "three words that end in GRY" is ambiguous. It can either refer to three words that collectively end in -gry, or three words that each individually end in -gry. A man I talked to heard this version in the 1950's and the answer was "I am hungry" back then. Most people use the three words "I am hungry" fairly often. Repetition appears to have corrupted this riddle into the numerous forms circulating today.

One answer is not ogry, but simply "gry"- a word proposed by Locke in his treatise on decimalizing the English counting system. It is also the sound that a pig makes in Australian English (presumably used to mean the same in England at one time ... we Americans use "Oink"). Anyway, you could reasonably argue that gry is a common word, but pretty much everyone in the world would gainsay your argument. Some think that
the third gry word isn't even a riddle. It's ridiculous. How can one have a mind/brain teaser on something that doesn't exist? I have a riddle. How many people does it take to make up something that has no known answer?

GRY.7
There are at least three words in the English language that end in g or y. One of them is "hungry," and another one is "angry". There is a third word, a short one, which you probably say every day. If you are listening carefully to everything I say, you just heard me say it three times. What is it?

It works better if you are hearing it rather than reading it. The listener would assume that you said "g-r-y" instead of "g or y". There is no third common word ending in -gry The answer is the word "say." The problem is that everyone who hears the riddle
proceeds to write down what they thought they heard, which is "there are three words in the English language ending in G-R-Y", when in fact, the spoken riddle is actually saying "there are three words in the English language ending in G or Y". Of course there are more than three, but there are at least three, so technically it is a true statement. Another word in the riddle that meets the criteria is of course "dictionary" since it ends in "y."

GRY.8
There are three English words ending with -gry. Two of them are hungry and angry. The third word is very common; in fact you have just encountered it. What is the third word?

The question "What is the third word?" is intended to mean "What is the third word of this puzzle?" The answer is of course "three."

GRY.9 (The Official Grey Labyrinth Version)
There are only three words in the English language ending in 'gry'. Angry and hungry are two of them. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is.

The answer could be "only," following the 'third word of the puzzle' logic of GRY.8, or it could be "language," after the 'third word of the phrase' logic of GRY.5. GRY.9 therefore does not have a unique solution.

Note: The Oxford English Dictionary has about 100 words enging in -gry. Excluding hyphenated compounds and proper nouns, how many English words are there that end in -gry?

1. aggry [OED:1:182; W2; W3]
2. ahungry [OED:1:194; FW; W2]
3. angry [OED; FW; W2; W3]
4. anhungry [OED:1:332; W2]
5. begry [OED:1:770,767]
6. bewgry [OED:1:1160]
7. bowgry [OED:1:1160]
8. braggry [OED:1:1047]
9. conyngry [OED:2:956]
10. gry [OED:4/2:475; W2]
11. haegry [EDD (see "hagery")]
12. hangry [OED:1:329]
13. hogry [EDD (see "huggerie"); CSD]
14. hogrymogry [EDD (see "huggerie"); CSD (as "hogry-mogry")]
15. hongry [OED:5/1:459; EDD:3:282]
16. huggrymuggry [EDD (see "huggerie"); CSD (as "huggry-muggry")]
17. hungry [OED; FW; W2; W3]
18. iggry [OED; FW; W2; W3]
19. kaingry [EDD (see "caingy")]
20. magry [OED:6/2:36, 6/2:247-48]
21. malgry [OED:6/2:247]
22. maugry [OED:6/2:247-48]
23. mawgry [OED:6/2:247]
24. meagry [OED:6/2:267]
25. menagry [OED (see "managery")]
26. messagry [OED]
27. nangry [OED]
28. overangry [RH1; RH2]
29. podagry [OED; W2 (below the line)]
30. pottingry [OED:7/2:1195; Jamieson:3:532]
31. puggry [OED:8/1:1573; FW; W2]
32. pugry [OED:8/1:1574]
33. rungry [EDD:5:188]
34. scavengry [OED (in 1715 quote under "scavengery")]
35. shiggry [EDD]
36.skugry [OED:9/2:156, 9/1:297; Jamieson:4:266]
37. toggry [Simmonds (as "Toggry", but all entries are capitalized)]
38. ulgry [Partridge; Smith:24-25]
39. unangry [OED; W2]
40. vergry [OED:12/1:123]


[This message has been edited by LutherKermit (edited 06-20-2000).]

[Murray]

Well done. I was planning on making a similar compilation but haven't had the time yet. Glad you saved me the effort. Plus you've added a few tidbits that I would've missed. I think you've compiled the definitive answer to the -gry riddle. Good night.

[Ghost Post]

LutherKermit- Your explanation is thoroughly satisfying. In fact, I think that GRY.6 is the "best" version of the puzzle. I wonder what answer the Minotaur will give. If he does not take into account the mupltiplicity of possible answers, we know he is being biased.

[Ghost Post]

I like the third explanation, without all the ONE's though. The puzzle was probably origianlly spoken. GRY was pronounced "gree", but the two words 'angry' and 'hungry' cause one to think of the particular g-r-y spelling of the pronounced "gree", so that one doesn't think of the word 'agree'. Someone heard the spoken puzzle, then put it in writing, and it took on a sick, twisted life of it's own.

That being said, I detest this 'puzzle' more than any other.

[HyToFry]

I was thinking more along the lines of

"What is not the third word, it is the twentieth word in that paragraph, and the first word in that sentance; what is however, the first word of the third sentance of that paragraph."

[Amy]

As far as I am concerned, only GRY.4 and GRY.5 are truly clever riddles. The others all mislead, rather than misdirect, the reader/listener (by using "gree" as equivalent to "gry," or "g or y" in place of "g-r-y"). I consider it misdirection to give a statement that is easy to misinterpret, but whose correct interpretation is obvious once revealed. I consider it misleading, by contrast, to give a statement that a listener/reader could not reasonably be expected to interpret correctly.

I decided it was worth coming out of retirement just to gripe about that.

[Ghost Post]

In reference to GRY.4 and GRY.5, what kind of sentence is "There are three words in the English language"?!? This sentence has a very conspicuous place in those two puzzles. It would make more sense if, after describing the "gry" words, that it said, "There are three such words in the English language." But, then the immature trick wouldn't work that makes the answer come out as "language."

By the way, I think that Minotaur's puzzles are almost always misleading, misdirecting, or in other ways ambiguous, non-specific, or open to multiple interpretations. All the unnecessary confusion and controversy could be eliminated in the discussion forums if the Minotaur would only post well-formed puzzles.

Whenever a new puzzle comes out, there are actually two puzzles: the one stated, and the "meta-puzzle," which is trying to answer the question, "What, exactly, IS the puzzle?"

[This message has been edited by Derkage (edited 06-21-2000).]

[Ghost Post]

Thank you for your complimentary review of my information. Thankfully, I had already written that earlier. I tried to present all views in order to accommodate all possible opinions.

Here is a nice riddle that I promise is non-stupid, non-trivial, non-annoying (and won't have you scrounging the OED for arcane words like "thermoamphytericonfoundous."

DOUS.1
Name a common English word, besides tremendous, stupendous, and horrendous, that ends in -dous.

Have fun!

[Ghost Post]

How about this one:

ENY.1

DENY, LARCENY, and PROGENY are three words that end in "-ENY." You can't deny that there are four words in the phrase, "Fundamental Theorem of CALCULUS." It would be larceny if neither you nor any of your progeny could tell me what the fourth word is. It's something I use every day, and I've already mentioned once. What is the diminuitive form of the Latin noun "calx, calcis"?


[This message has been edited by Derkage (edited 06-21-2000).]

[Tom]

Hazardous

[Ghost Post]

All I can say is: grep dous /usr/dict/words

[Alfie]

*laughing hysterically*