| Words that end in - gry |
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| ::darkshadows:: (blood@thirsty.net) |
2008/05/13 11:25 |
Words that end in - gry
We have stopped counting how many times we have received this question
"There are three words in English ending in -gry. I only know hungry
and angry. Please tell me what the third one is."
It is time to clear up this mystery once and for all.
There is NO mystery! This question has evolved into an urban legend
that is impossible to solve.
The fact is there is NO third common word in the English language
ending in -gry.
Sources claim that the question had been taken from an old book of
puzzles, and had been given publicity on the Bob Grant radio talk show
on WMCA in New York City in 1975.
One version is:
There are two words that end with "gry".
Angry is one and hungry is another.
What is the third word.
Everyone uses it every day and
Everyone knows what it means.
If you have been listening,
I have already told you what the word is.
Notice the third line "sounds" like a question when read.
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Another version is:
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.
In this case the real question is: "There are only three words in the
English language. What is the third word?" That is, there are only
three words in the phrase "the English language". The third word is
"language", which is indeed something we use every day. The first two
words are "the" and "English".
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Published in the US magazine Parade in March 1997 and claiming to be
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?
This version of course relies on verbal trickery to confuse the
quickly-said "g or y" with "gry". The answer is actually 'say'.
You see, in one form or another the riddle has apparently been known
for many years.
Now that we have cleared this up, the question remains - "Are there
any words in the English language, other than angry and hungry, that
end in -gry?
YES!
Research from the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon & Schuster's
Webster's New World Dictionary, and the G.C. Merriam Company gives us
this list:
aggry: A glass bead found buried in the ground in Africa. A word of
unknown origin. Seemingly always used attributively, as in aggry
beads.
braggry: A variant form of braggery.
conyngry: An obsolete dialectal variant of conyger, itself an obsolete
term meaning 'rabbit warren'.
gry: The smallest unit in Locke's proposed decimal system of linear
measurement, being the tenth of a line, the hundredth of an inch, and
the thousandth of a ('philosophical') foot. Also the grunt of a pig,
an insignificant trifle, or a verb meaning to roar.
iggry: Egyptian colloquial Arabic pronunciation of ijri: 'Hurry up!',
brought back after the First World War by members of British and
Australian forces who had fought in Egypt.
mawgry: from Old French: being regarded with displeasure.
meagry: Having a meager appearance.
nangry: A variant form of angry.
podagry: Dodder, or the condition of a plant infested with it.
puggry: A variant form of puggree, a light scarf wound around a hat or
helmet to protect the head from the sun.
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