cc nomis-simon
Wikipedia: "The French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat was the first to use the vernacular name 'aye-aye' in 1782 when he described and illustrated the lemur... According to Sonnerat, the name 'aye-aye' was a 'cri d'exclamation & d'étonnement' (cry of exclamation and astonishment). However, American paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall noted in 1982 that the name resembles the Malagasy name 'hai hai' or 'hay hay,' which refers to the animal and is used around the island. According to Dunkel et al. (2012), the widespread use of the Malagasy name indicates that the name could not have come from Sonnerat. Another hypothesis proposed by Simons and Meyers (2001) is that it derives from 'heh heh,' which is Malagasy for 'I don't know.' If correct, then the name might have originated from Malagasy people saying 'heh heh' to avoid saying the name of a feared, magical animal.... The aye-aye is often viewed as a harbinger of evil and killed on sight. Others believe, if one points its narrowest finger at someone, they are marked for death. Some say that the appearance of an aye-aye in a village predicts the death of a villager, and the only way to prevent this is to kill it. The Sakalava people go so far as to claim aye-ayes sneak into houses through the thatched roofs and murder the sleeping occupants by using their middle finger to puncture the victim's aorta." Note the extra-long middle finger.
Here's today's Spelling Bee puzzle, with the letters Y-A-E-I-C-N-T. I'm sure "aye-aye" was rejected because the hyphen is necessary. I reached "genius" level anyway, with 16 words. (You have to use the Y, you can repeat letters, and the words must be at least 4 letters long. Extra points for getting a pangram.)
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33 comments:
Is the apostrophe in "ain't" required?
So each word must have a Y? No cant or tent?
"Is the apostrophe in "ain't" required?"
Yeah, that has the same problem as "aye-aye," a punctuation mark. Plus, it lacks the needed Y.
Today's puzzle has a very low number of possibilities. Yesterday's LCDEHTU had many more.
They screen out some vulgarities though. The other day "coon" wasn't accepted. And in today's puzzle, "titty" is out.
It cut me off after six words, and the nyt incorrectly claimed that cyanite and canty were not words.
"Some say that the appearance of an aye-aye in a village predicts the death of a villager, and the only way to prevent this is to kill it."
---------------------
"Run, run, run, run, run, run away
Oh-ho-ho-ho, aye-aye-yi-yi-yi, ooh"
The greatest photograph of all time is of a smiling lemur extending a giant cockroach cradled in his paws towards the photographer, as if offering to share his meal. I wish I could find it to link to it.
Too many words that I know are words, with perfectly innocuous meanings, aren't recognized as words at Spelling Bee. If I could think of an example, I'd cite it here.
I had wondered if Althouse played it.
"..."titty" is out."
You mean out like as when hiking?
Besides, I prefer the classic spelling, 'tittie.'
We'll agree to disagree.
Cyanite uses all 7 letters. Was the puzzle about mineralogy?
" and the nyt incorrectly claimed that cyanite and canty were not words."
They decide which words to accept. The other day, it rejected "yoyo." You just have to run with it. Or they do say "Think we missed a word? Email us at buzzwords@nytimes.com." Go ahead. Tell them about cyanite.
Canty is an ulmost perfect word for Birkel.
I've tried emailing them with some pretty standard words they don't recognize. They never answer. On the other hand, they include words I think are pretty sketchy.
I still enjoy the puzzle and do it every day.
So they print the word "titty" in order to explain to us that it is offensive and we can't use it.
The NYT is becoming more enjoyable every day.
At breakfast in London back in the 90's I had this weird experience with the word "aye". There was this young German family (mom, dad, and one around nine year old boy) at the table next to mine. The mom sternly says to the boy "Don't say 'I'". I'm thinking "what the hell is the kid supposed to say for the first person singular pronoun?". And then it dawned on me --- the kid is using the Scottish/Cockney "Aye" instead of the more proper British "Yes" in response to questions. The German Mom is afraid she's raising a chav, and is trying to nip it in the bud.
I still wonder where the kid picked up "Aye" to begin with. A sojourn in Scotland?
I get the aye-aye confused with the dik-dik.
B ridge: "Engine room make turns for 22 knots"
Engine room: "Turns for 22 knots, aye"
Shows you heard the order, repeats it back and confirms that you (as the engine room) will see that it is carried out.
"Aye, Aye" used for acknowledging more complex orders. Confirms you heard it, understand it, have no questions abut it and will carry it out.
I've never heard "aye" used other than as an alternate, usually naval, form of "yes"
Although in PR we do say "aii bendito" (Not sure of the spelling) which is an all purpose sort of "Oh my" phrase meaning, generally, that nothing can be done.
"mi bateria esta muerto." "Aii bendito"
John Henry
John Henry
You have to have tenacity if you want cyanite to count.
They decide which words to accept.
Then it's just goofy if they're too special to use a regular dictionary.
The other day, it rejected "yoyo."
It's "yo-yo".
I have given up emailing the NYT about the words they miss. Particularly the lexicologically (if there is such a word) acceptable but politically incorrect.
I have seen the answer "aye aye" in crosswords clued with something like "yes on the bridge" or some such.
if i remember my tv nature watching correctly, the long finger is used to get a the ants inside hollow fallen trees in the forest.
They put marshmallow cream on the lower branches at night so the tourists can get a good picture of the lemurs.
Particularly the lexicologically (if there is such a word) acceptable but politically incorrect.
I often play a very similar game on Android and it omits some non-PC words, but also includes some strange ones. It starts with 6 or 7 letters in a circle, and empty crossword squares which are filled with the more common words, though you also get a score for other words, and at least one word uses all the letters. The differences from the nyt are that you can only use each letter once, and no one letter is required in all the words. They have contests which last for 2 or 3 days...
They do say this in the rules: "Our word list does not include words that are obscure, hyphenated, or proper nouns." So "cyanite" is probably excluded as obscure.
"So they print the word "titty" in order to explain to us that it is offensive and we can't use it."
No. I tried to enter it and it was rejected.
I don't do the NYT, so unofficial, but I found 24 words, maybe two of them are questionable.
The best: cayenne, nicety, and cetacean
Yikes, and of course I blew it with cetacean, I was so excited that I found that word in the letters I forgot about the Y rule. Replace cetacean with cyan, and just saw ancient. So, 23 words with Y. Or add a Y to cetacean to make it an adjective LOL.
"So, 23 words with Y. Or add a Y to cetacean to make it an adjective."
I suspect that some of your 23 would be rejected. I got a couple more after I wrote the post (a total of 19) and I had a lot of rejected efforts to use the Y by making adjectives like that. There were only 24 words they accepted:
Tenacity
Canny
Catty
Cayenne
City
Cyan
Cynic
Entity
Inanity
Itty
Nanny
Natty
Netty
Nicety
Ninety
Ninny
Tatty
Teeny
Tenancy
Tinny
Tiny
Yenta
Yente
Yeti
I ended up missing: cynic, entity, itty, yenta, and yente.
Queen Bee yesterday. I tried ayeaye and cyanite. First word in was Tenancy and last word in was Yente
Actually, the NYT does list the words they find too offensive or obscure to count in the weird section that offers extensive statistical analysis of each puzzle. I find it funny that they conflate the categories, leaving us to determine which words are considered offensive versus considered obscure. I'd love a separate list of the words they deem both.
There's a fun book you might like titled _1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_. I can't remember where I shelved it: maybe on my "Delightful Arcane Misogyny and Misandry" shelf, which has an impressive number of mid-Fifties cookbooks, most of which are what we would consider keto dieting today, only with more celery soups, whipped cream monstrosities and martini recipes.
"Actually, the NYT does list the words they find too offensive or obscure to count in the weird section that offers extensive statistical analysis of each puzzle."
Thanks. I will need to look for that.
I don't let the NYT assail my eyes and brain.
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