Ladder Words.PERVERSER, HASHISHES and INSINKING are examples of what I call Ladder Words. Each word is a self-contained ladder (PER-VER-SER, HAS-HIS-HES, INS-INK-ING) in which each trigram (3-letter group) differs from its trigram neighbour(s) by a single letter, just as do the words in a word ladder. All the examples of ladder words below are either solid words or hyphenated hy·phen·at·ed adj. 1. Having a hyphen: a hyphenated adjective. 2. Often Offensive Of or relating to naturalized citizens or their descendants or culture. words. Hyphens are not shown. All 3 trigrams must be different, so that GONGOLGON (in New South Wales New South Wales, state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. ) is not acceptable. A few words of this genre appeared in Colloquy col·lo·quy n. pl. col·lo·quies 1. A conversation, especially a formal one. 2. A written dialogue. [From Latin colloquium, conversation; see 98116 and these are identified in the lists below by an asterisk (1) See Asterisk PBX. (2) In programming, the asterisk or "star" symbol (*) means multiplication. For example, 10 * 7 means 10 multiplied by 7. The * is also a key on computer keypads for entering expressions using multiplication. *. Unreferenced words can be found in the Oxford English Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary (OED) great multi-volume historical dictionary of English. [Br. Hist.: Caught in the Web of Words] See : Lexicography , Second Edition or can be inferred from words therein. Sources of non-OED words are given at the end. For convenience, we can identify 2 basic types of ladder word: * those like the three listed above in which the two changes occupy the same positions (first, second or third letters, respectively) in the three trigrams. PERVERTER per·vert tr.v. per·vert·ed, per·vert·ing, per·verts 1. To cause to turn away from what is right, proper, or good; corrupt. 2. To bring to a bad or worse condition; debase. 3. , and other words in which the changes involve the first letter of the trigrams, are especially easy to identify visually as ladder words. * those like ASSESSEES, UNKINKING and REPRESSES in which the two changes involve letters in two different positions in the first/second and second/third trigrams. 9-LETTER LADDER WORDS By numbering the letters 1 to 9, the 2-change permutations between the first/second, and second/third, trigrams can be shown numerically--there are 9 of them: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 CHANGES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 CHANGES P E R V E R T E R 1-4 4-7 A S S E S S E E S 1-4 5-8 M E A T E A T E R 1-4 6-9 B A R B E R I E R 2-5 4-7 H A S H I S H E S 2-5 5-8 S E I S M I S M S 2-5 6-9 M A M M A L I A L 3-6 4-7 E N C E N S E R S 3-6 5-8 I N W I N D I N G 3-6 6-9 I found a total of 415 9-letter ladder words not having repeated trigrams. 66% of these have the change pattern 1-4 4-7, and 13.7% the pattern 1-4 6-9. None of the other patterns account for more than 4% of the 415 words. The actual number of words found for each pattern is shown in brackets. The words offered in the list below are a selection. Unless specified otherwise, a location identified by a country is a populated place A populated place is, according to the United States Geological Survey, a city, town, or village characterized by buildings and permanent human population and referenced to its geographic coordinates. in that country. It is interesting to note that all 9-letter ladder words contain at least one Miami One Miami is a complex of two adjacent skyscrapers in downtown Miami, Florida named One Miami East Tower and One Miami West Tower. It consists of two towers located at the Miami River delta, where the river empties into Biscayne Bay. (12?12) sequence of letters (see Miami Words WW2000014). 3 of the 9 patterns also contain at least one tautonymic sequence. 1-4 4-7 (275) 2 overlapping Miami sequences ACESCENCE, BEEVEEDEE *, BERSERKER berserker (from Old Norse beserkr, “bearskin”) In premedieval and medieval Norse and Germanic history and folklore, any member of unruly warrior gangs that worshiped Odin and attached themselves to royal and noble courts as bodyguards and shock troops. *, CANUANGAN (Philippines), DESGESTES, FERWERDER en Blijaer Kleilandspolder is a polder in the Netherlands, GYUSYULYU (Azerbaijan), HERBERGER *, JOUCOULOU (ravine in Haiti), KUKLUKTUK (Hodge), LESNESSES (WW85204 w3), MANGANJAN, MANGANOAN, NANPANTAN (in Leicestershire), PERVERSER *, PERVERTER *, RIAKIANIA (Kenya), SIEMIENIE (Poland), TANZANIAN, TENDENZEN (w2), VOUTOUFOU (Greece), WARPAREAR (an island in Indonesia), Morne XANGANZAN (a mountain in Haiti), YOULOUGOU (China), ZOUGOUNOU (Ivory Coast Ivory Coast: see Côte d'Ivoire. ). More ladder words with this particular pattern of change can be found in `Out of Africa' later in the article. 1-4 5-8 (11) 2 overlapping Miami sequences/single tautonymic sequence ASSESSEES, CHARHARDA (Morocco), GBONBONDO (Sierra Leone Sierra Leone (sēĕr`ə lēō`nē, lēōn`; sēr`ə lēōn), officially Republic of Sierra Leone, republic (2005 est. pop. 6,018,000), 27,699 sq mi (71,740 sq km), W Africa. ), INTENTEST (?), LANGANGEN (Finland), MANTANTON (Hodge), OBERBERGE (a farm in Germany), RINGINGEN (Germany), SCHECHETH, THAM'HAMMA Bergen (a hill in S. Africa), UNTENTEST, WORDORDER 1-4 6-9 (57) 2 overlapping Miami sequence / 2 overlapping tautonymic sequences ASSESSEST, BAGIAGIAR (a well in Ethiopia), CAGUAGUAS (Cuba), DIGAIGAIA (Papua NG), FAJIAJIAO (China), HANSANSAR (Pakistan), INKONKONI (a stream in Zimbabwe), KHUCHUCHO (a stream in Bolivia), Cerro LOCCOCCOY (a spur in Peru), MEATEATER, NHACHACHE (a lake in Mozambique), OESZESZEK (a lake in Hungary), PERHERHEL (France), RAWUAWUAT (a bay in Papua NG), SENOENOEI (a stream in Indonesia), TAMEAMEAS (ebw), UNKINKING (w2), WASHASHAT (a wadi in israel), WESKESKEK (Hodge), XIAJIAJIE (China).. This 1-4 6-9 pattern offers the opportunity for palindromic sequences a palindrome is a word that is the same forward as it is backward such as the word racecar, the name Otto, or the saying attributed to Napoleon "Able was I ere I saw Elba". . 7-letter internal palindromes can be found in BILLILLIE (a well in Australia), LOCCOCCOY (see above) and LUSSUSSUA (a stream in Angola). TASSASSAT (a hill in Mali) is a 9-letter palindrome palindrome: see anagram. . 2-5 4-7 (7) single Miami sequence BARBERIER (France), CUSCOSOOS, DUNDANGAN (Philippines), KEOKHOPHO (a mountain in Laos), MILMOLGOL (N. Korea), NONNENVEN (a locality 1. locality - In sequential architectures programs tend to access data that has been accessed recently (temporal locality) or that is at an address near recently referenced data (spatial locality). This is the basis for the speed-up obtained with a cache memory. 2. in the Netherlands), TULTOLGOL (N. Korea). 2-5 5-8 (16) single Miami sequence CHOCLOCAO (Bolivia), HASHISHES (ospd), NYINPINTI (a point in Australia) 2-5 6-9 (13) 2 overlapping Miami sequences/single tautonymic sequence AYVARVARA (Cyprus), Udeiate ERBEIBEIN (a wadi in Morocco), El HACHICHIA (Algeria), ISTINTINO (Italy), NHANGANGO (an island in Mozambique), OKAORAORE (Namibia), SEISMISMS (ospd) 3-6 4-7 (16) 2 overlapping Miami sequences ACHACARCA (Peru), BAMBANGAN (Malaysia), CALCANEAN, DARDANIAN, GANGAWDAW (Burma), HORHOYTOY (China), KOKKONION (Greece), LIULISKIS (Lithuania), MAMMALIAL, NEWNESSES, PAMPANGAN, PEPPERIER, REDRESCES, REDRESSES, REFRESHES, REGRESSES, REPRESSES, SASSANIAN, UNBUNGING. 3-6 5-8 (6) single Miami sequence ANCANEALE (Angola), CHICHACUA (a hill in Mozambique), ENCENSERS, NHANHONZO (a lake in Mozambique) 3-6 6-9 (14) 2 overlapping Miami sequences ANDANKANI (Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (srē läng`kə) [Sinhalese,=resplendent land], formerly Ceylon, ancient Taprobane, officially Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, island republic (2005 est. pop. ), CARCANCAY (Honduras), DEADENDED, ERLERBERG (Austria), INWINDING, JINJIAJIE (China), LALLAILAT (Morocco), OENOEROEM (Indonesia), SHESHASHI (a river in Zimbabwe). Ladder Words make word ladders. `Ladder Travel', the logological tourist company, have exploited this phenomenon. In Australia, they offer a choice of two schedules. The first starts at BOOTOOLOO and proceeds, via BOOGOOLOO and MOOGOOLOO, to MOOROOLOO where it ends. The second starts at BOOLOOROO and takes in BOONOOROO *, COONOOROO and COONOOGOO. These locations share the letter pattern ?00?00?00. In both tours, each location visited differs from the previous location by a single letter. 12-LETTER LADDER WORDS HEMIDEMISEMI * is 12-letter ladder word. `Ladder Travel' offer a North Korean tour The Korean Tour is a men's professional golf tour run by the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) of South Korea. Professional golf in Korea dates back to the mid 20th century. of 12-letter locations, all having the letter pattern ?ONG ONG Organisation Non Gouvernementale ONG Organización No Gubernamental ONG Organização Não-Governamental (Brazil) ONG Organizzazione Non Governativa (Italian) ?ONG?ONG. The tour begins at PONGYONGDONG and thereafter takes in TONGYONGDONG, TONGJONGDONG, TONGSONGDONG, NONGSONGDONG, YONGSONGDONG, YONGBONGDONG, YONGJONGDONG, SONGJONGDONG, ending at SONGBONGDONG. All these 12-letter ladder words consist of 3 different tetragrams. But 12-letter ladder words can also be constructed from 4 different trigrams, as demonstrated by these African locations: Burkino Faso: KOUSOULOUGOU, POUNOUROUKOU, SOUROUGOUDOU Central African Republic Central African Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 3,800,000), 240,534 sq mi (622,983 sq km), central Africa. The landlocked nation is bordered by Chad (N), Sudan (E), Congo (Kinshasa) and Congo (Brazzaville) (S), and Cameroon (W). : BOUTOUMOULOU, KOUMOUDOUROU, KOUZOUMOUTOU * Chad: BOUTOUNOUKOU, TOUKOULOUMOU Congo: BOUGOULOUKOU, GOUMOUKOUTOU, MOUNOUFOUKOU Guinea: FOUROUDOUGOU, KOULOUDOUGOU, KOUROUDOUGOU, NOUMOUSOULOU, SOUPOUKOUDOU, SOUROUKOUDOU, SOUTOUMOUROU Ivory Coast: SOUPOUGOUTOU Mali: BOUGOUTOUROU, DOUGOUNOUKOU, KOULOUBOUGOU, NOUMOUBOUGOU, SOUNOUGOUBOU, SOUROUKOUTOU Niger: BOULOUKOUTOU Senegal: KOUMOUTOUROU To these 12-letter African ladder words we can add MOODOOGOOROO in Australia and TYARYAKYAMYA in Azerbaijan. I also found four words with the pattern ?OE?OE?OE?OE: POELOEGOEDOE and WOEDOEBOEKOE are in Suriname; BOELOEDOEKOE and DOEJOENOEMOE are in Indonesia. 15-LETTER LADDER WORDS 15-letter ladder words can be constructed from 5 trigrams or from 3 pentagrams. In either case, they are rare. SOULOUKOUDOUGOU is in Guinea, TOUDOUGOUKOUROU in the Ivory Coast and LOEKOEJOEBOETOE in Suriname. TAUNGGAUNGDAUNG (1-6 6-11) is in Burma and YUANCHUANCHUANG (1-6 10-15) in China. 18-LETTER LADDER WORDS The only 18-letter ladder word of which I am aware is WAGGERPAGGERBAGGER (Jeff Grant WW97187). It is slang for a `waste paper basket'. SYNONYMIC syn·o·nym n. 1. A word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or other words in a language. 2. A word or an expression that serves as a figurative or symbolic substitute for another. 3. LADDER WORDS Hodge's Handbook of American Indians American Indians: see Americas, antiquity and prehistory of the; Natives, Middle American; Natives, North American; Natives, South American. contains the ladder word TULSULSUN (1-4 6-9) with its synonym synonym (sĭn`ənĭm) [Gr.,=having the same name], word having a meaning that is the same as or very similar to the meaning of another word of the same language. Some are alike in some meanings only, as live and dwell. DALSALSAN (also 1-4 6-9). The TULSULSUN entry reads: Tulsulsun, given by Dorsey ... as a Takelma band or village in Oregon, but identified by Sapir ... as merely the Takelma name (Dalsalsan) of Illinois r. OUT OF AFRICA (see opposite page) Finally, it's back to 9-letter ladder words for the journey of a lifetime. Apparently, `Ladder Travel' also promote a gruelling gru·el·ing also gru·el·ling adj. Physically or mentally demanding to the point of exhaustion: a grueling campaign. gru , African, tour based on locations with the letter pattern ?OU?OU?OU. The particulars laid down by `Ladder Travel' for this tour make absorbing reading. We are told that: * each location visited in a particular African country must only differ by a single letter from the previous location visited * the tourist can visit as many of the 13 countries on offer as they wish, but can only visit any particular country once. * the tourist is not allowed to enter a country unless it is one of the 13 on offer * a particular location in a country can only be visited once * where there are locations with the same name in more than one country, only one of these locations can be visited * the above rules also apply when crossing country borders So far so good. Or is it? In the small print it says `tourists should work out their own schedule such that as many locations as possible are visited, regardless of the number of countries involved'. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , the poor old tourists have to do an enormous amount of homework before they are ready to embark on their journey. At least `Ladder Travel' provide the bare essentials, a map showing the 13 African countries it is permitted to visit, and access to the appropriate gazetteers. After many arguments the tourists set off, having finally agreed on their route. Not surprisingly, none of them was ever heard of again ... ... I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what happened to `Ladder Travel', but I am curious to know what route the tourists intended to follow, how many locations it encompassed and, incidentally, how many different countries would have been visited. Can you help? I have gone a stage further than `Ladder Travel' by extracting the ?OU?OU?OU locations for you. All you have to do is discover which of them to visit. You should aim at visiting at least 40 locations. I know this because the tourists' intended route was found, quite by chance, years later on a piece of paper in the middle of the desert--it now resides in Answers and Solutions at the end of this issue. Perhaps you can improve on the tourists' intended route? SOURCES OF NON-OED WORDS ebw The Illustrated Encyclopedia encyclopedia, compendium of knowledge, either general (attempting to cover all fields) or specialized (aiming to be comprehensive in a particular field). Encyclopedias and Other Reference Books of the Butterfly World Butterfly World located in Coconut Creek Florida, is The Largest Butterfly Park in the World. It is the first park of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. The Aviary houses at minimum 3000 live butterflies. Up to 50 different species can be seen in one day. by Paul Smart Paul Smart is an English motorcycle racer. He is famous for winning the Imola 200 in April 23, 1972, at age 29, with Ducati's new 750.[1] He raced in Grands Prix in the early 1970s, with second place results in 1971 in both the 350cc and 250cc categories, with Yamaha , Salamander salamander, an amphibian of the order Urodela, or Caudata. Salamanders have tails and small, weak limbs; superficially they resemble the unrelated lizards (which are reptiles), but they are easily distinguished by their lack of scales and claws, and by their moist, Books 1975 Hodge Handbook of American Indians, edited by F.W. Hodge 1907 ospd Official Scrabble Players Dictionary The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary or OSPD is a dictionary developed for use in the game Scrabble, by speakers of United States English. History Creation The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary was first published in 1987 w2/w3 Webster's Second and Third Editions WW Word Ways The names of locations are taken from The United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is an American federal body whose purpose is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the U.S. government. Overview The Board was created in 1890; its present form derives from a law of 1947. (BGN BGN In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Bulgarian Lev. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ), Foreign Names Committee. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In this list of ?OU?OU?OU locations, the OUs have been omitted
in order to save space. BCT = BOUCOUTOU.
Burkino
C.A R. Chad Faso Congo Mali Ivory C.
BCT GKZ BGN KLF BGN KYG BDH MBY AZR BDG
BDL GMR BGR KLG BLG MLR BKL MFB BDG BDK
BDP GYV BKY KMR BTG PGD BYG MFG BGR GRK
BKL KMR BRD KRM BYN RNG BYK MGF BLG KDG
BKR KNM BRK KTB BZR SDG KDF MKL BRK KDY
BLG KNP DMG MCL DLG SGD KDL MPT DFR KLG
BLK KRP GDK MGR DRK SKT LBK MSB DKL KNM
BLN KTF GDM SLD FBR SLG LBM MTB DKT KRB
BLV PKB GLM TKL KBL TLG LFY MYG FGR KTG
BTN PKL GRD TKM KDG TNG LHM PKL FTG NDG
BTR PLB GRT TKR KRG TSK LKM PNG GDR SGN
DKL SML HLG YRS KTG ZLG LNY TLB KLB SGR
GDM SRG KBR ZML MBD KMD TKZ
GFL TCL KDG LPR TMN
GHT TZL NBG TRD
GKR SBG TRK
SRF ZGN
TBG
TDG
TNF
TRL
Guinea Nlger Benin Togo Senegal Gabon Cameroon
BGR BDK DBT BGL BRH BGL BKL
BND BKL GMR KLH BTG BHL BLR
BTD BKR GNR NSR DBR BKL BTR
DKL BRG KGR PLG DFR DBH DMR
DNK BTD MSL SDG GLF DFC GLM
DPR DLG SRK SRK SKD DKM GZD
FDG GRM DVL
FKR GTL MBK
FRD KDR MFB
FRG KRG MGB
KHD KTG MLB
KLD LFD
KML LGD
KNL RKZ
PDK SLG
SKT SRG
SLK SRT
SRK TDN
TKL
YGL
ZRD
The tourists began their journey in Guinea: FRD-FRG-FDG
Then to the Ivory Coast: NDG-KDG-KLG
Then to Burkina Faso: KYG-KRG-KTG-BTG-BLG-DLG-TLG-ZLG-SLG-SDG
Then to Mali: BDG-TDG-TBG-NBG-SBG
Then to Niger: SRG-KRG-BRG
Then to Chad BRD-BRK
Then to C.A. Republic: BLK-BLV-BLN-BTN-BTR-BKR-BKL-DKL-PKL-PKB-PLB
Then to Congo: TLB
And finally to Gabon: MLB-MFB-MGB.
A total of 41 locations and nine of the thirteen countries appeared in
the tourists' schedule.
SUSAN THORPE
Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England
thorpeds@hotmail.com
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