The most-notable of these is the -dous puzzle of finding words ending in -dous, which was popular in the 1880s.
This form originated in 1883, with an A.A.
of Glasgow writing to George Augustus Henry Sala in his "Echoes of the Week" column in the Illustrated London News. This question has had enduring popularity, even inspiring a contest, though the words have proven less stable: today jeopardous is considered too rare, and the formerly unpopular horrendous has taken its place; this change occurred as early as 1909.
Oxford Dictionaries (controlled by, but more lax than, the Oxford English Dictionary) added hangry on 27 August 2015, and the full Oxford English Dictionary added hangry in 2018. ==History== There are anecdotal reports of various forms of the puzzle dating to the 1950s or earlier; the ultimate origin is presumably an oral tradition or a lost book of puzzles.
The lack of a conclusive answer has ensured the enduring popularity of the puzzle, and it has become one of the most frequently asked word puzzles. The ultimate origin and original form of the puzzle is unknown, but it was popularized in 1975, starting in the New York area, and has remained popular into the 21st century.
However, the first documented evidence is from early 1975 in the New York metropolitan area, and the puzzle rapidly gained popularity in this year.
The most likely source is the talk show of Bob Grant, from some program in early or mid March 1975. Merriam-Webster, publishers of the leading American dictionaries, first heard of this puzzle in a letter dated March 17, 1975, from Patricia Lasker of Brooklyn, New York.
Since that time Merriam-Webster has received about four letters each year asking the question. The puzzle first appears in print in Anita Richterman's "Problem Line" column in Newsday on April 29, 1975.
This agrees with the Merriam-Webster report, suggesting a quiz show in early or mid March 1975. In Anita Richterman's column on May 9, 1975, several correspondents reported that they had heard the puzzle on the Bob Grant radio talk show on WMCA in New York City.
In "Colloquy." Word Ways, 10 (August 1977): 152.
A more elaborate strategy is to list words that have endings similar to gry, such as -gary, and then search a larger dictionary for obsolete variants ending in -gry, for example begry for beggary. From around 1980 electronic word lists became widely available on Unix systems, and searching for answers to the gry puzzle was an occasional benchmark; this also turned up gryphon in some cases, if match is not required to be at the end.
"Gypsy Hobby Gry." Word Ways, 23:1 (February 1990): 9-11.
"Who's Flaithbhertach MacLoingry?" Word Ways, 23:1 (February 1990): 6–8.
"-Gry Words in the OED." Word Ways, 25:4 (November 1992): 253–54. Francis, Darryl.
"Some New -Gry Words." Word Ways, 30:3 (August 1997). Partridge, Harry B.
Since these are words, they are not capable of being angry or hungry. Here is a version invented by Frank Rubin on December 4, 2003: Give me three English words, commonly spoken, ending in g-r-y. *There are many possible answers, such as "Beg for mercy", or "Bring your money". This version also uses the use-mention ambiguity: There are three words in the English language that end g-r-y.
Oxford Dictionaries (controlled by, but more lax than, the Oxford English Dictionary) added hangry on 27 August 2015, and the full Oxford English Dictionary added hangry in 2018. ==History== There are anecdotal reports of various forms of the puzzle dating to the 1950s or earlier; the ultimate origin is presumably an oral tradition or a lost book of puzzles.
Oxford Dictionaries (controlled by, but more lax than, the Oxford English Dictionary) added hangry on 27 August 2015, and the full Oxford English Dictionary added hangry in 2018. ==History== There are anecdotal reports of various forms of the puzzle dating to the 1950s or earlier; the ultimate origin is presumably an oral tradition or a lost book of puzzles.
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