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Unix Dict/grep Solves Left-Side-of-Keyboard Puzzle

Posted by timothy on from the mysteries-of-the-ages dept.

destinyland writes "For decades, people have been asking this brain teaser: 'What's the longest word you can type with only the left-hand letters on a keyboard?' The answer is supposed to be 'stewardesses,' but grepping the standard dictionary that ships with Unix reveals a much better answer. There's nearly 2,000 shorter words that can typed with only the left hand — including one word that's even longer. (The article also quotes a failed novel attempt using nothing but words typed on the keyboard's left side.)"

7 of 423 comments (clear)

  1. The answer is by ConanG · · Score: 5, Informative

    Devertebrated

    Link to the original article next time!

  2. Didn't work here by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 3, Informative

    $grep -i '^[qwertasdfgzxcvb]\{12,\}$' /usr/share/dict/words
    aftereffects
    desegregated
    desegregates
    reverberated
    reverberates
    stewardesses

    Stewardesses is still unsurpassed on my box. (But maybe it's because "GNU's not Unix", so I have a different dictionary file.)

  3. "Sweaterdresses" better than "devertebrated" by musth · · Score: 3, Informative

    This has been known to logologists for years as the "best" answer to this puzzle. I believe it's from Webster's 2nd or 3rd Unabridged.

  4. Re:Misleading summary by svnt · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is such an obvious blog spam by this guy that it is painful.

    Both blog entries (one completely redundant to mask the referrals), are authored by "Moe Zilla" (painfully lame pseudonym, btw) whose "ultimate goal is to earn money online while writing about whatever I want," and whose writing style has the exact same defects as those in the summary.

    Give up dude, your high school English teach was right: you suck.

  5. Re:Misleading summary by blake182 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The longest word isn't found in the 'a much better answer' link, but rather the other one, somewhat misleadingly. The word, in case you're interested, is supposed to be 'devertebrated', though the Oxford English Dictionary doesn't recognise it.

    ~$ uname -rs
    Darwin 9.5.1
    ~$ grep "^[asdfgqwertzxcvb]\{13,\}$" /usr/share/dict/words
    aftercataract
    devertebrated
    tesseradecade

    Someone with an OED can feel free to check them.

  6. dereverberated by Lemmeoutada+Collecti · · Score: 5, Informative

    Removing reverberation from a soundtrack, also called echo removal.

    --

    You can have it fast, accurate, or pretty. Pick any 2.
  7. Re:But... by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Informative

    Google images stewardess ass or sex stewardess if you want it to be the first link. And how bored I must be to sit here thinking up ways to get stewardess as the first porn link using only left keys in Google.

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    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.