I was taking an online IQ test today, as I am sometimes wont to do in order to gratify my own ego and I was humbled by the following question.
FISH BOARD GAZE
Find a word which when added to first 3 will make 3 new words.
This is driving me nuts. I’m sure it’s something obvious but I just can’t figure it out. There is no specification as to whether the new word must be “added” only at the end of the initial words so maybe it goes in the front or in the middle but I’m stymied all the same. Can someone please help me with this so I can sleep tonight?
Hm, what about the commonest word in spoken English, “er”, giving “fisher”, “boarder” and “gazer” (the usual rule being that when you add “er” to a word ending in “e”, you drop the “e”). I believe that you can use “er” in Scrabble.
Giles: And that’s one of the reasons I don’t like IQ tests, especially ones administered on the Internet where only one answer is allowed. I often think of an answer that’s not the ‘official’ one, and often don’t get credit even though my answer is right. ‘Er’ isn’t exactly a word, though (but, er, it’s in Merriam-Webster with the, um, definition you gave) – you might get caught up on the ‘most correct answer’ thing.
Just1Lurk:
John likes a. 900. He likes square numbers – 400 is 20², 100 is 10², and 3600 is 60², but the other numbers are not square. 900 is 30². It’s also possible that John likes squares of numbers divisible by 10, but there’s no information like ‘John likes 1,600 but not 625’ that might indicate that.
I covered that – the normal rule in English when you add “er” to a word ending in “e” is to drop the “e”. Just as some Germans do when that add “Schiff” to “Fahrt” and get “Schiffahrt”, dropping one of the f’s.
What probably worries people about by solution is that the “er” that I was adding is not the same as the “er” which is an interjection with no meaning and wich is just used as a space-filler in conversation when you can’t think of the next word. However, I have the same problem with “star” in “starboard”: it’s cognate with the verb “steer”, and has nothing to do with astronomical objects or five-pointed objects.
You’re addding rules to the game which are not given. There is nothing in the rules allowing the dropping of letters. IQ questions like this are usually preddy strict and pedantic, and IMHO, “er” is not an acceptable answer, as it produces the word “gazeer.”
No, no - John likes all the numbers that he can get for dailly pay without getting pushed into a higher tax bracket. It’s really simple, so long as you understand the IRS tax structure. (John likes 900, so the other answers are also correct, just for the wrong reasons.)
