# What gives? (Alphabet Game) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 19, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017 "2008-04-19T16:39:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/21 "2008-04-20T03:48:26Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Purl McKnittington] The hell you say! Ah, nuts. [/QUOTE] Harder than it seems, ain’t it? No telling how many times I have reread posts, edited for spelling or grammar, reread again, posted them, and after the edit window is closed I will spot the boo-boo. Speaking of which, spot the error(s): > [@](#): > > There is fore errors in this sentance ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/22 "2008-04-20T04:34:11Z")
There _are__four_ errors in this _sentence_ \ ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/23 "2008-04-20T04:37:09Z")
Okay, it’s as inappropriate a place as any: My 14-year-old friend’s favorite joke– Q. How do you get an elephant into a Safeway shopping bag? A. You take the “s” out of “Safe”, and the “f” out of “way”. get it? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/24 "2008-04-20T05:49:39Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja] There _are__four_ errors in this _sentence_ \ [/QUOTE] The period is an interesting try, but that’s not the error I’m after. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/25 "2008-04-20T05:51:12Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja] Okay, it’s as inappropriate a place as any: My 14-year-old friend’s favorite joke– Q. How do you get an elephant into a Safeway shopping bag? A. You take the “s” out of “Safe”, and the “f” out of “way”. get it? [/QUOTE] I believe I get it. There’s no effin’ way? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/26 "2008-04-20T05:55:31Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja] Okay, it’s as inappropriate a place as any: My 14-year-old friend’s favorite joke– Q. How do you get an elephant into a Safeway shopping bag? A. You take the “s” out of “Safe”, and the “f” out of “way”. get it? [/QUOTE] :smack: I had to read that about 6 times before I finally got it. I think. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/27 "2008-04-20T06:39:14Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] A boy can do everything from getting his interesting job kept low-key [/QUOTE] > [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > I’ll be impressed if you can do it in Cyrillic alphabet. А мальчик может делать все, от его получения интересной работы хранятся сдержанной iGoogle cheated ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/28 "2008-04-20T06:47:54Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] А мальчик может делать все, от его получения интересной работы хранятся сдержанной iGoogle cheated [/QUOTE] I want that on a T-shirt. Nicely done, there, **Tapioca Dextrin**. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/29 "2008-04-20T06:54:14Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] I believe I get it. There’s no effin’ way? [/QUOTE] Yup. Once again, **Zeldar** rocks. [QUOTE=Eyebrows 0f Doom] :smack: I had to read that about 6 times before I finally got it. I think. [/QUOTE] I’m sure you’re right. 😃 P.S. How about, “there are five R’s in this sentence”? ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/30 "2008-04-20T07:00:33Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] There is fore errors in this sentance [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Brujaja] There are four errors in this sentence \ [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Zeldar] The period is an interesting try, but that’s not the error I’m after. [/QUOTE] I get four if I count the word “errors” as one of the four. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/31 "2008-04-20T07:07:23Z")
[QUOTE=Rhubarb] I get four if I count the word “errors” as one of the four. Right? [/QUOTE] That’s at least as good as the answer I was after. The way it works is that there are only three errors, two spelling and one mismatched subject/verb; therefore the truth of the sentence is wrong, making the fourth error (the sentence is a lie), so with your clever addition and the missing period, the Fore ought to be spelled correctly or be changed to Sicks, so that the veracity of the sentence remains the missing error. I think the original version only had two and one of them was “misteak” for “error” so I was trying to disguise it for those who may have run across it before. Y’all too smart for such a gimmicky stunt, though. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/32 "2008-04-20T07:10:57Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja] Yup. Once again, **Zeldar** rocks. I’m sure you’re right. 😃 P.S. How about, “there are five R’s in this sentence”? [/QUOTE] See the explanation to **Rhubarb** ’s solution. Same idea. Nice work. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/33 "2008-04-20T14:28:28Z")
I’m having a bit of memory haze on where it was that I read the thing about the errors in the sentence. Wherever it was, there ought to be more fun to be had by following the examples of [Raymond Smullyan](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan) or [Douglas Hofstadter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Hofstadter). Know any other authors in their genres? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/34 "2008-04-20T18:56:20Z")
For readers of this thread: I considered starting a new thread for this next bit of nonsense, but since this one has sunk like a stone, I figured “Why waste another thread title?” Here’s the idea: I just did my usual Yahoo! search for entries for what I hoped would be nonsense words: dron, drin, dren, dran, drun, and even dryn. Amazingly I got at least a page of hits on each one. None of them are what I would call “common” and some are more-or-less acronym type things or foreign words. But they got Google (Yahoo!) hits all the same. Bummer! \*\*The Challenge: Come up with a “word” that has NO GOOGLE ENTRIES! A true nonce word.\*\* (Isn’t there a name for such a thing?) ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/35 "2008-04-20T19:31:57Z")
Well, I tried: blang korp padge hujoo jattick xupa yalgor yujaja —no dice. However, my ninth attempt, “talwaype”, produced: talwaype - Google Search Google returned no results for this search. ditto “scorvud”. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/36 "2008-04-20T19:33:57Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja] Well, I tried: blang korp padge hujoo jattick xupa yalgor yujaja —no dice. However, my ninth attempt, “talwaype”, produced: talwaype - Google Search Google returned no results for this search. [/QUOTE] Nice! Now we need a definition. Ideas? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/37 "2008-04-20T19:37:45Z")
talwaype, n. : that bird in the middle of the night who wakes you up scorvud, v. : to procure a desired result from someone by exploiting their own solipsism ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/38 "2008-04-20T19:40:03Z")
I’ve got one. _Swanklemen,_ being the regular crew of the ship of Swank. Very closely related to Cambridge ladies with furnished souls. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/39 "2008-04-20T19:45:28Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja] talwaype, n. : that bird in the middle of the night who wakes you up scorvud, v. : to procure a desired result from someone by exploiting their own solipsism [/QUOTE] Ouch! On that second one. 😃 I would try to capitalize on the various components of “talwaype” such as: alway tape way type tall (abbreviated) and move toward some type of failsafe recording device used as an answering machine for when you’re on an extended away-from-home venture. Like a prison sentence or a trip to Gitmo. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/40 "2008-04-20T19:46:36Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Purl McKnittington] I’ve got one. _Swanklemen,_ being the regular crew of the ship of Swank. Very closely related to Cambridge ladies with furnished souls. [/QUOTE] Hmmmm. I’m seeing some small dogs coming into view for this one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017.md?page=3)