Conference thebay::joyoflex

 1. NIGHT : DAY ::  NOCTURNAL : DIURNAL
 2. HEEL : ACHILLES :: BOX : PANDORA
 3. SHOE : COBBLER :: BARREL : COOPER
 4. UNCERTAINTY : HEISENBERG :: UNDECIDABILITY : GODEL
 5. 1/2 : SEMI :: 1 1/2 : SESQUI
 6. BILLION : BILLIONTH :: GIGA- : NANO-
 7. TEETH : HEN :: NEXT : ?
 8. LENIN : PSEUDONYMOUS :: LENINGRAD : ?
 9. PAIN : RUE :: BREAD : STREET
10. FEEL : PALPATE :: LISTEN : AUSCULTATE
11. WATER : AQUEOUS :: SNOW : NIVEOUS
12. SEA : LITTORAL :: RIVER : RIPARIAN
13. THITHER : HITHER :: TRANS- : INTRA-
14. WIDE : NARROW :: BRACHY- : DOLICHO-
15. CIVIL : PAPAL :: AMBASSADOR : NUNCIO
16. BLACK : YELLOW :: MELANCHOLIC : ?
17. FOUR-SIDED POLYHEDRON : TETRAHEDRON ::
	FOUR-DIMENSIONAL HYPERCUBE : TESSERACT
18. WINTER : HIBERNATE :: SUMMER : AESTIVATE
19. GOD : THEOLOGY :: WHY, IF GOD EXISTS, THERE IS EVIL : ?
20. 100 : PERCENTILE :: 9 : ?
21. LOGIC : SOPHISTICAL :: FEAST : ?
22. RUTHLESS : MYRMIDON :: IMITATIVE : ?
23. IS : OUGHT :: ONTOLOGY : ETHICS
24. 60 : 59 :: NEO- : ?


				-- edp (soon to be a note in WHOAREYOU)

16. black : yellow :: melancholic : bilious

or perhaps "jaundiced?"

				David Larrick

I also couldn't decide on number 16.  Can anyone provide a definite reason for
preferring one answer over another?

Also, the answer to number 24 is PRASEO-, for element 59, praseodymium.  This
answer was given by Gary Barton in MATH note 262.

				-- edp

I think #8 is eponymous.

I prefer 'jaundiced' in #16 because one of its meanings is "yellowish-green."
The Ancients thought there were four types of bile: black, yellow, green,
and <I forget>.

20. 100 : PERCENTILE :: 9 : NONILE 

Compare also "decile" and "quartile." I admit I've never actually seen the
word "nonile"...

					Val

re .2, .3, question 16:

You drove me to the dictionaries.  It seems there are four humo[u]rs, but 
only two of them are biles:  blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile.
Black bile is also known as melancholy, and yellow bile is also known as 
choler.  Taking the adjective form, the analogy is

16. BLACK : YELLOW :: MELANCHOLIC : CHOLERIC

I meant "jaundiced" mostly as a joke, although I liked the medical 
connection.  Ironically, it turns out that the medical condition it caused 
by "bile pigments in the blood"!  Choler pigments at that, I guess.

19. GOD : THEOLOGY : IF GOD EXISTS WHY IS THERE EVIL : THEOIDCY

ref. note 93 BIBLE notes

Pat Sweeney

Re .4:
	"Eponymous" describes something which is named after someone else, does
it not?  Okay, Leningrad may be eponymous, but is Lenin pseudonymous?  That is,
is Lenin a false name?  If so, what is the story behind this?

Re .5:
	That should be "pernonile", I believe.  (There is no mistake; I have
deliberately adopted a different rule about punctuation and quotes.)  Otherwise
it is okay, unless the Latin and Greek terms are mixed up, or something like
that.

Re .6:
	That sounds like a pretty good argument for choleric.  I knew about the
humours (from a philosophy teacher); I should have thought to look up "humour"
or "bile" myself. I certainly looked up almost every other word in the English
language. By the way, it is allowable to use a dictionary or a thesaurus. 

Re .7:
	"Theoidcy" sounds like a made-up word, but it's certainly better than
anything I could think of.


				-- edp (WHOAREYOU note 329)

re .7:  Isn't "Theoidcy" an epic poem by Homer??  :-)

					andrew

Re .7, .8:
	I thought "theoidcy" sounded funny; the correct spelling is "theodicy".


				-- edp

I don't like a lot of the "analogies" in this test; some of them (like the
one about Godel) are more like trivia questions than analogies. But I digress.

Lenin wasn't his "real" name. He was born Vladimir Illich Ulanov, but it wasn't
really a pseudonym. Rightly, it's an alias. Grumble. My answer was LENIN :
PSEUDONYMOUS :: LENINGRAD : RENAMED. 

A hypercube *is* four-dimensional, so analogy 17 doesn't work.

I *really* don't like #2.

Playfully, I get:

LOGIC : SOPHISTICAL :: FEAST : FAMINE
60 : 59 :: NEO- : - (the null prefix; the original)

                         Jon

Re .11:
	What's wrong with #2?  Achilles heel caused major problems for
Achilles and Pandora's box caused major problems for Pandora?

	I know you said "playfully", but sophistical implies an appearance
of being logical, but famine does not imply an appearance of being fed.  And
the test stated you should give a prefix or word as a response; a null prefix
is not a prefix (at least, I've never seen it prefixed to anything -- I think).

	You may want to read 17 again.  It says:

	FOUR-SIDED POLYHEDRON : TETRAHEDRON ::
		FOUR-DIMENSIONAL HYPERCUBE :: TESSERACT.

Note that a tetrahedron is a four-sided polyhedron, so the analogy here is
one of identity.  A tesseract is a four-dimensional hypercube, so it fits.
Also, hypercubes are not necessarily four-dimensional.  They can be
five-dimensional, or six, or seven, . . . .

	How did Lenin get the alias?


				-- edp

re: .7  how about PHILOSOPHY for #19?  
re: .11 I think FEAST:FAMINE may be too blatant a contrast since Sophistry
has the appearance of logic but not the substance.  Famine does not necessarily
imply a seeming abundance of food, but KWASHIORKOR (sp?) does, since this is
the stage of starvation characterized by edema and bloated "potbellies".

re: .12 apparently you and I wrote .12 and .13 simultaneously!  when I began,
I was responding to .11!

for #7, how about TEETH : HEN :: NEXT : LAST ?

for # 22, how about RUTHLESS : MYRMIDON :: IMITATIVE : IMPERIOUS 

MLP

Slow down!

	KWASHIORKOR?  Is that English?  Sounds good if it is.

	You are not allowed to change the problem, even by one letter.  Number
7 is:

	TEETH : HEN :: NEST : ?

You wrote NEXT, not NEST.  I'm not sure how LAST would fit in either problem.

	I don't think IMPERIOUS fits in the MYRMIDON problem.  For starters,
MYRMIDON is a noun, IMPERIOUS is an adjective.  I would think a proper answer
would be a noun derived from someone's name (as MYRMIDON is).  By the way,
can anyone supply more information on MYRMIDON?  The first part of the analogy
says RUTHLESS : MYRMIDON, but my dictionary defines MYRMIDON as someone who is
extremely loyal, not ruthless.

	Number 19 has already been answered with THEODICY, which seems to fit
extremely well.


				-- edp

re .12:

	What's wrong with #2?  Achilles heel caused major problems for Achilles
	and Pandora's box caused major problems for Pandora? 

Sure, but that's rather fatuous. If you remember the legend, Achilles
was dipped in the river Styx, and this made him invulnerable except
on his heel, where his mother held him when he was dipped. Thus,
an Achilles heel is a weakness; a chink in one's armor. Contrariwise,
Pandora's Box was a mess that she caused herself. Achilles' heel
was his downfall, but it was the fates operating; it was not an act
of free will as was Pandora's opening the Box.

	And the test stated you should give a prefix or word as a response; a
	null prefix is not a prefix (at least, I've never seen it prefixed to
	anything -- I think). 
                                                                         
Sure you have. For example, in the word "conservative." It is a
perfectly reasonable lexical entity, and this file *is* "The Joy
Of Lex," you know. My analogy was that as 60 is the successor of
59, "NEO-" is the successor of the original, hence "-", the null
prefix.

	Also, hypercubes are not necessarily four-dimensional.  They can be
	five-dimensional, or six, or seven, . . . .            

Hypercubes *are* four-dimensional, just as a hypersphere is a 4-
dimensional sphere. There is no term for an n-dimensional cube. That's
why I didn't like the question. "FOUR-DIMENSIONAL HYPERCUBE" is
redundant. I knew quite well what they wanted me to say, but they were
misusing the terminology. 

I don't know how Lenin got the alias.

re .17

You said in .0

	TEETH : HEN :: NEXT : ?

if you meant "NEST" rather than "NEXT," then that makes me feel better.
I couldn't imagine what they wanted. I'll give my answer of "WOMAN."

Re Achilles/Pandora:
	I think the analogy is close enough.  Pandora's opening of the box was
not an act of free will (whatever that is); she had to open it because of her
own character flaw -- curiosity.  Of course, this should make the analogy

	ACHILLES : HEEL :: PANDORA : CURIOSITY

but I'll go with box anyway.  Perhaps someone else can provide a better
reason?  Maybe there is more to the stories than we remember.

Re null prefix:
	Yes, I know adding a null prefix to a word gives the same word.  But
you will not find it in any dictionary I know of, nor is it shown by any
dictionary to be a part of any word.

Re TEETH : HEN:
	Oops!  My mistake.  But why WOMAN?

Re four-dimensional hypercubes:
	I do not have a dictionary handy, but I do believe hypercube can
refer to a "cube" in any number of dimensions greater than three.  "Hyper-"
means "beyond", not "four-dimensional".


				-- edp

Re Achilles/Pandora:
	If character flaws negated free will, then the prisons would be empty.
I agree with you that "Pandora" a possible answer (and heaven knows I can't
think of another), I just think that it's a lousy question. Analogies 
by Holmesian logic are rather crude, that's all.

Re null prefix:

You will not find "nonile," nor "hypercube," nor "tesseract" in a dictionary
either, so I won't accept your objection. Also, dictionaries serve an historical
function, not a legislative one. 

TEETH : HEN :: 

Sure, why not. There is an expression, "scarce as hen's teeth," and people go
through the "empty nest syndrome." Figuratively hens have teeth as people have
nests (also, there is symmetry, since hens do not actually have teeth and people
do not actually have nests). I chose "WOMAN" simply to make the sexes agree. 

Cubes:

Neither of the dictionaries I had handy (Am.H. & Webster's New World) had either
"hypercube" or "tesseract." My Van Nostrand's was also silent. I have heard
science fiction writers refer to the general case as a N-dimensional hypercube,
but never mathematicians. The terms "hypercube" and "tesseract" are generally
taken to denote the same object. Yes, "hyper-" means simply "beyond." Look at
this analogy: CUBE : HYPER-SQUARE :: TESSERACT : ? As I can't find a definitive
reference, I'm willing to believe I'm could be wrong, but do you see why the
"hyper-" in "N-dimensional hypercube" is superfluous? An N-dimensional
polyhedron is called precisely that (or, say, a "6-cube"). Which is why I
objected to the question. Maybe I'm being petty, but I felt that anyone who
would invoke Goedel in his quiz should at least use well-defined, non-redundant
terminology. 

Oh! NEST, not NEXT! Then I expect OMNI wants the answer to be MARE.

This analogy, though, like the Achilles one, breaks down under analysis.
"Mare's nest" connotes a deliberate hoax, like Ringling's unicorn. "Hen's
teeth" just plain don't exist.

					Val

I think we are going a little too far, but:

Re Achilles/Pandora:
	I don't believe you will find many references to free will in law.
If you do not believe in free will (I do I think, I just do not know what it
is), you can still justify (whatever that means without free will) putting
people in jail because of observations that when they are released, they do
not commit as many crimes (I am not saying this is true, just that it could
be presented as an argument).  Also, while they are in jail, they do not
commit crimes against society.  Anyway, you may be right, it does not fit
perfectly, unless someone can provide a better reason.  But the test did ask
for the "best" answer, not a perfect one.

Re WOMAN:
	You give an answer like this after complaining about PANDORA?

Re KWASHIORKOR:
	I looked up it ("looked it up" is wrong, right?), and was amazed to
find that it is English.  But I'm afraid I'm not satisfied, I think there may
be a better answer out there somewhere.

Re TESSERACT:
	My dictionary (not handy, but I think it's Merriam-Webster's New
Collegiate Dictionary, 197?) does list "tesseract".  It has been around a
while; I do not know why your dictionaries do not show it.  It is the four-
dimensional analog of a cube.
	I believe I have seen references to n-dimensional hypercubes.  However,
"hypercube" is not in the above-mentioned dictionary nor in my dictionary of
mathematics (time to get a new one).  I am aware that lexicographers are
recording history, but this is a point in my favor.  If a word is not in the
dictionary, they may not have gotten around to it yet.  If it is, then the word
has been established as a part of the language (if they are doing their jobs
correctly).  So saying something is not in the dictionary is evidence but not
proof of its absence from the English language.
	Would a third party settle this, please?  I will accept the opinion of
the first person to reply. 


				-- edp

Re TESSERACT:
	One other thing, even if "four-dimensional hypercube" were redundant,
redundacy does not eliminate or alter meaning, so the analogy would still be
valid.


				-- edp

re .22

We probably are going too far, but I'm still enjoying the discussion, silly
as it is.

re: Achilles and the mare's nest:

The lack of free will is the basis of the insanity defense. People who "get
off" by use of an insanity plea are still locked up (and often for longer
and under worse conditions that if they were "guilty"), but legally they
are innocent because they lacked free will.

My complaint about questions like these are that they punish the puzzle solver
who is too bright. When I saw the Pandora anaolgy, I thought, "The only thing I
can think of is Pandora, but that *can't* be right; it's too tenuous!" 

I wrote "Woman" because the more I thought of it the *better* I could defend it.
My feeling is that a good analogy you make you think, "Oh, that's clever; why
didn't I think of that?" when you hear an answer that you couldn't think of on
your own. Many of the questions in this quiz made me feel precisely the
opposite. I also wondered why someone would resort to the baroqueness of
"Praseo-" when a perfectly good prefix like "Pre-" seemed all the more obvious.
Ah, but I'm flaming... 

Tesseracts:

I, too, have seen hypercube used to denote the general case, but I have seen
"access" used as a verb, too. As a mathematician, I have seen hyper-foo used
to mean a 4-D foo. I checked with a couple of other math-types who agreed
with me, so I complained. As one who argues all the time for flexibility
in the language, if the current use of "hyper-" is to denote "N-dimensional,"
then I'll carry the standard myself. I know that we math types are often
overly precise in our use of terms, but as I said before, if the quiz writer
is going to invoke Godel, then he should use the strict terms.

hmmn, quite a battle raging in this note, eh?!
I haven't been able to get to this node for a while, and with slow access time
have only scanned the last part of the discussion.

re: hypercubes.  I agree with Jon.  you asked for a third party settlement,
    so there it is!

re: 15, 17.  for TEETH : HEN :: NEXT :: LAST 
I DID read NEXT and DID intend LAST.  Hens have no "teeth", and "last"
had no "next"!  - first thing that occurred to me.  But if it's NEST,
I'd think we'd want a word for "homeless woman" besides "bag-lady".

re: 16 - ruthless : myrmidon :: imitative :

- right.  it does need a noun, perhaps derived from a name.  do you agree that
it should mean "imperious person"?  - or maybe someone who goes against his
leader rather than following, such as a "Judas".  - but that's more of a 
colloquialism than "myrmidon", I think.

re: 22 - kwashiorkor - I'll defend it and meanwhile think of a word with
less connotation of disease, although sophistry is sort of a disease!

MLP

I do not buy the suggestions for NEST.  Why should it be a human without a
nest?  The concept of "x does not have y" is very tenuous in this case.  There
should be some more definite relationship between TEETH and HEN.  Are there any
birds with teeth?  There are some birds without nests.  There just seems to be
something we are missing.

I'm not sure I agree the "imperious person", because I am not sure of the
relationship between RUTHLESS and MYRMIDON.  Myrmidons are loyal, not
necessarily ruthless.

I concede on the hypercube point, although it does not sit well.  Maybe
sometime I'll see if the OED has something on it.


				-- edp

Re .26: Let me explain .21 again. I wasn't kidding about MARE. 

The relationship between TEETH and HEN comes from the old cliche, "scarce as
hen's teeth." The other cliche, according to my (American Heritage) dictionary,
is "to find a mare's nest."  

Apparently these expressions haven't had the staying power of "Achilles' heel"
and "Pandora's box." 

                           		Val

argumentative lot, what?\ 
 
I think the relationship intended between ruthless and myrmidon is  
contrast - not that ruthless describes a myrmidon. 
someone who is a myrmidon is most likely sycophantic and timid, as 
i picture it.  Of course, a myrmidon could be so devoted to his leader that 
he is ruthless in his actions - but I'd think that "ruthless" describes 
someone who is very bold in pursuing his own goals, hence someone of high  
self-direction.    A ruthless person, by contrast, is not likely to be
a faithful follower who obeys without question.
So a judas *could* seem imitative just as a myrmidon *could* seem ruthless. 
But a judas is going in direct opposition to his leader's wishes  
instead of trucklink 
g to them..... and is most disloyal.
 
"mare's nest" is a cliche I'd never heard of - along the lines of 
"horsefeathers"  I suppose.   but something seems amiss in that the hen 
is juxtapositioned with its "exists only as a hyperbolic cliche"   
*body part*.  The mare is not in possession of the nest in quite the 
samne way as the hen lacks teeth. 
 
nobody's going to argue kwashiorkor with me?  sob. 

are they going to publish "answers" for these?

================================================================================
                      TOOLS::SYS$UTILROOT:[NOTES]MATH.NOT;1
 FUTBAL::STAN                  Mathematics at DEC              3-MAY-1985 16:28
 Note 280.1                      > 4D Hypercube?                         1 of 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hypercube is valid for any number of dimensions.
Tesseract refers to the 4-dimensional hypercube in particular.

hmm.  I've worked with "hypercube" architectures for distributed computing,
and the concept could apply to N>4 dimensions, although 4 is the typical implementation.  The term is also used wrt holographic memory to refer to 4 dimensions...just trivial info..

is "edema" any better than "kwashiorkor"?

Well, all right!  It seems I was fighting a losing battle by myself, for a
while, but now things have picked up and gone on without me.

I do not think answers are going to be published, which is one reason why
I typed in the test here (so you could answer them for me -- thanks!).
Before I typed in the test, I answered everything as best I could and sent
it in, with a request that they send me the answers.  The probably will
not give out the answers, because the magazine says this test is sufficient
for admission to several high-IQ societies.  I'll let you know what I get
back.

I've heard "edema" before, but it's not in my dictionary.  Is this a spelling
error?


				-- edp

edema - An excessive accumulation of serous fluid in the tissues - AHD paperback.  Problem is, edema refers to the swelling but not necessarily the cause of it
.  presumably edema has a number of causes,  but starvation is the one most 
commonly associated with it.  Edema also better connotes turgidity and bombast,
which sophistry also connotes.  

Some of these analogies don't really seem to be drawing distinctions between
fine shades of meaning - I thought their purpose was to test the resolution
of your perception of *semantic* relationships.  If the answers are correct,
that is.  For example,  "nonile" would seem to be more of an exercise in
constructing the corresponding word for "percentile", given that you know the
prefix for "9".   And in that case, wouldn't it be "pernonile"?
Likewise,  "mare's nest" would seem to be almost a trivia test - have you heard
that cliche?  If you have, the similarity is obvious although the 
relationship is not the same semantically on a closer look...

I'll second your description of parts of this exercise as "almost a trivia
test".  Knowing about the humo[u]rs, knowing that they associated bodily
fluids with states of mind, maybe even knowing that there were four of
them, are indicative of a good education (note that I say education, not
intelligence).  Knowing the names and symptoms of all four, it seems to me,
is an indication of being a trivia addict. 

    				David Larrick

Re .22:
	"looked up it" is wrong, right! You should have looked it up.

Rien.

Re .33:

I agree that the test requires a lot of knowledge (not necessarily education).
This is often indicative of intelligence, but, of course, testing for knowledge
is not a proper way to test for intelligence.  But I disagree that it is a
trivia test.  The instructions in the magazine stated that it was permissible
to use references, such as dictionaries and thesauri.  Unfortunately, I only
mentioned this in one of the early replies, not in the original note.  But
with this allowance, the test is partly testing for intelligence -- given a
little knowledge (a vague memory of humours), can you track down the
information needed to complete the analogy?


				-- edp

Re .35:

You missed the point.  "Look up" is a phrasal verb; it is in Webster's New
Collegiate Dictionary, 1976, as an intransitive verb meaning to search for in
or as if in a reference work.  Because of this, it should not be divided:

	Correct:	I looked up the word.

	Incorrect:	I looked the word up.

This is incorrect because the word "up" is not modifying the verb.  I have
yet to see anybody look a word up, down, or sideways.  "Look up" is a verb,
not a verb and an adverb.  It should be in one piece.  So

	I looked up it.

is also correct, although it sounds unusual.  I've just replaced "the word"
with a pronoun, "it".  Isn't English fun?


				-- edp


P.S.:

I bought a new dictionary, so I would have one for home and one for the office
(which I need, thanks to this file).  The new dictionary, American Heritage,
1982, says it is improper to use "ain't".  My old dictionary, Webster's,
1976, sort of says it's okay if you must.  The new one points out that
there is no good way in English to say:  "Am I not?".  Informally, one would
say "Aren't I?", but this is incorrect because "I" is singular, but "aren't"
is plural -- an obvious error.  "Am I not?" is too formal for most situations.
Since "Ain't I?" is no longer allowed, there is no way in English for an
educated speaker to say "Am I not?" in common situations.

oh, I didn't KNOW using references was ALLOWED!   I confess to being impressed
by .2 all the same; I don't think I would have done as well.  
Anyway,  let's not get into an argument about what intelligence is!  that's
for another planet, er, notefile.  

oh yes, one more thing about edema.  I looked back at .0 and realized that
the word is "sophistical", not "sophistry" - so it probably needs an
adjective.

Department of Mixed Metaphor:

Recently, in another notes file, someone wrote that getting some information
from a particular person was like "pulling hen's teeth." 

Back to Achilles:

An apocryphal story has it that Catherine the Great met her death in an
accident while making love to a horse. 

Although the analogy with Achilles is still imperfect, I think Catherine
is a little more apt than Pandora.

The key here is not to assume the obvious definition of "box." I don't want
to have to explain this one, so I hope everybody got it...

					Val

I have received my test results from the Omni-Mega test.  As I expected, they
did not give me the correct answers, only the scores.  Here they are:

	Total:		24 out of 48.

	Verbal:		12 out of 24.
	Spatial:	 5 out of 12.
	Numerical:	 7 out of 12.

	I.Q.:		153
	Percentile:	99.95 (That's a pernonile of 8.9955.)
			(This is supposed to be a percentile against the
			general population, not just those taking the test.)

The numerical section is the only one where I correctly answered everything I
thought I had correctly answered.

It seems that question 24 (60 : 59) was the most difficult, followed by
36 and 48 (spatial/numerical problems).  If anyone has questions about score
distributions or something similar, let me know; I also received a booklet
about the test.

The results also came with a notice of a book, Omni I.Q. Quiz Contest.  The
book has information and instructions about mastering the various types of
questions, with quizzes and a full-length test.  There is a self-scoring
test and a contest test.  The person who scores the best on the contest test
will receive $5,000 is cash and $5,000 in prizes.  The deadline is March 31,
1986.  All of the word answers are either common words or nearly so; no
knowledge of higher mathematics is needed.  They say "entrants may use any
resource material they wish".  I wonder if this includes asking for help in
NOTES files?  Maybe the book will be more explicit.  I saw the book a few days
ago in a bookstore; maybe I'll go look again.  By the way, the book was written
by Marilyn Mach vos Savant.  If the contest is won by Fred O'Winner, I'm going
to be a little suspicious.

With common words and no higher mathematics, maybe the test will be closer to
testing for intelligence than this one was.  Knowing myself from experience,
I would have expected a lower verbal score and a much higher mathematical
score, but the math questions on this test were not as mathematical as they
should have been.

By the way, my results are bad news.  If I only got 12 correct, it means some
of the ones nobody has complained about very much are incorrect.  I believe the
most likely candidates for incorrectness to be: 

	 2) HEEL : ACHILLES :: BOX : PANDORA
	12) SEA : LITTORAL :: RIVER : RIPARIAN
	13) THITHER : HITHER :: TRANS- : INTRA-
	20) 100 : PERCENTILE :: 9 : PERNONILE

Two of these or of the others I gave answers for must be incorrect.  If they
are not going to reveal the answers, we must determine them for ourselves.  Any
ideas?

				-- edp

TRANS- : CIS- . I looked it up and it seems to fit.

					Val

12) SEA : LITTORAL :: RIVER : BANK

The littoral (n.) is the sea coast area.

RE 22: Does this mean you think you screwed up it?

-Charlie

Re .41:

CIS- seems perfect.

Re .42:

Sorry, I'm pretty sure BANK is incorrect.  "Littoral" means "of, relating to,
or situated or growing on or near a shore, especially of the sea" (as an
adjective) or "a coastal region, especially the shore zone between high and low
watermarks" (as a noun).

"Riparian" means "relating to or living or located on the bank of a natural
watercourse (as a river) or sometimes of a lake or a tidewater".

Another possibility is "riverine", which means "relating to, formed by, or
resembling a river" or "living or situated on the banks of a river".

"Bank" means "the rising ground bordering a lake, river, or sea or forming
the edge of a cut or hollow".

I think you'll agree that "riparian" and "riverine" are both better than
"bank".  It's a probably a question of which of the two was considered
correct by Mega.

If this be correct, I did not screw up it.


				-- edp

Sorry, my dictionary did not include the adjectival definition and I had
only encountered it  as a noun. This would seem to indicate that the noun
form is what is wanted. In any case, I think you'll agree that a "correct"
answer would have to be both a noun and an adjective. Otherwise--and I
think this is the case--there is too much ambiguity for it to be a
"well formed" question.

In other words, it is quite  possible that they screwed up it.

-cjc

Re .44:

Please use antecedents when appropriate.  I had no idea what you were
referring to by "it"; I had to go back and read .43.  A weekend and the reading
of several other notes files has passed for me since I wrote .43.

Yes, I agree, it seems probable that they screwed up it, unless someone can
provide more information.


				-- edp

Re .45:

I should listen to my own advice.  The "it" in the previous note is the
SEA : LITTORAL problem.


				-- edp

Things seemed to have quieted down here, but you people have not supplied me
with all of the answers.  Do you think I started this note out of the goodness
of my heart?  I want you all to work on these problems until you finish them!
You may use any reference material you wish.

			:-)


To bring everyone up to date, a list of the problems follows.  The available
answers have been filled in.  Questionable answers are indicated with "(?)".


				-- edp

 1. NIGHT : DAY ::  NOCTURNAL : DIURNAL
 2. HEEL : ACHILLES :: BOX : PANDORA (?)
 3. SHOE : COBBLER :: BARREL : COOPER
 4. UNCERTAINTY : HEISENBERG :: UNDECIDABILITY : GODEL
 5. 1/2 : SEMI :: 1 1/2 : SESQUI
 6. BILLION : BILLIONTH :: GIGA- : NANO-
 7. TEETH : HEN :: NEST : bag lady (?) mare (?) some kind of reptile (?)
 8. LENIN : PSEUDONYMOUS :: LENINGRAD : EPONYMOUS
 9. PAIN : RUE :: BREAD : STREET
10. FEEL : PALPATE :: LISTEN : AUSCULTATE
11. WATER : AQUEOUS :: SNOW : NIVEOUS
12. SEA : LITTORAL :: RIVER : RIPARIAN (?)
13. THITHER : HITHER :: TRANS- : CIS-
14. WIDE : NARROW :: BRACHY- : DOLICHO-
15. CIVIL : PAPAL :: AMBASSADOR : NUNCIO
16. BLACK : YELLOW :: MELANCHOLIC : CHOLERIC
17. FOUR-SIDED POLYHEDRON : TETRAHEDRON ::
	FOUR-DIMENSIONAL HYPERCUBE : TESSERACT
18. WINTER : HIBERNATE :: SUMMER : AESTIVATE
19. GOD : THEOLOGY :: WHY, IF GOD EXISTS, THERE IS EVIL : THEODICY
20. 100 : PERCENTILE :: 9 : PERNONILE (?)
21. LOGIC : SOPHISTICAL :: FEAST : ?
22. RUTHLESS : MYRMIDON :: IMITATIVE : ?
23. IS : OUGHT :: ONTOLOGY : ETHICS
24. 60 : 59 :: NEO- : PRASEO-

RE: .40
	I am still working on the test for myself, and so have avoided reading
all of your best guesses, but I did read some of your comments on the test and 
therefore can give you the answer for 20) 100:percentile::9?

	The answer I came up with is enneadile. Ennead is a noun meaning the 
number nine, or a group with nine objects, hence, add the suffix "ile" to mean
"of or pertaining to" and you complete the annalagy.

	I plan on sending it in this week end, so I'll report back on my scores
and check the rest of your answers then.

		- - -  Karl Brack

    Exactly one month ago, I received a new test from Ronald K. Hoeflin,
    who it seems authored the _Omni_ test.  He is preparing a new test for
    _Omni_, and this involves trying out six tests.  The verbal section of
    this test is below.  The number/spatial problems will go in the MATH
    conference.  No copyright appears on the test I received, but I think
    it would be best not to distribute this any further.  The answers I am
    somewhat confident of are in the next reply.
    
    Some of the previous problems are still unsolved; see .47.
    
    
    				-- edp
    
    Write the word or prefix that best completes each analogy.  Use
    reference aids.  Misspellings will be counted wrong.  [Take about one
    month.] 
     
     1.  Move about : Motile :: Stay put :
     2.  Japanese : Diet :: Israeli :
     3.  Light : Photoelectric :: Pressure :
     4.  Sum : Sigma :: Product :
     5.  Juliet : Romeo :: Hero :
     6.  Memory : Amnesia :: Speech :
     7.  Tire : Retread :: Parchment :
     8.  Eye : Opthalmo - :: Navel :
     9.  Cattle ranch : Brand :: Book publishing house :
    10.  10 : Decimal :: 60 :
    11.  All is one : Monism :: All is self :
    12.  Rotating : Helicopter :: Flapping :
    13.  Christian : Crusade :: Moslem :
    14.  Pebble : Ripple :: Earthquake :
    15.  One by one in succession : Seriatim :: Here and there
         throughout :
    16.  Fish : Mermaid :: Vulture :
    17.  Thought : Obsessive :: Action :
    18.  Celebrity : Sycophantic :: Wife :
    19.  Easy job : Sinecure :: Guiding light :
    20.  Sweetness : Suffix : Boatswain :
    	      ----                -----
    21.  Emperor : Jones :: Great God :
    22.  Gold : Malleable :: Chalk :
    23.  The universe : Cosmological :: Universal laws :
    24.  Cannibal : Anthropophagy :: Werewolf :

    The best answers I have are below.  The ones I am less certain of
    are marked with "?" for imperfect fits or "??" for moderate guesses.
    
    
    				-- edp
    
     1.  Move about : Motile :: Stay put : Immotile
     2.  Japanese : Diet :: Israeli :
     3.  Light : Photoelectric :: Pressure : Piezoelectric
     4.  Sum : Sigma :: Product : Pi
     5.  Juliet : Romeo :: Hero : ?Heroine
     6.  Memory : Amnesia :: Speech : Aphonia
     7.  Tire : Retread :: Parchment : Palimpsest
     8.  Eye : Opthalmo - :: Navel : Omphalo-
     9.  Cattle ranch : Brand :: Book publishing house : Colophon
    10.  10 : Decimal :: 60 : Sexagesimal
    11.  All is one : Monism :: All is self :
    12.  Rotating : Helicopter :: Flapping : Ornithopter
    13.  Christian : Crusade :: Moslem : Jihad
    14.  Pebble : Ripple :: Earthquake : Tsunami
    15.  One by one in succession : Seriatim :: Here and there
         throughout : Passim
    16.  Fish : Mermaid :: Vulture : Harpy
    17.  Thought : Obsessive :: Action : Compulsive
    18.  Celebrity : Sycophantic :: Wife :
    19.  Easy job : Sinecure :: Guiding light : ?Lodestar
    20.  Sweetness : Suffix : Boatswain : ??Conjugate
    	      ----                -----
    21.  Emperor : Jones :: Great God :
    22.  Gold : Malleable :: Chalk : Brittle
    23.  The universe : Cosmological :: Universal laws :
    24.  Cannibal : Anthropophagy :: Werewolf : Lycanthropy

  
    These are the ones (marked with an *) that I disagreed with on short
    perusal.
    
    
    
 *    1.  Move about : Motile :: Stay put : Sessile
 *    2.  Japanese : Diet :: Israeli : Knesset
     3.  Light : Photoelectric :: Pressure : Piezoelectric
     4.  Sum : Sigma :: Product : Pi
 *    5.  Juliet : Romeo :: Hero : Leander 
     6.  Memory : Amnesia :: Speech : Aphonia
     7.  Tire : Retread :: Parchment : Palimpsest
     8.  Eye : Opthalmo - :: Navel : Omphalo-
     9.  Cattle ranch : Brand :: Book publishing house : Colophon
    10.  10 : Decimal :: 60 : Sexagesimal
 *   11.  All is one : Monism :: All is self : solipsism
    12.  Rotating : Helicopter :: Flapping : Ornithopter
    13.  Christian : Crusade :: Moslem : Jihad
    14.  Pebble : Ripple :: Earthquake : Tsunami
    15.  One by one in succession : Seriatim :: Here and there
         throughout : Passim
    16.  Fish : Mermaid :: Vulture : Harpy
    17.  Thought : Obsessive :: Action : Compulsive
    18.  Celebrity : Sycophantic :: Wife :
    19.  Easy job : Sinecure :: Guiding light : ?Lodestar
    20.  Sweetness : Suffix : Boatswain : ??Conjugate
    	      ----                -----
 *   21.  Emperor : Jones :: Great God : ?Mammon
 *   22.  Gold : Malleable :: Chalk : Friable
    23.  The universe : Cosmological :: Universal laws :
    24.  Cannibal : Anthropophagy :: Werewolf : Lycanthropy

    5. Juliet:Romeo::Hero:Leander
    
    
    John M.

    For 21, I'd say "Brown" (both Broadway plays)
    
        22, I'd say "fractile"
    
        23, I'd say "cosmolexical"
    
        24  I'd say was a trick:  Cannibal:anthropophagy (man-earing)
            wouldn't be the same as Werewolf:lycanthropy (the condition
            involved in being a werewolf), so it might be the same:
            (anthropophagy)
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

  1. Sessile
  2. Knesset
  6. Aphasia (this being complete loss)

  JP

    18. Uxorious.
    
    	Jon

    Re .51:
    
    Boy, am I angry about "Leander".  All I had to do was look up "Hero" in
    my Webster's at the office to find "a legendary priestess of Aphrodite
    loved by Leander".  That is what I get for using the American Heritage
    Dictionary I have at home.  It also tells us why all the words are
    capitalized.
    
    
    Re .54:
    
    I considered "aphasia" but considered it flawed because the first pair
    is memory to memory loss and "aphasia" would give speech to word loss
    instead of speech to speech loss with "aphonia". 
    
    
    				-- edp

    20. Sweetness : Suffix :: Boatswain : Root
    	     ^^^^                 ^^^^^
    
    21. Emperor : Jones :: Great God : Pan
    
    	("The Great God Pan" is a story by Arthur Machen.)
    
    --- jerry

     2.  Japanese : Diet :: Israeli : Fresse

(Sorry.)

    New problems follow.  They are multiple choice.  I have not numbered
    them to prevent responses like "13 is choice C" -- please reproduce the
    problem in your responses.  A few of the problems seem to have several
    correct ways of getting the answer.
    
    From my own work and local colleagues, we have good or possible answers
    to almost all of the problems.  I have not entered the answers now, but
    will do so a after a few weeks, starting from the time when JOYOFLEX
    is regularly available again.
    
    
    				-- edp
    
    For each of these problems you are to find the word that does not
    belong with the other four and write [that word] on your answer sheet.
    For example, in the set (A) red, (B) pink, (C) purple, (D) blue, (E)
    scarlet, the best answer would be (D), because each of the other four
    has some degree of redishness.  It would be wrong to answer, say, (C)
    giving as one's reason the fact that the other four items are
    "non-purple," since obviously this same reasoning could be used to
    single out any of the other four items, thus yielding no unique
    solution.  If after ruling out answers of this sort, i.e., the "not
    such-and-such" sort of solution, you can still find more than one
    plausible answer, then pick the answer you believe that most
    intelligent people would be most likely to pick.
    
    [There is no time limit.  Use reference materials.] 
    
    Aluminum  Tin  Bronze  Zinc  Copper
    
    Peanut  Filbert  Pecan  Walnut  Brazil nut
    
    Malta  Cypress  Crete  Corsica  Sardinia
    
    Auto-  Physio-  Neuro-  Demo-  Pluto-
    
    Essential  Formal  Efficient  Material  Final
    
    School  Spirit  Army  Pack  Pride
    
    Am  He  Be  No  Is
    
    Noisome  Boisterous  Clamorous  Loud  Cacophonous
    
    Frenzy  Vertigo  Suspicion  Notorious  Ominous
    
    Benjamin  Samuel  Dan  Reuben  Simeon
    
    Lied  Lent  Lead  Let  Loaned
    
    Flat  Green  Ice  Ire  Fin
    
    War  Cruelty  Famine  Pestilence  Death
    
    Electron  Positron  Pion  Muon  Neutrino
    
    Hot  Big  Sling  Mug  Shine
    
    Mail  Guard  Ball  Board  House
    
    Mendelev  Nobel  Planck  Einstein  Fermi
    
    Contentious  Querulous  Pugnacious  Aggressive  Combative
    
    Mono-  Mega-  Paleo-  Meso-  Infra-
    
    Brought  Conceived  Sought  Dedicated  Created
    
    Bite  Kite  Mite  Rite  Site
    
    Vim  Woof  Bushy tailed  Let Live  Cry
    
    A  C  G  I  T
    
    1493  1777  1901  1999  2001
    
    Transcendental  Metaphysical  Natural  Odd  Irrational

    Aluminum  Tin  Bronze  Zinc  Copper			(alloy)
                   ------
    Peanut  Filbert  Pecan  Walnut  Brazil nut		(grows on ground)
    ------
    Malta  Cypress  Crete  Corsica  Sardinia		(tree)
           -------
    Auto-  Physio-  Neuro-  Demo-  Pluto-		(-cratic)
                    ------
    Essential  Formal  Efficient  Material  Final	(can be used as noun)
                                  --------
    School  Spirit  Army  Pack  Pride			(collectives)
            ------
    Am  He  Be  No  Is					(elements)
                --
    Noisome  Boisterous  Clamorous  Loud  Cacophonous	(sound)
             ----------
    Frenzy  Vertigo  Suspicion  Notorious  Ominous	(Hitchcock)
    					   -------
    Benjamin  Samuel  Dan  Reuben  Simeon		(diminutive)
                      ---
    Lied  Lent  Lead  Let  Loaned			(intransitive)
    ----
    Flat  Green  Ice  Ire  Fin				(-land)
    ----
    War  Cruelty  Famine  Pestilence  Death		(apocalypse)
         -------
    Electron  Positron  Pion  Muon  Neutrino		(non-ephemeral)
    --------
    Hot  Big  Sling  Mug  Shine				(-shot)
                          -----
    Mail  Guard  Ball  Board  House
    
    Mendelev  Nobel  Planck  Einstein  Fermi		(not quantum physicist)
                             --------
		(also could be Mendeleev - only one spelt wrongly :-) )

    Contentious  Querulous  Pugnacious  Aggressive  Combative  (confrontation)
                 ---------
    Mono-  Mega-  Paleo-  Meso-  Infra-			(-lithic)
                                 ------
    Brought  Conceived  Sought  Dedicated  Created	(object not present
                        ------				  after action?)
    Bite  Kite  Mite  Rite  Site
    
    Vim  Woof  Bushy tailed  Let Live  Cry	(not Y-part of "X and Y")
         ----
	(unless Woof is second part of an alliterative "X and X", which
	 I've not heard of, in which case, "Cry" [V&V, W&W, B&B, L&L, H&C])

    A  C  G  I  T
    
    1493  1777  1901  1999  2001
    
    Transcendental  Metaphysical  Natural  Odd  Irrational

    Here's where I differ from Jeff:
    
    	Jon

    
        Am  He  Be  No  Is					(elements)
                --
I thought No was Nobelium? See below. I'd say Is for the same reason.

    Electron  Positron  Pion  Muon  Neutrino		(non-ephemeral)
    --------

Neutrinos are not ephemeral. They also may not have mass, and have no
charge. Not to mention that they're the only one that doesn't end in "n."
I'd guess Neutrino. 

    Mail  Guard  Ball  Board  House
    
House -- only one not a "-room."

    Mendelev  Nobel  Planck  Einstein  Fermi		(not quantum physicist)
                             --------
		(also could be Mendeleev - only one spelt wrongly :-) )

Mendelev [sic] was a chemist, not a physicist, so it could be him. But I'd
say Planck as the others have elements named for them. 

    Bite  Kite  Mite  Rite  Site

Kite. Only one that is not a word if you substitute "ight" for "ite."

    Vim  Woof  Bushy tailed  Let Live  Cry	(not Y-part of "X and Y")
         ----
	(unless Woof is second part of an alliterative "X and X", which
	 I've not heard of, in which case, "Cry" [V&V, W&W, B&B, L&L, H&C])

I'd always heard it Warp and Woof, but hey, I'm a Yank. I guess Cry
for Hue and Cry.

    1493  1777  1901  1999  2001

1999. Only one not the year after a significant date :-) Or, 2001, as it's
the only one divisible by three.

    Transcendental  Metaphysical  Natural  Odd  Irrational

Metaphysical is the only one not a class of numbers.

    Re .60, .61:

    Noisome  Boisterous  Clamorous  Loud  Cacophonous	(sound)
             ----------
    "Boisterous" does have to do with noise, but you are on the right track.

    Benjamin  Samuel  Dan  Reuben  Simeon		(diminutive)
                      ---
    I think there is a better answer.

    Lied  Lent  Lead  Let  Loaned			(intransitive)
    ----
    There is another answer, but I am not sure either is better.

    War  Cruelty  Famine  Pestilence  Death		(apocalypse)
         -------
    That is the same thing I guessed, but I thought the Four Horsemen
    were War, Famine, Conquest, and Death?

    Electron  Positron  Pion  Muon  Neutrino
    --------                        --------
    I think there is a better answer than either of these.
    
    Mail  Guard  Ball  Board  House
    Since Jon got this one way (suffix "-room"), I will point out the
    interesting fact that one gets the same answer by prefixing ("black-").
    ("Black-" was noticed by somebody else, whose identity I have forgotten.)
    
    Mendelev  Nobel  Planck  Einstein  Fermi
    Hmm, having elements named for them could be it, but there is another
    possibility.

    Brought  Conceived  Sought  Dedicated  Created	(object not present
                        ------				  after action?)
    There is a better reason for the same answer.
    
    Bite  Kite  Mite  Rite  Site
    > Kite. Only one that is not a word if you substitute "ight" for "ite."
    I think another answer is better, since it requires less work.
    
    Vim  Woof  Bushy tailed  Let Live  Cry	(not Y-part of "X and Y")
    Indeed, we have "vim and vigor", "warp and woof", "bright eyed and
    bushy tailed", "live and let live", and "hue and cry".  Is the rule
    that the first letters are the same or the item above is second
    in the list?  This is a trial test, so problems may be discarded.
    
    1493  1777  1901  1999  2001
    > 1999. Only one not the year after a significant date :-) Or, 2001, as
    > it's the only one divisible by three. 
        The best answers I have heard support 2001 because the other numbers
    all start with one and because they are prime.
    
    
				-- edp

    Am  He  Be  No  Is					(elements)
                    --
    Mendelev  Nobel  Planck  Einstein  Fermi		(not scientist)
              -----
    Transcendental  Metaphysical  Natural  Odd  Irrational (not number)
                    ------------

        Benjamin  Samuel  Dan  Reuben  Simeon		(not a son of
                  ------                                  Jacob)
    

    If your "warp and woof" are weaving terms, then we call the second
    one "weft".  For all I know, the other is the noise a dog makes!
    
    Confused of Reading

    Got another.
    
    A  C  G  I  T : I -- it's not a genetic base. Is anyone else bothered
    by the prevalance of science/math trivia in these?
    
    The Four Horsemen are War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. 
    
    I know there are *other* answers for a lot of these, but I don't like
    the implication that some are "better." It really depends on your sense
    of aesthetics, and it's difficult to say that one aethetic is better
    than another. 
    
    I *really* like the "neutrino" answer on the ground that it doesn't end
    in "n" because it goes contrary to the initial train of thought --
    shifting from properties to lexical analysis. I know you can answer
    "positron" because it's the only one that's anti-matter, but is that
    better than "neutrino" because it's the only one without charge? This
    is why lexical analysis appeals to me, but hey, what do I know? 
    
    Similarly, I also like answering "2001" because it's the only
    one that starts with 2. Wish I'd thought of it...
    
    	Jon

Noisome  Boisterous  Clamorous  Loud  Cacophonous
-------
is the only one that doesn't have to do with noise.

Contentious  Querulous  Pugnacious  Aggressive  Combative
             ---------
is the only one that doesn't imply belligerence, just complaining and 
fretting.

John H.

    The name in English is spelled "Mendeleev," not "Mendelev."
    
    Bernie

    It depends on your dictionary. The one I looked in spelled it with a
    "y." Transliterations from Cyrillic are notoriously chaotic.
    
    	Jon

    Lied  Lent  Lead  Let  Loaned			(past tense)
                ----
    Electron  Positron  Pion  Muon  Neutrino		(not a lepton)
                        ----
    Mendelev  Nobel  Planck  Einstein  Fermi		(elements named after)
                     ------

-Mike

    Re .66:
    
    American Heritage tells us "warp and woof" is "the underlying structure
    upon which something is built; base".
    
    
    Re .67:
    
    > Is anyone else bothered by the prevalance of science/math trivia in
    > these?
    
    Yes, but remember that references are permitted.  A C G I T may be
    difficult to figure out via research, but many of the other problems
    yield to a little investigation.
    
    > I know you can answer "positron" because it's the only one that's
    > anti-matter, but is that better than "neutrino" because it's the only
    > one without charge?
    
    Yes, the first choice is better than "'neutrino' because it's the only
    one without charge" because the pion is also neutral.  I look at it
    this way:  If somebody handed you a bunch of positrons, the effects
    would be a lot more noticable than if they handed you any of the other
    particles.  A lot more noticable than a little "n" on the end of the
    word.  How is that for an objective measure?  :-)
    
    Anyway, that is why I am uncertain about some of the answers being
    better, but others seem fairly clear.  "Sons of Jacob" seems more
    binding than "not diminutive". 
    
    
    				-- edp 

    Re: .72:  But surely American Heritage also tells you it's primarily
    a weaving term - or at least, that that is the etymology?  
    Our office Collins Concise list woof as an alternative to weft.

    JEff

    Re .73:             
    
    Here is some more from Webster's:
    
    warp and woof:  FOUNDATION, BASE <the vigorous Anglo-Saxon base
    	had become the _warp and woof_ of English speech -- H. R.
    	Warfel>
    
    warp [ME, fr. OE _wearp_; akin to OHG _warf_ warp, ON _verpa_
    	to throw] 1 a (1) : a series of yarns extended lengthwise
    	in a loom and crossed by the woof  (2) : the cords forming
    	the carcass of a pneumatic tire b : FOUNDATION, BASE <the
    	~ of the economic structure is agriculture -- Amer. Guide
    	Series: N.C> . . .
    
    weft [ME, fr. OE; akin to ON _veptr_ weft, OE _wefan_ to weave
    	-- more at WEAVE] 1 a : 1-WOOF 1a b : yarn used for the
    	woof . . .
                                     _          _
    woof [alter of ME _oof_, fr. OE _owef_, fr. o- (fr. _on_) +
    	_wefan_ to weave -- more at WEAVE] 1 a : a filling thread
    	or yarn in weaving . . . 2 : a basic or essential element
    	or material
    
    weave [ME _weven_, fr. OE _wefan_; aking to OHG _weban_ to weave,
    	Gk _hyphos_ web]
                        
    
    				-- edp

re .71

One of you biblical scholars can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that 
"Dan" is the only place name in the list.  The others were all people.

Larry

	Am   Is   He   Be   No
		  --


It's the only phoneme in the list that be be pronounced without closing
your lips AND without using your tongue !

/Eric

    Re .59 to current:
    
    Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the only two problems with more
    exploration available are: 
    
    Brought  Conceived  Sought  Dedicated  Created
    
    Bite  Kite  Mite  Rite  Site
    
    
    				-- edp

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent,
a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that
all men are created equal."

"Sought" is not there.

John

 bite kite mite rite site
 ----

Bite is the only verb, others are nouns.



--angela

    Kite and site are verbs.  See W9NCD.
    
    However, kite is the only one that does not have a homophone ending in
    -ight: bight, might, right, sight.

    Kite is a verb?? What does it mean? (I can't `see W9NCD' 'cos I have no
    idea what that means!)

    Re .81
    
    W9NCD is Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, a highly regarded
    American dictionary published by Merriam-Webster, Inc.  I know that
    isn't much help to you there in England...
    
    Here is what W9NCD says about the verb `kite':
    
        kite vb kit�ed; kit�ing vt (1839) 1: to use (a bad check) to get
        credit or money  2: to cause to soar (�kited� the prices they
        charged wealthy clients)  ~ vi 1 a: to go in a rapid, carefree, or
        flighty manner  b: to rise rapidly : soar (the prices of
        necessities continue to ~)  2: to get money or credit by a kite
    
    The most common use of the word is to describe the passing of a check
    when one knows that one's bank account contains insufficient funds but
    that one will be able to deposit enough to cover the check before it
    has been processed by the recipient's bank and been returned to the
    passer's bank for collection.