Unix Dict/grep Solves Left-Side-of-Keyboard Puzzle 423
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.)"
what? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
My thoughts exactly, I was wondering if I had somehow enabled the idle section by accident again.
And anybody that learned about grep the first time reading this article should hand in their geek card ;)
Re:what? (Score:5, Funny)
With the added benefit of confusing Haggar's advertising exec's about to roll out their new campaign, "Pants is technology!" with an adorable Russian Blue cat for a spokesperson.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Technically...where on the keyboard does it stop being the left side, and start being considered the right side of the keyboard?
Frankly, I don't see a set dividing line....? Nothing is really centered.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
TGB are the end of the left side, for me anyway. YHN start the right hand side.
Re:what? (Score:5, Funny)
Z is a non-contiguous zone with a higher than normal left keyboardyness.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:what? (Score:5, Interesting)
% grep "^[aoeui',.p;qjkx]*$" /usr/share/dict/british-english-huge | awk '{print length($1) " " $1}' | sort | tail -n1 /usr/share/dict/british-english-huge | awk '{print length($1) " " $1}' | sort | tail -n3
9 okupukupu
% grep "^[dhtnsfgcrlbmwvz]*$"
6 crwths
6 ftncmd
6 mtscmd
I think somebody compromised Debian's servers and added nonsense words to the dictionaries.
Because the... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
What I don't understand is how the article is about using the left side of the keyboard yet the photo they have shows someone typing on the ride side.. (=_=)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry... those tags are improper for this article as they require the use of both sides of the keyboard.
Re:what? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
"'i' is on the right side of the keyboard."
That's your only complaint about that word?
Nice summary (Score:5, Insightful)
There's nearly 2,000 shorter words that can typed with only the left hand -- including one word that's even longer.
Ganz falsch!
Re: (Score:2)
I was just about to ask that! What language, and what keyboard layout?
Re:Nice summary (Score:5, Funny)
Is it cheating to use a Dvorak layout designed for people that can use only one hand?
Re: (Score:2)
What are you calling more efficient?
A left handed dvorak user maxes out at 6 characters with something like 'papaya' or 'yuppie.' ;)
Even a right handed qwertyist at least gets to 9 with 'polyphony.'
By contrast a right handed Dvorak user can't even put the . on the abbreviation for boulevard 'blvd.' Thats what you get for putting all of your eggs (er vowels) in one basket (er hand) and sliding your punctuation around. ;)
The "White Male Caucasian" layout, obviously... (Score:2)
Is there any other worthwhile keyboard layout?
Re:Nice summary (Score:5, Insightful)
Why does the set "More than 2,000 shorter words" include the one longer word as well?
And for the next exCITING Slashdot article : (Score:2)
The answer to an age old OS/2 puzzle : how many double clicks can you make on a mouse with your left big toe while typing repeatedly antidisestablishmentarianism.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You mean the cheese there doesn't attract them?
The answer is (Score:5, Informative)
Link to the original article next time!
Re: (Score:2)
You're descriminating against the poor WARTARSEDAGGERWEED just because its a compound word.
I think I'll ignore devertebrated. I much prefer stewardesses...(don't let my wife read that!)
dereverberated (Score:5, Informative)
Removing reverberation from a soundtrack, also called echo removal.
Re: (Score:2)
the answer is on the bottom
Why does everything always come down to poo [allmusicals.com]?
Misleading summary (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
How exactly can shorter words include a longer one?
Re:Misleading summary (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," [helium.com] 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.
Re: (Score:2)
'devertebrated', though the Oxford English Dictionary doesn't recognise it.
If we're making up words, pretty sure 'redevertebrated' must be the longest word... you know, those vertebrates that had their spine removed in a freak command-line accident involving grep then surgically reimplanted.
Re: (Score:2)
Didn't they do that to Worf in a Star Trek episode?
Re:Misleading summary (Score:5, Informative)
~$ uname -rs /usr/share/dict/words
Darwin 9.5.1
~$ grep "^[asdfgqwertzxcvb]\{13,\}$"
aftercataract
devertebrated
tesseradecade
Someone with an OED can feel free to check them.
Re:Misleading summary (Score:5, Insightful)
A "tesseradecade" is a group of fourteen. Not only that, it can be pluralized by adding an "s", which happens to also be on the left side of the keyboard, and which brings the letter count to... fourteen. Therefore, "tesseradecades" is a tesseradecade of letters on the left side of the standard Qwerty keyboard.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Then a tesseradecader must be something which divide things into groups of fourteen and those who make the tesseradecaders are called tesseradecaderers.
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Devertebrated (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Is it just me or is it NOT in the summary, article, or article linked from the article?
It's just you. It's towards the bottom of the first linked article.
Didn't work here (Score:4, Informative)
Stewardesses is still unsurpassed on my box. (But maybe it's because "GNU's not Unix", so I have a different dictionary file.)
Re:Didn't work here (Score:5, Funny)
The longest word I got was 'redrawerredrawers', which probably indicates that my wordfile is corrupted.
Re:Didn't work here (Score:5, Interesting)
>The longest word I got was 'redrawerredrawers',
>which probably indicates that my wordfile is corrupted
I think you've found a bug ...
% grep '^redrawer' /usr/share/dict/words
redrawer
redrawerredrawers
redrawers
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Whatever dictionary that comes with Mac OS X 10.4 returns 3 words with 13 letters:
aftercataract
devertebrated
tesseradecade
Re: (Score:2)
And googling tesseradecade (it's strangely fun typing large words with only your left hand :D ) points out that you can pluralise it as tesseradecades..
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You can perform all possible computer inputs with one (binary, yes/no) button, the right software, and a heaping helping of patience. "How much can we shrink the keyboard and still enter text" is not an interesting game.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Interestingly enough, the longest word that can be typed with the *other* half of the keyboard, which as a lot less letters, is "phyllophyllin" -- one letter longer than "stewardesses". Check this out:
$ grep -i '^[yuiophjklnm]\{12,\}$' /usr/share/dict/words
hypophyllium
miminypiminy
phyllophyllin
Mind you, I don't know what any of those mean. :)
Re: (Score:2)
Why doesn't anyone ever check for the righthand?
I get "polyphony" as the longest.. although to be fair, I usually type "y" with my left hand.
Mac OS X v. 10.5.5 (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
grep -i -E '^[qwertasdfgzxcvb]{12,}$'
For reference I'm running Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy.
jdb2
Okupukupu! (Score:5, Funny)
The longest word I can type with my left hand [wikipedia.org] is "okupukupu", you QWERTY-using insensitive clods!
[15:44:56] ~$ grep -i '^[pyaoeuiqjkx]\{14,\}$' /usr/share/dict/words /usr/share/dict/words /usr/share/dict/words /usr/share/dict/words /usr/share/dict/words /usr/share/dict/words
[15:44:58] ~$ grep -i '^[pyaoeuiqjkx]\{13,\}$'
[15:45:04] ~$ grep -i '^[pyaoeuiqjkx]\{12,\}$'
[15:45:07] ~$ grep -i '^[pyaoeuiqjkx]\{11,\}$'
[15:45:12] ~$ grep -i '^[pyaoeuiqjkx]\{10,\}$'
[15:45:16] ~$ grep -i '^[pyaoeuiqjkx]\{9,\}$'
okupukupu
Re:Didn't work here (Score:5, Insightful)
uh huh. Ya know why the unix dictionary file doesn't contain every word in the english language? Because it can't. It's a productive system. There's an infinite number of words.
For example, 'desegregated' means something like: something was segregated and now it isn't. And segregated means that, some time in the past, someone decided to segregate. If they decide to do that again, well then it's resegregated. And what happens to it when you undo that segregation? You get deresegregated. What happens if they decide to segregate again? reresegregated? then dereresegregated? Is there a limit? No. Language is awesome.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
It's not just in simple suffix and prefix usage, either. There are modifier forms that are legal, if perhaps slightly archaic, that while correct will not have explicit entries in a dictionary. I once had a big argument about the word "schedular", in the sense of "make sure you tend to your schedular duties." It's complicated, because it's an etymological principle that allows it, and even though I am right, I lost the argument because "schedular" had no entry in the dictionary the other person was using
Re: (Score:2)
The fact that you can torture the English language that way doesn't mean that you should
Disclaimer: I am not a grammar nazi, just a concerned journalism student
My dict is bigger (Score:3, Informative)
% egrep '^[qwertasdfgzxcvb]{12,}$'
abracadabras
aftereffects
decerebrated
decerebrates
desegregated
desegregates
extravagated
extravagates
extravasated
extravasates
reaggregated
reaggregates
resegregated
resegregates
reverberated
reverberates
stewardesses
sweaterdress
sweaterdresses
watercresses
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Thanks for the code. This is what you can type on the home row:
Dvorak:
2-11 letters: 3358 words
12: 54 words
13: 24 words
14: 14 words
15: 5 words
16: 2 words
17: 2 words
18: 1 word
Qwerty:
2-11 letters: 202 words
12: 0 words.
-
uname -a
Darwin maclappy 9.5.1 Darwin Kernel Version 9.5.1: Fri Sep 19 16:19:24 PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.8.30~1/RELEASE_I386 i386 i386 MacBookPro5,1 Darwin
Re: (Score:2)
Main Entry: aftercataract
Pronunciation: -"kat-&-"rakt
Function: noun
: an opacity of the lens capsule that occurs following an operation for cataract
A tesseradecad is an arrangement into groups of fourteen.
Symmetrical arrangements of texts and genealogies into tesseradecads were common Jewish customs. One example is the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the book of Luke and in the book of Matthew. Some names have been omitted in order to create tesseradecads in both genoalogies.
M
Re: (Score:2)
Your regex is broken. You only want single words that can contain those letters, not words that just happen to contain letters from the left side of the keyboard. You lucked out since you're using such long words, but that wouldn't work to find all words that can be typed on the left hand side of the keyboard. That's why everyone else is surrounding the regex with ^$ - they know what they're doing.
Read your grep manpage:
You don't need ^ and $ (and some shells won't let you use $ expecting a variable name to follow it, even if you escape it) when you use -x.
"Sweaterdresses" better than "devertebrated" (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.
Re: (Score:2)
"sweaterdresses are great" can be typed entirely with the left hand.
Re:"Sweaterdresses" better than "devertebrated" (Score:5, Funny)
"sweaterdresses are great" can be typed entirely with the left hand.
"stewardesses have the greatest assets"
I win! :D
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Reach for it - you'll make it.
Re: (Score:2)
So can "stewardess sex great 4 ass wart state testers". I don't think it counts because its... using multiple words.
Past tense disqualified? (Score:5, Insightful)
From the article:
Technically, the word "reverberated" is just as long, and so is "desegregated" - but they're sometimes disqualified because they require using the past tense.
So past tense is disqualified but plural is ok? What official body is making up these rules?
Re:Past tense disqualified? (Score:5, Insightful)
And desegregates and reverberates must be okay, right?
Re:Past tense disqualified? (Score:5, Funny)
Mornington Crescent!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
No, no, no. That's not how the game is played . . ..
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Past tense disqualified? (Score:5, Funny)
I think it's only acceptable in the Official American Ruleset, and then only when out of croop. The cromulent thing to do in this case is invoke Toksvig's Protocol (if Reynold's Standard Opening is allowed).
Re:Past tense disqualified? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You have a very good memory. I know the R-G #1 game was pretty big -- are you talking about that one, or maybe the rematch in which Robertson was accused of having a computer read out possible stations to him via otic implant?
Re:Past tense disqualified? (Score:5, Funny)
What official body is making up these rules?
I'm not sure, but I'd start the search by eliminating all those bodies with a working right hand.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's not so much eliminating those bodies with a working right hand as eliminating those with a right hand that is not otherwise engaged.
Re: (Score:2)
... and thus we come back to stewardesses, of course.
I use Dvorak, you insensitive clod... (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Given that there are alternate left-hand-only and right-hand-only variants of Dvorak, you can technically type any word entirely with either hand.
Re: (Score:2)
On a Dvorak keyboard, the longest "left-handed" words are papaya, Kikuyu, opaque, and upkeep.[19] Kikuyu is typed entirely with the index finger, and so the longest one-fingered word on the Dvorak keyboard. There are no vowels on the right-hand side, and so the longest "right-handed" word is crwth.
Re:I use Dvorak, you insensitive clod... (Score:5, Insightful)
alternating hand keystrokes are the fastest and least stress-inducing type of keystroke. The fact that so many words in Qwerty can be typed on the same (left) hand and so few can be in Dvorak shows that a larger subset of the Dvorak words alternate, whereas a smaller subset of the Qwerty words do.
need more proof, just do a
then follow that up with a
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
More interesting statistics:
The longest word I can type without leaving the home keys (not even the whole home row) is sensuousness.
231 words longer than six chars are possible with the dvorak home keys without moving
6 words longer than six chars on the qwerty home keys
1,091 words longer than 6 charsare possible with the dvorak home row
9 words longer with the qwerty home row.
1,139 words longer than six letters can be typed with left hand in qwerty (bad sign)
9 words longer than six letters can be typed with
Devertebrates? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
What about "devertebrated stewardesses"?
I tried to cheat once (Score:2)
Once there was a TV show that you needed to guess the word by only a few letters revealed. I used dict/grep and found the answer but couldn't dial in. Some XXX dollars I lost!
Now for the right hand! (Score:2)
Houyhnhnm
polyphony
Honestly... (Score:5, Insightful)
who cares?
hmmm (Score:2)
Fixes or solves?
Woah! (Score:3, Funny)
There's nearly 2,000 shorter words that can typed with only the left hand â" including one word that's even longer.
Wait, there is a word that is both shorter and longer than "stewardesses"?
Re: (Score:2)
What the freaking fuck? (Score:2)
Also, what happened to 'tesseradecade'? The plural is 14 letters. (Look at that, I have grep too!)
Passwords (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
speaking of pointless observations... (Score:2)
"There's nearly 2,000 shorter words"
Ironically, the word "are" can be typed with the left hand....
This being slashdot, and your mouse occupying your right hand, I'll just draw the obvious conclusion.
Picture's showing right hand ;) (Score:2)
First thing i noticed when i went to the page was that the picture is showing a *right* hand on the *right* side of the keyboard... and carries the subscript "One word uses 12 keys from the left side of the keyboard."
Wonder what side of the brain was working there... ;)
...the longest word spelled in alphabetical order (Score:2)
$ grep -i "^a*b*c*d*e*f*g*h*i*j*k*l*m*n*o*p*q*r*s*t*u*v*w*x*y*z*$" /usr/share/dict/words | perl -ne 's/\n//; print length($_); print " $_\n";' | sort | tail -10
6 ghosty
6 glossy
6 knoppy
6 knotty
7 Adelops
7 alloquy
7 beefily
7 begorry
7 billowy
7 egilops
Guess my dictionary doesn't have "aegilops".
Oblig: What about Dvorak? (Score:2)
I use a Dvorak Keyboard you insensitive clods!
Reverberates is not past tense (Score:2)
I guess the author has ESL. 'Reverberates' uses only left-hand letters and is not past tense, so it would be the equal of 'stewardesses' (it's also not politically incorrect).
"Devertebrated" is as stupid as "deevolved."
Longest hex word (Score:2)
Funny (for me) that this should come up today. After typing the AutoCAD command 3DFACE (also all with the left hand) I found myself wondering something else: What's the longest English word/command/whatever-strikes-you that can be typed on a calculator in hexadecimal mode?
FACED is five digits, FACADE and DECADE are six, ACCEDED and EFFACED are seven. Anything longer? (Make your own rules, but to me using zero for O or one for I is cheating.)
Sean M. Burke knew this in 1998 =P (Score:3, Informative)
In the "Stupid QWERTY Tricks" section of his site, he lists all of the words that you can type on the left/right hand side of the keyboard...
http://interglacial.com/~sburke/pub/stupid_qwerty_tricks.html [interglacial.com]
He published all of that online in 1998...
(1998-09-21)
In comparison, the longest Dvorak word, typed with only the left hand is: "upkeep" ...not that that has anything to do with the efficiency of Dvorak...
The other Dvorak word lists are far more interesting:
http://interglacial.com/~sburke/pub/stupid_dvorak_tricks.html [interglacial.com]
-- Dave
Time for another stupid thread? (Score:2)
So I guess it's time for another stupid/useful tricks post, this time for /usr/share/dict. You could use it to make a list of english-seeming words (that get people really confused when piped through 'festival --tts'), similar to this one:
http://user.interface.org.nz/~gringer/montyword.php [interface.org.nz]
[okay, that's derived from IRC logs... I should probably change that to /usr/share/dict]
extraterrestials FTW (Score:3, Interesting)
I RTFA and didn't find any mention of this supposed word, anywhere. So I ran my own grep on the dictionary.
Left hand results:
Right hand results:
Top row results
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
"P", "O", and "N" are not on the left side of the keyboard.
Re:But... (Score:5, Funny)
bare stewardesses
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Oh yeah? Well, I typed my reply with my left penis!
What do you mean, you only have one penis?