[Ads-l] That "words ending in -gry" puzzle (early-ish sighting, 1974)

[George Thompson]

"Puggry" has been offered as an answer -- if I recall, it's a type of
cloth.
As a reference librarian, I was asked this question once in a while.  I
recall looking at the English Word Speculum and another reverse spelling
dictionary.  Both were based on a rather basic standard dictionary that
didn't include puggry.

Remarkable that such an inane challenge has endured.

GAT

GAT

On Sun, Jul 19, 2020 at 8:38 AM Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I am certain that some of you know much more about this puzzle's history
> than I, but I thought I'd try looking for early mentions of the
> brainteaser. Perhaps this is something that will whet the appetites of the
> hungry, angry antedaters here.
>
> (If you're unfamiliar with the "words that end in -gry" puzzle, see, for
> example, Michael Quinion's analysis at
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.worldwidewords.org_articles_gry.htm&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=dg4-IVjlKzV6KRmX7LbkXYJucttruM-rEuXJRv_nL_g&s=-AUn7oYCjD0bNlY3YBmThDWc_YPsIyv0Cbgi4al-Csw&e=
> and a Wikipedia entry at
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wikipedia.org_wiki_-2Dgry-5Fpuzzle&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=dg4-IVjlKzV6KRmX7LbkXYJucttruM-rEuXJRv_nL_g&s=O4Jba555cEh1F1trp2Nj6J5nF6Sc7BP_YbBxHpWIMIo&e=
> .)
>
> I should mention that the Wikipedia page notes that Merriam-Webster first
> learned of this puzzle via a letter dated 17 March 1975, but the page also
> observes that this may date back to the '50s. Further (and elsewhere), Lois
> Aleta Fundis reproduced a message from 1999 to the old Stumpers list that
> mentioned finding the "gry puzzle" in a pamphlet suspected, but not
> confirmed, to have been printed sometime in the '40s. (Lois noted in 2006
> that she had not been able to put her hands on any such publication.)
>
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__sites.google.com_site_lfundisriversnorth_lfundisgrywords&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=dg4-IVjlKzV6KRmX7LbkXYJucttruM-rEuXJRv_nL_g&s=3QF2iCwLoMsZxl8CwE45e3cr0gqi3DFgRQtUoNcKXuQ&e=
>
> So, in the momentary absence of printed versions from the '40s (or later),
> I give you a mention of the puzzle that very slightly predates that in the
> 17 March 1975 letter to Merriam-Webster.
>
> What follows isn't much of an improvement, but it demonstrates that "-gry"
> was on the mind of the Atlanta Constitution night city-desk by early
> September, 1974.
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> THIRD 'GRY'? The city desk gets many calls for information please. Night
> city editor Jim Bentley relayed this one.
>
> Someone on the phone wanted to know if the city side could name the third
> word in the English language that ends in "gry." He cited "hungry" and
> "angry" as the other two.
>
> The night city desk did not have the answer. Nor do I, not yet. Do you? The
> phone is 428-5150.
>
> [In Leo Aikman's "He Now Faces the Music," The Atlanta Constitution, 4
> September 1974, p. 5-A.]
>
> ---------------------
>
> GETTING ANGRY: If that fellow who called night city editor Jim Bentley
> asking the third word in the language ending "gry" was pulling our leg, if
> there is no such word, some of us are going to join the "12 angry men." We
> are hungry for the answer. A few have called saying the challenge has them
> "climbing the wall."
>
> [In Leo Aikman's "No Longer Even a Smile," The Atlanta Constitution, 11
> September 1974, p. 5-A. Aikman referred to the puzzle again in his 20
> September column and reported on a reader's suggestion of another "gry"
> word.]
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society -
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=dg4-IVjlKzV6KRmX7LbkXYJucttruM-rEuXJRv_nL_g&s=NF96ZEiv67YPuobBMfqtevqo-MeLuLFIoVsC2XEPEnw&e=
>


-- 
George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998.

But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
your lowly tomb. . .
L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems.  Boston, 1827, p. 112

The Trump of Doom -- also known as The Dunghill Toadstool.  (Here's a
picture of his great-grandfather.)
http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/james-gillray/an-excrescence---a-fungus-alias-a-toadstool-upon-a-dunghill/3851

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