Q: Pupil of the eye as the most expansive male organ

[Joel S. Berson]

At 6/24/2006 10:12 AM, JL wrote:
>You're right about "fleck," etc.  But "firetruck" was the answer.
>
>   I'll bet the stipulation was "ends in -UCK."

Or "starts with F and ends with -UCK"?  There are too many
four-letter words just ending with -UCK.

>   That would make "firetruck" the only possible answer - assuming
> the "other" F-word is "not a word."

The only five-letter word is fluck.   The only six-letter word is
flouck.  Seven-letter words are fee-buck, fen-duck, and
funduck.  Eight-letter words are fly-stuck, fool-duck, and
fore-luck.  (Lots of funny-sounding words.)  There are a few
nine-letter compounds.  And firetruck is not in OED2!

Joel
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\



>   JL
>
>"Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: "Joel S. Berson"
>Subject: Re: Q: Pupil of the eye as the most expansive male organ
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 6/24/2006 09:15 AM, JL wrote:
> >Bill's list is far more rigorous than my classmate's. Only the first
> >six riddles are familiar to me.
> >
> > I heard Number 2 in, I believe, the spring of 1965. It was
> > rumored in my high school that the well-known frenetic host of a
> > local TV "kid's show" (much watched by teens of the day for its
> > absurd humor) had been fined or taken off the air for asking,
> > "Kids, what's the shortest word there is that starts with F and
> > ends with CK ?" The answer, of course, was "firetruck." (Check
> > your 1965 dictionary !)
>
>This puzzled me the first time I saw it here, but I let it pass. No
>mas! Aren't flack/fleck/flick/flock as well as frock shorter than
>firetruck? And common enough today--I ignore the four-letter "fack"
>and "feck", as well as some additional but apparently very uncommon
>or obsolete 5-letter words (viz. OED2).
>
>Joel
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Do you Yahoo!?
>  Everyone is raving about the  all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org