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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is an aggregated list of suggested answers to the query about
words ending with -gry. Most of these suggestions are from the journal
RQ.

aggry
ahungry (a-hungry)
angry
anhungry (an-hungry)
begry
conyngry
gry
hangry
higry pigry (higrypigry)
hungry
iggry
kingry
land-hungry
leather-hungry
man-hungry
mawgry
meagry
nangry
podagry
puggry
skugry
unangry
yerd-hungry

Garson

On Sun, Jul 19, 2020 at 6:34 PM George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu> wrote:
>
> "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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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