Puzzles
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Re: Puzzles
"strychnine"
well done, Neil, much quicker than I got it when someone asked me!
well done, Neil, much quicker than I got it when someone asked me!
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Re: Puzzles
Nothing really to do with this - but in my youth the BBC used to include on Children's Hour the ubiquitous series "Tales from Europe" which appeared to be (mostly) produced in black and white. Examples of this included "The Singing Ringing Tree" and "The Tinderbox" amongst others. It was many years later that I realised that polish films were nothing to do with waxing the furniture but were in fact from Poland.
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Re: Puzzles
Reference is made to Free Polish(polish) in the Dads Army episode The Face on the Poster.Neil Graham wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 7:46 pmNothing really to do with this - but in my youth the BBC used to include on Children's Hour the ubiquitous series "Tales from Europe" which appeared to be (mostly) produced in black and white. Examples of this included "The Singing Ringing Tree" and "The Tinderbox" amongst others. It was many years later that I realised that polish films were nothing to do with waxing the furniture but were in fact from Poland.
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Re: Puzzles
I think there was a scene in One Foot In The Grave where Victor misread his shopping list and came home with Polish sherry rather than Cherry polishMatthew Turner wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 7:49 pmReference is made to Free Polish(polish) in the Dads Army episode The Face on the Poster.Neil Graham wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 7:46 pmNothing really to do with this - but in my youth the BBC used to include on Children's Hour the ubiquitous series "Tales from Europe" which appeared to be (mostly) produced in black and white. Examples of this included "The Singing Ringing Tree" and "The Tinderbox" amongst others. It was many years later that I realised that polish films were nothing to do with waxing the furniture but were in fact from Poland.
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Re: Puzzles
Home. (Pronounced "Hume", as in the 14th Earl of Home, who became prime minister as Sir Alec Douglas-Home.)Matthew Turner wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:49 pmWhat word is pronounced differently if the first letter is a capital.
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
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Re: Puzzles
That is another really clever answer.John Clarke wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:00 pmHome. (Pronounced "Hume", as in the 14th Earl of Home, who became prime minister as Sir Alec Douglas-Home.)Matthew Turner wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:49 pmWhat word is pronounced differently if the first letter is a capital.
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Re: Puzzles
Judging by some of the brilliant answers, I think a number of you will enjoy this challenge.
How many prefixes are there that make a word have the opposite meaning.
There is room for some creative thinking and some debate over what is 'opposite'. Enjoy.
How many prefixes are there that make a word have the opposite meaning.
There is room for some creative thinking and some debate over what is 'opposite'. Enjoy.
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Re: Puzzles
The general cases are in-, un-, anti-, non-, a- and various modified forms of those. There are probably also a bunch of specific cases.
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Re: Puzzles
Three more are dis-, counter- and im-IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 12:16 amThe general cases are in-, un-, anti-, non-, a- and various modified forms of those. There are probably also a bunch of specific cases.
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Re: Puzzles
Don't forget ig- - a very specific case.
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
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Re: Puzzles
A decent start, but I think there are quite a few more out there.
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Re: Puzzles
In- is a strange one - consider invalid and invaluable. Americans fail to grasp inflammable, which can in some circumstances be important. They sensibly use non-flammable.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.
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Re: Puzzles
Indeed it is, but "Hume" is not the universal pronunciation of "Home" as a proper noun.Matthew Turner wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:19 pmThat is another really clever answer.John Clarke wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:00 pmHome. (Pronounced "Hume", as in the 14th Earl of Home, who became prime minister as Sir Alec Douglas-Home.)Matthew Turner wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:49 pmWhat word is pronounced differently if the first letter is a capital.
Home House is an upmarket private members' club in Marylebone which was mentioned as a victim of alleged fraud emanating from the Braingames World Championship Match in 2000. (No such fraud was ever proved.)
When I first heard of it, I called it "Hume House", only to be told immediately that it was "Home House".
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Re: Puzzles
I think the idea put forward is that inflammable comes from the French 'en flambe'NickFaulks wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:00 amIn- is a strange one - consider invalid and invaluable. Americans fail to grasp inflammable, which can in some circumstances be important. They sensibly use non-flammable.
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Re: Puzzles
I thought it came from "capable of becoming inflamed" - perhaps another way of saying the same thing. Invaluable means you cannot put a value on something because it is worth so much, perhaps like the king in chess. It could mean instead that you cannot give it a value because it's junk.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.