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The Great GRY Riddle
or
-Gry Riddle!
"It's
a fraud, it's a fake," says Will Shortz,New York Times Puzzle Editor and the host of a puzzle segment on National Public Radio's
Weekend Edition (NPR, 11/10/96).
Word's ending in Gry? You say angry
and hungry, but a third that is common? Tricky, right? Well this riddle has been around for at least 20 years.It's been in
newspapers, radio shows, magazines, emails, copiers, and fax machines and is a true riddle in the sense that, once you find
the answer, you'll either be amazed or just think it's stupid/silly! So, why then does this particular riddle continue to
challenge even the best of puzzle solvers?? Well, simply because the riddle itself is almost always stated INCORRECTLY! That's
right. The way the riddle is most often told, there IS no answer!There are a number of formats in which it looks. In the ORIGINAL
format (as you'll soon see), it makes sense!People who don't know the trick to this puzzle, by changing the wording when they
pass the question along, have mangled the question until there is no real answer! Most people now seem to accept this as the
"real" answer.
Please Keep in Mind!
1)A riddle,
by definition, they are mind-teasers that use word tricks.
2) A riddle is not a trivia question for which you
can go to a reference book and look up an answer.
3) In a true riddle, there's always some sneaky little trick that
makes such a straight answer impossible.
Here is the riddle in its original form:
"Think of words
ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word?
The word is something that everyone uses every day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is."
A
similar suggestion printed in Marilyn Vos Savant's column in Parade magazine March 9, 1997 is that the original form was
"There
are at least three words in the English language that end in G or Y. One of them is "hungry" and another one is "angry". There
is a third word, a short one which you probably say every day. If you are listening carefully to everything I say, you just
heard me say it three times. What is it?" When the listener gives up, you explain: "You assumed I said "G-R-Y", but in fact
I said "G or Y", and the word is "say". Due to the popularity of the column, this version is gaining a lot of ground!
THE ANSWER and Explanation!
In its proper, original
form, the first two sentences have absolutely nothing to do with the question: "Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry
are two of them." The first two sentence are a red herring, a trick used to distract you (kind of like what magicians use
so they can perform their illusion; you know, the lovely assitant or the magic wand) What's left is the actual riddle itself:
"There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everyone uses every
day. If you have listened carefully, I have already told you what it is." The key is the phrase "the English language." In
this three-word phrase, the third word is simply the word "language." Yeah, I know, that wasn't fair! "Language" is definitely
something that "everyone uses every day"! Without that lil' little twist, the puzzle would be just another trivia question,
not a riddle, right?
But it doesn't end in or It doesn't make sense!?
Many people*thought* they had solved this
puzzle when they found one of these wordsin old dictionary or by scouring the Internet. But c'mon, folks, when's the last
time you used a word like "gry" in everyday conversation? The thing about riddles is, you must follow them to the letter or
they just don't work. This one got messed up somewhere along the way and has become somewhat of a cruel hoax (and perhaps
has even become an "urban legend").
There are, or have been in the past,
a large number of English words/phrases ending in - Now for all of you people who find this difficult to believe.. just want
a list of 100 words, phrases and names ending in "gry" I have written them below for your pleasure.
aggry
Agry Dagh
ahungry
angry
anhungry
Badagry
Ballingry
begry
bewgry
bowgry
braggry
conyngry:
Bugry
Chockpugry
Cogry
cony-gry
conyngry
Croftangry
dog-hungry
Dshagry
Dzagry
eard-hungry
Echanuggry
Egry
ever-angry
fire-angry
Gagry
gry
haegry
half-angry
hangry
heart-angry
heart-hungry
higry pigrgry
hogry
hogrymogry
hongry
huggrymuggry
hungry
Hungry
Bungry
iggry to hurry up
Jagry
kaingry
land-hungry
leather-hungry
Langry
Lisnagry
MacLoingry
mad-angry
mad-hungry
magry
malgry
man-hungry
Margry
maugry
mawgry
meagry
meat-hungry
menagry
messagry
nangry
overangry
Pelegry
Pingry
podagry
Pongry
pottingry
puggry
pugry
rungry
scavengry
Schtschigry
Seagry
Segry
self-angry
self-hungry
Shchigry
shiggry
Shtchigry
Shtshigry
skugry
Sygry
Tangry
Tchangry
Tchigry
tear-angry
tike-hungry
Tingry
toggry
ulgry
unangry
vergry
Virgy
Wirgy
wind-angry
wind-hungry
yeard-hungry
yerd-hungry
yird-hungry
Ymagry
Important note: Although a great deal
of this information comes from various sources, the design, compilation, and wording
of much of it is mineand therefore
is protected by copyright!
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