The Purple Turtle. - Free Online Library (2024)

The PURPLE TURTLE is a magical beast. With one glance, it turns anABBEY into an ALLEY, reduces a BULB to PULP, makes a VESSEL into aVASSAL, and converts a MUMMY to a PUPPY. By turning POMP into a BOMB,MONACO becomes a MENACE. And from TAMPA to TEMPE, it turns KODAK intoSODAS. It's enough to give an ENGINE ANGINA.

But there are some things the Purple Turtle cannot do. Itcan't make a CONNECTION to a COLLECTION, and turning a NEEDLE intoa NOODLE is quite beyond it. No matter what it does, SISTER does notTITTER. And though the PURPLING TURTLING is BURBLING, it's notGURGLING.

As you've probably deduced from the above, a Purple Turtlehappens when one letter is substituted for all (two or more) of anotherletter in a word to make another word. But the substitution has to becommutative. That is, the change has to be able to be reversed. Thiswould not be an issue if it weren't for the requirement that allinstances of a letter be substituted for.

Due to the availability of on-line word lists, finding PurpleTurtles turned out to be an easy task. For this project I combined theweb2 and web2a lists that have been around for years with an extensionof the Official Scrabble Words list called enablel.txt (downloaded fromthe National Puzzlers' League site). To this I added a list of USplace names extracted from the GNIS database. In the discussion andlists below, place names will be followed by the abbreviation of thestate or territory in parenthesis.

I then wrote a program that found all sets of Purple Turtles withinthe file. A set is all those that are the same except at thesubstitution points: i.e., BURBLE / GURGLE / PURPLE / TURTLE is a set.My program found more than 5000 sets of Purple Turtles. (If anyonewishes a copy of the file, they can send me email and I'll send itback.)

As you might expect, the bulk of the Purple Turtles found weresubstitutions of doubled letters such as NEEDLING / NOODLING and CANNOT/ CARROT. I felt that these were the least interesting of all the PurpleTurtles. Indeed, there seemed to be a direct relationship between thedistance of the substitution points and how interesting the PurpleTurtle is. The most interesting were those with substitutions at or nearopposite ends of the word, such as POULP / SOULS and CERVICES /NERVINES.

Three-letter substitutions are less common than two-letter ones butare not especially rare. However, all but these eight involved doubledletters: ALALA / ULULU, ARABA / URUBU, ARACA / URUCU, ARACARI / URUCURI,CALCIFIC / SALSIFIS, CARAPA / COROPO, TAMBALA / TOMBOLO, and TARATA /TERETE. For the others, it's rare for there to be more than twoletters intervening between the doubled letter and the third. PENNYSTONE/ PERRY STORE (AL) is the single exception in my file.

There's a handful of four-letter substitutions: BEEBEE /BOOBOO, KAKKAK / TAT-TAT / WAW-WAW, KAVAKAVA / KIVIKIVI, PIRIPIRI /POROPORO / PURUPURU, and PRIBBLE-PRABBLE / PRITTLE-PRATTLE. There are nofive-letter substitutions, but there is a single six-letter set:BIBBLE-BABBLE / DIDDLE-DADDLE / TITTLE-TATTLE.

Among the longest solidly written Purple Turtles are severalword-length records I'd like to note. Longest overallCOLLECTIVENESS / CORRECTIVENESS, MEDDLESOMENESS / METTLESOMENESS, andSLUGGISHNESSES / slu*tTISHNESSES (14 letters); longest with no doubledletters BARBARIZATION / MARMARIZATION (13 letters); longest with threesubstitutions MAMMIFEROUS / PAPPIFEROUS (11 letters); longest in a setof three or more words DINGLEDANGLE / JINGLE JANGLE / TINGLETANGLE (12letters).

Another significant record is the largest set of Purple Turtles (14elements): BABA / CACA / DADA / GAGA / HAHA / KAKA / MAMA / NANA / PAPA/ SASA / TA-TA / WAWA / YAYA / ZAZA (ID). There's also a set thatsubstitutes all the vowels: TA-TA / TETE / TITI / TOTO / TUTU / TY TY(GA).

With such a large number of Purple Turtles, it seemed appropriateto see if all 375 possible substitutions were represented. It turned outthat 277 were.

AB auras / burbs AD Aira / dird AF Aiae (HI) / fife AH taiga /thigh AK sauna / skunk AN aevis / Nevin (CA, KY) AP area / prep AUzamboorak / zumbooruk AY coala / coyly AC aleak / cleck AE anticar /enticer AG aurae/gurge AI quacksalver / quicksilver AM toatoa / tom-tomAO abelian / obelion AR Aotea / roter AW Aoa (AS) / wow

BC borable / coracle BF bulbil / fulfil BH baba / haha BJ bay-bay /Jay Jay (FL) BL backband / lackland BN bobwhite / nonwhite BP barbal /parpal BS blurb / slurs BV barbe / varve BX berobed / Xeroxed BZ bibb /zizz BD babble / daddle BG barbet / garget BI habnab / Hainai BK banaba/ Kanaka BM barb / mann BO bleb / oleo BR beback / rerack BT barbaric /tartaric BW brab / wraw BY baba / yaya

CD cancer / dander CF cicer / filer CH caca / haha CJ coco / Jo Jo(PA) CL cacopathy / lalopathy CN comical / nominal CP crochet / prophetCS calcify / salsify CV calces / valves CE toc-toc / toetoe CG crance /grange CI Concan (TX) / Ionian CK choca / khoka CM codec / modem CO chic/ Ohio CR conduce / rondure CT decence / detente CW caca / wawa CY caca/ yaya CZ coocoo / zoozoo

DF died / fief DH dumdum / humhum DJ dingledangle / jinglejangle DLdowdy / lowly DN dogged / noggen DR dashed / rasher DT dread / treat DWdada / wawa DZ danda / zanza DG danda / ganga DI odd / oii DK deled /kelek DM daytide / Maytime DP daddies / pappies DS coedited / coesitesDV dad / vav DY dawned / yawney

EG tineine / tinging EI dearest / diarist EM toetoe / tom-tom EPtyee / typp ES equate / squats EU enflesh / unflush EH ease / hash EKseine / skink EO mesquite / mosquito ER bee / brr ET suberise / subtristEY monogene / monogyny

FG faffle / gaggle FI boff / Boii FK fife / kike FM furfur / murmurFO pfft / poot FR fief / rier FT fife / tite FW Afifi / awiwi FH foo-foo/ Hoohoo (WV) FJ haft / hajj FL faff / fall FN fifth / ninth FPfurfuraceous / purpuraceous FS faff / sass FV ferfet / vervet FY Mafafa(AS) / Mayaya (GU)

GH geegaw / heehaw GJ gagman / jajman GL gadger / ladler GN agog /anon GP gurgle / purple GS gouge / souse GV Galga / valva GY dogleg /doyley GI wagwag / Waiwai GK gong / konk GM gorgon / Mormon GO gleg /oleo GR gugal / rural GT disgorged / distorted GW Gheg / whew GZ gange /zanze

HI phpht / pipit HL horah / loral HN Hohe / none HP heh / pep HThashed / tasted HV hah / vav HY haha / yaya HK hech / keck HM heathen /meatmen HO sh-sh / soso HS heath / seats HU sh-sh / susu HW haha / wawaHZ Hoohoo (WV) / zoozoo

IK Ioni / konk IO biting / botong IS buriti / bursts IU sibilate /subulate IZ tie-tie / tzetze IL Boii / boll IR heii / Herr (IN) IT Irani/ trant IY timpani / tympany JK jejuna / kekuna JM juju / mumu JR ajaja/ arara JT jinja / tinta JZ juju / Zu-zu JL juju / lulu JN ajaja / ananaJS juju / susu JY Jo Jo (PA) / Yo-yo

KL kavakava / lavalava KN kaik / nain KR kopek / roper KT skylike /stylite KW kaka / wawa KZ bekko / bezzo KM kiaki / Miami KP keeker /peeper KS kalpak / salpas KV kike / vive KY kaka / yaya

LM lanolin / manomin LP lolled / popped LS longfelt / songfest LVsally / savvy LY Lolo / Yo-yo LN foldless / fondness LR colonel /coroner LT libel / Tibet LW palpal / pawpaw LZ Lilith / zizith

MN mummeries / nunneries MR madam / radar MT manism / tanist MWmomser / wowser MY mama / yaya MP mammiferous / pappiferous MS maim /sals MV mimer / viver MX Merom (IN) / Xerox MZ bumming / buzzing

NP unwarn / upwarp NS encrown / escrows NU bonbon / boubou NWnagnag / wagwag NZ innards / izzards NR ovenstone / overstore NT banana/ batata NV nan / vav NY Mandan / mayday

OR maomao / Marmar OU porporate / purpurate OZ toetoe / tzetze OSochavo / schavs OY topo / typy

PR pupal / rural PT porpoise / tortoise PW papa / wawa PZ pipit /zizit PS pinup / sinus PV palpiform / valviform PY papa / yaya

RS rider / sides RU armors / aumous RZ burred / buzzed RT roquer /toquet RY herder / heydey

ST shingles / thinglet SW shes / whew SZ tsetse / tzetze SV salse /valve SY lasers / layery

TV tarted / varved TY patent / payeny TW tillot / willow TZTantalian / Zanzalian UV euouae / evovae UY tutu / Ty Ty (GA)

VW vaivode / waiwode VZ divvy / dizzy VY vav / yay

WY wawa / yaya WZ wigwag / zigzag

A few interesting ones not in the above lists: AGNATE / IGNITE,ASTHMA / ISTHMI, BOOTHBAY (ME) / SOOTHSAY, DOWNSIDE / TOWNSITE, ELOPE /SLOPS, FREIHEIT (TX) / FRESHEST, LEGLESS / REGRESS, LINE COULEE (MT) /PINE COUPEE (LA), PIKE LAKE (WI) / PINE LANE (NJ).

And finally, perhaps the most interesting and certainly myfavorite: BAD DEBT / SADDEST.

How Others See Us

In Volume 31(3) of the Journal of Recreational Mathematics, editorCharles Ashbacker writes about Word Ways:

 Words are too important to be used only as a means of transmitting information; they should also be used to entertain and amuse. That's the philosophy behind the publication of this journal and the contributors are successful in their efforts. Some of the best puns that I have ever read appear in this journal. Other common topics include geometric patterns made with words, patterns of letters in words, and dual meanings of words. It is a tribute to the richness of language that so many patterns arise in the words that we use. The authors also actively examine other languages in their searches for interesting linguistic material. Wordplay also has an advantage over other areas, in that the database is non-static. Words are constantly being added to the language, and with the advantage of the modern archiving of information, words no longer leave our language at the rate that they used to. It is also possible for a practitioner to create a new word to describe a circ*mstance that had not been succinctly been named before. Wordplay is fun, but it also demonstrates many important characteristics of humans. We are imaginative, creative, and can find interesting information everywhere. This journal demonstrates all of these features and I recommend it to everyone.

DAN TILQUE

Beaverton, Oregon

[emailprotected]