Wednesday, October 18, 2006

What are 15 verbs to be found in the word "congratulations"?

Who's asking: An anonymous Googler from Burnaby, British Columbia

Look at that, I just turned the verb "to Google" into a noun. English is a fantastically resilient language. The strangest things bring people to my blog; two people in the last week have landed here by searching for "Kilmarnock stripper named Paris." I'll never do the research on that one, so those folks will need to get used to disappointment.

I strongly suspect that today's question was a homework assignment, but since it caught my imagination, I'll lift my usual rule about not doing people's schoolwork. (More than one person has tried to hire me to write their master's thesis. In case you're wondering, no, I won't take those jobs, not even to get my poor dog the hip surgery he needs.)

Without spending much time on this, I found 21 verbs in the word "congratulations," and you guys can probably find a few more. Leave them in the comments section. Mine are: cart, clout, coast, count, cut, grant, grout, grunt, last, long, lust, nag, scan, scar, scout, scorn, star, stun, tail, tour, and turn.

First five songs off the iPod Shuffle this morning:

"Oh Happy Day," Edwin Hawkins. When I lived in Alexandria, Blessed Sacrament's choir used to do a great version of this song. On the grayest day, it lifts me up.

"Rikki Don't Lose that Number," Steely Dan. Steely Dan is one of those bands that people should be able to agree on, no matter what their musical taste. They just sound great.

"I Got You," Split Enz. Another automatic mood enhancer, the perfect description for that first nervous, slightly nauseated in-love feeling. (If memory serves.)

"Grady's Song," Francine Reed. Straight-ahead, old school R&B. I love the horns on this song. Horns in popular music are always good (see: Steely Dan).

"Dry River," The Knitters. The Knitters are John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Dave Alvin and bassist Johnny Ray Bartel, and they play rockabilly versions of country music standards. It's nothing but a good time.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a little program that gives me a lot of help somtimes and it says that there are 2299 words in congratulations. I think there are more than 15 when you count the "ing's" and "ings'."
Sally

Anonymous said...

You missed scour! - Claire

Tom Ehrenfeld said...

For starters:

scat
stain
grunt
tag
rat (as in rat out)
nut (British)
con
trail

The boggle timer just clicked off, I'll try for more later.

Tom Ehrenfeld said...

And yeah Claire--now that you found the cour, we can add:

court

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

Well, it did say only "verbs." And didn't I get "grunt"? Good call on "scour," though.

Tom Ehrenfeld said...

tilt
sing
ring
train
rain
rail
grin