3 words ending with 'GRY'

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There are three words ending with 'gry'.
1. hungry
2. angry

What is the third one? Is it there? And if yes, what is it?
 

Red5

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Those Dreaded "-gry" Words

For years and years and years, librarians have been fielding questions such as, "I heard there are three commonly used English words ending in '-gry'. I know about 'hungry' and 'angry', but what is the other word?"

This question is asked many, many times, every month, every year, and has been asked for as many years as anyone who works at this particular library can remember. If we seem to you be somewhat less than thrilled to hear the "-gry" riddle, it is because, to use a massive understatement, the novelty has worn off. So far, we have found many answers, the two most common of which we've posted below.

That being said, please understand that "words ending in gry" is the one topic on which Tempe Public Library does not respond to email. Here is one reason, quoted from the Frequently Asked Questions file of the rec.puzzles newsgroup: "There are many generally unsatisfying "trick" answers to the problem, which depend on a specific wording of the question or that the question be spoken instead of written. There seems to be no agreement among puzzle historians about which form is the original, or even the age of the problem. In any event, it is apparent that the frequent mutations of the puzzle statement over the years have erased whatever answer was intended by the original author." The other reason we don't answer email about -gry words is that we are already busy providing library service for the people who live in Tempe, Arizona. For two answers to the riddle, just read on:

Full Article: http://www.tempe.gov/library/netsites/gry.htm
 
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Will

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Ok, so let me get this straight. There really isn't any third word that ends with "-gry"; it's just some stupid elementary riddle that's made to drive people to the looney bin?
 

RonBee

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Will said:
Ok, so let me get this straight. There really isn't any third word that ends with "-gry"; it's just some stupid elementary riddle that's made to drive people to the looney bin?

That's about right.

:wink:
 

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Will said:
Ok, so let me get this straight. There really isn't any third word that ends with "-gry"; it's just some stupid elementary riddle that's made to drive people to the looney bin?

Actually, there are many words ending in "gry", including "gry" itself. The original riddle was a trick, but it was about the form of the riddle. Newer and repeated versions are paraphrased, so they don't work the way the original riddle worked.
 

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MikeNewYork said:
Will said:
Ok, so let me get this straight. There really isn't any third word that ends with "-gry"; it's just some stupid elementary riddle that's made to drive people to the looney bin?

Actually, there are many words ending in "gry", including "gry" itself. The original riddle was a trick, but it was about the form of the riddle. Newer and repeated versions are paraphrased, so they don't work the way the original riddle worked.

In the original riddle and also in the variations I have seen, it says the words are "commonly-used" English words. None of the alternatives to "hungry" and "angry" that I have seen are commonly used words.
 
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Shamlee Vinay Ratnaparkey said:
[ Edited by Red5 - I've made this post sticky so that learners have instant access to it, as I believe it's a very common question. ]

There are three words ending with 'gry'.
1. hungry
2. angry

What is the third one? Is it there? And if yes, what is it?
puggry alight scarf wound around a hat or helmet to protect the had from sun
 

Casiopea

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Q. Besides angry and hungry, is there another common English word that ends in -gry?

A. No.

There are a few English words that end in -gry, including but not limited to the following words in our dictionary:

angry

hungry

aggry

puggry

There are at least a hundred more you can find in the Oxford English Dictionary, dialect dictionaries, gazetteers and onomasticons, but none of them are common. Some are simply hyphenated items like "dog-hungry" and "ever-angry," while others are variants like "begry" (for "beggary") and "higry pigry" (a variation of "hierapicra"). There is even a word "gry" which is an obsolete unit of measure equaling 0.008 inches.

But the reason the question comes up so frequently is because of a riddle. One version of the riddle goes,

The Riddle:

"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."

The answer is "language," because "language" is the third word in the phrase "the English language." Two of the sentences thus have absolutely nothing to do with the question: "Think of words ending in -GRY. Angry and hungry are two of them."

They are there only to throw you off course. 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 first two sentences are just a red herring. But many people hear or read the question and assume it is referring to the first sentence.

But that might not be the answer; that might not even be the question. In his remarkable book Wordplay, Chris Cole gives a historical account of the riddle and seven different versions of it with seven different answers.

Here is one:

There are three words in the English language that end in "-gry." ONE is angry and the other is hungry. Every ONE knows what the third ONE means and what it stands for. Every ONE uses them every day. And if you listened carefully I've given you the third word. What is it?

The answer here is "three," which is the third word in the paragraph. The rest is just a red herring. The word one is capitalized, according to Mr. Cole, "for no apparent reason but historical accident."

The final word goes to author and linguist Richard Lederer (who, in his book Word Circus, likens the riddle to "an angry, hungry monster"): "The answer to the infernal question is that there is no answer, at least no satisfactory answer."

Source http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/g/gry.html
 
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Anonymous

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:p whahaha

It's just language


There are three words in "the englisch language"

So the third word is Language!
 
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Shamlee Vinay Ratnaparkey said:
There are three words ending with 'gry'.
1. hungry
2. angry

What is the third one? Is it there? And if yes, what is it?
LANGUAGE!!!![/b]
 

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ANGEL said:
Shamlee Vinay Ratnaparkey said:
There are three words ending with 'gry'.
1. hungry
2. angry

What is the third one? Is it there? And if yes, what is it?
LANGUAGE!!!![/b]

"Language" would not answer that form of the question. :wink:
 
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xoalexxox

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third "GRY" word

the answer is "language".... it says there are three words in "the english language" what is the third word?... so it would be "language"
 

MikeNewYork

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Re: third "GRY" word

xoalexxox said:
the answer is "language".... it says there are three words in "the english language" what is the third word?... so it would be "language"

The answer is "language" if the riddle is phrased properly.

Angry and hungry are two common words that end in -gry. What is the third word in the English language?
 

citric_acid

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Casiopea said:
The answer here is "three," which is the third word in the paragraph. The rest is just a red herring. The word one is capitalized, according to Mr. Cole, "for no apparent reason but historical accident."

But... wouldnt the answer be "Language" ?

See, if you read the riddle (as I've read it -many- times trying to figure it out), it states:

"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."

It clearly states "There are only three words in the English language."

Broken down, you can look at it like this:

"There are only three words in the english language."

The third word would be "language".

-Miss Citric Acid
 
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