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This puzzle is based off and inspired by the What is a Word™ series started by JLee.

The puzzle:

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Very Frighteningly Dangerous Word. Here is a list of examples:

Very Frighteningly Dangerous Words™ Non-Very-Frighteningly-Dangerous Words™
Bad Awful
Reptile Lizard
Wide Large
Miserable Dreary
Austere Strict
Ersatz Substitute
Vile Foul
Hostile Unfriendly
Carnivorous Meat-Eating
Slippery Slick
Grim Uninviting
Penultimate Second-to-Last
Blank

In CSV format:

Very Frighteningly Dangerous Words™,Non-Very-Frighteningly-Dangerous Words™
Bad,Awful
Reptile,Lizard
Wide,Large
Miserable,Dreary
Austere,Strict
Ersatz,Substitute
Vile,Foul
Hostile,Unfriendly
Carnivorous,Meat-Eating
Slippery,Slick
Grim,Uninviting
Penultimate,Second-to-Last
,Blank

What is the rule to tell whether a word is a Very Frighteningly Dangerous Word™ or not? Why is it called a Very Frighteningly Dangerous Word™?

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1 Answer 1

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Very Frighteningly Dangerous words are those that

are in the title of a novel in the A Series of Unfortunate Events series.

"Very Frighteningly Dangerous" may be a reference to

the acronym V.F.D., an organization in the series.

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    $\begingroup$ Specifically, rot13(gur gvgyrf nyy unir gur sbez "Gur <nqwrpgvir> <abha>" naq gur ISQ jbeqf ner nyy gur nqwrpgvirf. Gur guvegrragu obbx oernxf gur cnggrea naq vf whfg pnyyrq "Gur Raq", urapr gur zvffvat ragel va gur gnoyr.) $\endgroup$
    – Carmeister
    Commented Jun 24 at 7:14

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