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If a word has a certain property, I call it an Odd Word™.

In each of the short, unrelated sentences below, only one of the choices is an Odd Word™.

The sentences are for context only, and do not affect whether a word is an Odd Word™. Since a change in case or font might change the property, I have used all upper case, and made sure that the property holds true in the display font.

  1. SHE'S LEARNING TO MAKE (FEATHERSTITCHES / WHIPSTITCHES) TODAY.
  2. HE LOVES TO RIDE HIS NEW (BICYCLE / MOTORCYCLE).
  3. NOBODY WANTS TO BE KNOWN AS (AVERAGE / ORDINARY).
  4. JESSICA RAN THE RACE (QUICKLY / RAPIDLY).
  5. HE WANTED HER TO (ANSWER / RESPOND) BY NOON.
  6. GIVE (HER / HIM) ALL YOUR REP POINTS.
  7. THE CHILD HID (BESIDE / UNDER) THE TABLE.
  8. THEY ATE (BECAUSE / WHILE) THEY HAD THE TIME.
  9. (GOODNESS / YIKES), LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE!
  10. THE DOG (CHEWED / GNAWED) ON A BONE.

What makes a word an Odd Word™?

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  • $\begingroup$ I was going to say that something was an odd word iff it had an odd number of letters, but then QUICKLY/RAPIDLY and CHEWED/GNAWED put that down. $\endgroup$
    – user88
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 2:30
  • $\begingroup$ @JoeZ. Come on, Joe! I'm rooting for you on this one. I'm kinda surprised you haven't gotten one of these Phrase™ or Word™ puzzles already, being the lightning fast solver that you are. Of course, I remember you were crazy close on the Scalable Phrase™ puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 2:39
  • $\begingroup$ It's more a function of I haven't really been on the website much lately. Working on too much stuff and it's distracting. $\endgroup$
    – user88
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 2:40
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @JoeZ. Well, I'm sure others are glad to have that extra time to think! $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 2:41
  • $\begingroup$ Remember how I complained I never get these? I might've got this one if I hadn't been so late getting here $\endgroup$
    – warspyking
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 4:00

2 Answers 2

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An Odd Word™ is one that...

has an odd number of "ends". An 'end' is a place where a letter in the word meets blank space in all but one direction; that is, if you were walking on the letter there would be only one way to go. For instance, RESPOND has 10 ends: two on the bottom of the R, three on the right of the E, two on the S, one on the P, and two on the N.
FEATHERSTITCHES: 41 (WHIPSTITCHES: 30)
MOTORCYCLE: 19 (BICYCLE: 14)
ORDINARY: 13 (AVERAGE: 16)
QUICKLY: 17 (RAPIDLY: 12)
ANSWER: 13 (RESPOND: 10)
HER: 9 (HIM: 8)
UNDER: 9 (BESIDE: 10)
WHILE: 13 (BECAUSE: 14)
GOODNESS: 11 (YIKES: 14)
GNAWED: 11 (CHEWED: 14)

I'll take my 100 rep now. ;)

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  • $\begingroup$ Deusovi, that was quick! Nice answer, and congratulations on being the first to get more than one of these types of my puzzles. Your 100 bonus rep will be awarded in a week or less! $\endgroup$
    – JLee
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 3:27
  • $\begingroup$ @JLee: Thanks! :D Great puzzle as usual. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 3:30
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    $\begingroup$ Doesn't RESPOND have 10 ends (rather than 8)? 2+3+2+1+2=10 $\endgroup$
    – psmears
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 13:54
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    $\begingroup$ @psmears Welp, I can't count. Fixed. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Aug 11, 2015 at 16:39
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    $\begingroup$ How do people think of these things? $\endgroup$
    – Going hamateur
    Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 14:00
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An odd word is a word that

has the odd number of 'endpoints'. For example, the letter A has 2 endpoints at the bottom; B has 0 because it is closed. C has 2; D has 0, E has 3, etc.
This will only works for the displayed font and case.
1.FEATHERSTITCHES = 41 total endpoints
2.MOTORCYCLE = 19
3.ORDINARY = 13
4.QUICKLY = 15
5.ANSWER = 13
6.HER = 9
7.UNDER = 9
8.WHILE = 13
9.GOODNESS = 11
10.GNAWED = 11

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