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This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Damn Dorothy Word™.

Use the following examples below to find the rule:

enter image description here

And, if you want to analyze, here is a CSV version:

Damn Dorothy Words™,Not Damn Dorothy Words™
AIM,PUN
FLYBY,FLAG
GOURD,JOINT
MAN,BAD
PYX,SIX
RUSK,FUME
TEE,TOY
WORK,QUIT

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    $\begingroup$ three in a row? :/ $\endgroup$
    – lois6b
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 6:07
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I thought there is a 20 minute cooldown period network-wide for asking questions. Obviously I was wrong. $\endgroup$
    – Matsmath
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 6:13
  • $\begingroup$ Solving the title will give you a hint: (4, 3) $\endgroup$
    – paolo
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 8:51
  • $\begingroup$ Something related to Dorothy Adams? :-/ $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 9:21

1 Answer 1

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A Damn Dorothy Word™ is a word ...

... whose representation in Morse code uses only letters with the same number of signals. For example, AIM is .- .. -- and the Morse codes for the letters A, I and M all have two signals. (Here, a signal is either a dot or a dash.) Conversely, the letters of Not Damn Dorothy Words™ have varying signal lengths in Morse code.

They are called Damn Dorothy Words™, because ...

... "Damn Dorothy!" could be rephrased to "Dash Dot!". (The OP hints at this in a comment and helpfully provides the letter emuneration.) This does not define the characteristics, but hints at Morse code.

Evidence section:

AIM     ·- ·· --
FLYBY   ··-· ·-·· -·-- -··· -·--
GOURD   --· --- ··- ·-· -··
MAN     -- ·- -·
PYX     ·--· -·-- -··-
RUSK    ·-· ··- ··· -·-
TEE     - · ·
WORK    ·-- --- ·-· -·-

PUN     ·--· ··- -·
FLAG    ··-· ·-·· ·- --·
JOINT   ·--- --- ·· -· -
BAD     -··· ·- -··
SIX     ··· ·· -··-
FUME    ··-· ··- -- ·
TOY     - --- -·--
QUIT    --·- ··- ·· -

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    $\begingroup$ Can you explain how (4,3) gives Dash Dot? :-/ $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 11:05
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    $\begingroup$ @Techidiot: (4, 3) is only the enumeration of letters in the answer, as is seen in crossword puzzles. Dash! and Damn! are expletives and Dot is a name given to women called Dorothy, so "Damn Dorothy" becomes "Dash Dot". The OP says that there is a hint in the title and then provides the enumeration. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Commented Oct 25, 2016 at 11:11

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