17
$\begingroup$

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 an Infatuated Word™.

Use the following examples below to find the rule:

$$\begin{array}{|c|c|}\hline \bbox[yellow]{\textbf{Infatuated Words }^™}& \bbox[yellow]{\textbf{Not Infatuated Words }^™}\\ \hline \text{ RANDOM }&\text{ ARBITRARY }\\ \hline \text{ SQUEAK }&\text{ SCREECH }\\ \hline \text{ VOLUME }&\text{ QUANTITY }\\ \hline \text{ DECIBEL }&\text{ KILOGRAM }\\ \hline \text{ FORMULA }&\text{ METHOD }\\ \hline \text{ LUNATIC }&\text{ PSYCHOPATH }\\ \hline \text{ VESTIGE }&\text{ REMNANT }\\ \hline \text{ ICEFIELD }&\text{ GLACIER }\\ \hline \text{ RECKLESS }&\text{ AUDACIOUS }\\ \hline \text{ UNOPENED }&\text{ CLOSED }\\ \hline \text{ EMBEZZLERS }&\text{ PICKPOCKETS }\\ \hline \text{ GODFATHERS }&\text{ PATRONS }\\ \hline \end{array}$$

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

Infatuated Words™,Not Infatuated Words™
RANDOM,ARBITRARY
SQUEAK,SCREECH
VOLUME,QUANTITY
DECIBEL,KILOGRAM
FORMULA,METHOD
LUNATIC,PSYCHOPATH
VESTIGE,REMNANT
ICEFIELD,GLACIER
RECKLESS,AUDACIOUS
UNOPENED,CLOSED
EMBEZZLERS,PICKPOCKETS
GODFATHERS,PATRONS
| improve this question | | | | |
$\endgroup$
  • $\begingroup$ RANDOM -> FANDOM, SQUEAK -> SQUEAL... Maybe this pattern continues by converting words into things related to infatuation? $\endgroup$ – Ian MacDonald Nov 16 '16 at 18:17
  • $\begingroup$ @Wu33o I am still one of those unable to have solved such puzzles and to my curiosity why are the puzzles provided in cvs format? Does is help solving it? $\endgroup$ – me_digvijay Nov 17 '16 at 9:58
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @me_digvijay Sometimes people want to write a program to check the words for certain properties. For example, if you want to take the ASCII value of each letter and add those up you can do it all by hand, but it's faster to write a very simple program to do it. When the words are in csv format it's way easier to use them as input, so you don't have to copy every word. $\endgroup$ – Wu33o Nov 17 '16 at 10:16
23
$\begingroup$

An Infatuated Word™ is:

an anagram formed after adding exactly 2 letters to a word meaning "love" (in different languages)

Examples that I spotted directly:

- RANDOM - AMOR (Spanish)
- VOLUME - LOVE (English)
- FORMULA - AMOUR (French)

The others, after consulting this link:

- DECIBEL - LIEBE (German)
- LUNATIC - CINTA (Indonesian)
- SQUEAK - SUKA (Malay) ASK (Turkish)
- VESTIGE - SEVGI (Azerbaijani / Uzbek)
- ICEFIELD - LIEFDE (Dutch)
- RECKLESS - ELSKER (Danish)
- UNOPENED - UPENDO (Swahili)
- EMBEZZLERS - SZERELEM (Hungarian)
- GODFATHERS - DRAGOSTE (Romanian)

I initially thought that REMNANT was NOT a Not Infatuated Word™ because:

- REMNANT - AME (Portuguese)
... but this seems to be a verb form rather than a noun form
... and more than 2 letters are added. (Thanks to OP for the hint.)

| improve this answer | | | | |
$\endgroup$
  • $\begingroup$ I am a native Portuguese speaker and I confirm that "AME" is a verbal form, not a noun form. The noun form is "AMOR". The form "AME" is used in imperative and subjunctive verbal forms like "Ame a si mesmo." (Love thyself.) or "Espero que Pedro ame Maria." (I hope that Peter loves Mary.) $\endgroup$ – Victor Stafusa Nov 16 '16 at 18:52
  • $\begingroup$ Please please please let there be Czech... $\endgroup$ – RudolfJelin Nov 16 '16 at 19:09
  • $\begingroup$ I knew it! I just couldn't match squeak with anything. -.- $\endgroup$ – Alenanno Nov 16 '16 at 19:19
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ There's one incorrect explanation. If you look at the word length you'll know which one. That also rules out Remnant as an Infatuated Word™, in addition to the explanation you've already given. Nevertheless, I'll accept your answer, good job :) $\endgroup$ – Wu33o Nov 17 '16 at 8:37
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @RudolfL.Jelínek: It's jackals you need! $\endgroup$ – KeyboardWielder Nov 17 '16 at 19:16

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.