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What kind of people can answer the following riddle?

Call a=1, b=2, and so on. What is the longest common English word that can be made from only prime letters?

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    $\begingroup$ is 'a' a prime number? $\endgroup$
    – JMP
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 17:49
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    $\begingroup$ No, 1 is not a prime 'round these parts. $\endgroup$
    – histocrat
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 18:00
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    $\begingroup$ Nobody, because it is not possible for one person to know the entirety of common English vernacular. Or, alternatively, Queen Elizabeth II and nobody else. $\endgroup$
    – Darren Ringer
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 20:26
  • $\begingroup$ I don't think this is a riddle - should the title be changed? $\endgroup$
    – boboquack
    Commented Feb 8, 2017 at 6:38

7 Answers 7

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Heh, yeah.. my next guess:

SE Geeks

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    $\begingroup$ Could "S.E." be (tongue in cheek) added to the front of that to refer to the Stack Exchange version? $\endgroup$
    – Keeta - reinstate Monica
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 19:16
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    $\begingroup$ (To borrow from some other answers) Beseems we seek SE web geek. $\endgroup$
    – user3559247
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 23:14
  • $\begingroup$ Changed per request $\endgroup$
    – mkinson
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 23:35
  • $\begingroup$ webgeeks seems like a good fit too. $\endgroup$
    – Strawberry
    Commented Feb 8, 2017 at 11:46
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The question was "What kind of people can answer this riddle?" So, although @rand al'thor has responded to the longest word, the answer is Stack Exchange Puzzling users.

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  • $\begingroup$ Upvoting this answer because it's getting closer to what I had in mind... $\endgroup$
    – histocrat
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 18:10
  • $\begingroup$ @hist How many were going to St. Ives... $\endgroup$
    – Bohemian
    Commented Feb 8, 2017 at 0:20
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Prime letters:

BCEGKMQSW

Since repetition is not specifically disallowed:

BESEEMS (7)

If that's not "common" enough:

MESSES and EMCEES (6)

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  • $\begingroup$ "Emcees" is just "MC" or Master of Ceremonies, so I'm not sure that really counts. $\endgroup$
    – dcfyj
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 18:18
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    $\begingroup$ As much as I agree, it's listed in the dictionary as both noun and verb. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emcee $\endgroup$
    – Matt
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 18:21
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Here's a longer word considered valid by Hasbro's Scrabble dictionary:

WEEWEES (7): TO URINATE. RELATED WORDS: WEEWEE/WEEWEED/WEEWEEING

I used Litscape which also suggested beseekes (8) but I couldn't find any other source to validate it as a word.

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  • $\begingroup$ It's an alternate spelling of beseeches. It appears from the etymology the ch once had the sound of k so the alternate spelling makes sense. $\endgroup$
    – Joshua
    Commented Feb 7, 2017 at 23:12
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The prime-numbered letters are:

BCEGKMQSW

The longest words that can be made with these letters appears to be

BECKS.

If you allow the letter A (even though 1 is usually taken to be neither prime nor composite), then the longest word made of only those letters would be

WEBCAMS.

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wee, week, meek, web geeks

Though that's more then one word, but a good string of bad adjectives may help.

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How about:

meseems

Body must be at least 30 characters; you entered 18.

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