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In the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee, a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Global Word™.
Use the examples below to find the rule.

Global Words™ Not Global Words™
NET NUT
CASH COIN
HUGE TINY
SOME NONE
CZAR TSAR
SITH JEDI
PASS PORT
PAWS FLAWS
VISIT SIGHT
MAGI MAGIC
TRUST TRUTH
GLIDES HIDES
ECLAIR PASTRY
STREET ROAD
BAGGAGE BAGGINS

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

Global Words™,Not Global Words™
NET,NUT
CASH,COIN
HUGE,TINY
SOME,NONE
CZAR,TSAR
SITH,JEDI
PASS,PORT
PAWS,FLAWS
VISIT,SIGHT
MAGI,MAGIC
TRUST,TRUTH
GLIDES,HIDES
ECLAIR,PASTRY
STREET,ROAD
BAGGAGE,BAGGINS

The puzzle satisfies the series' inbuilt assumption, that each word can be tested for whether it is a Global Word™ without relying on the other words.
These are not the only examples of Global Words™.

What is the special rule these words conform to?

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1 Answer 1

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I think that a Global Word has the property that

Each pair of consecutive letters in the word is an officially assigned ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for a country or territory

Examples

NET has NE (Niger) and ET (Ethiopia)
CASH has CA (Canada), AS (American Samoa) and SH (Saint Helena)
HUGE has HU (Hungary), UG (Uganda) and GE (Georgia)
SOME has SO (Somalia), OM (Oman) and ME (Montenegro)
CZAR has CZ (Czechia), ZA (South Africa) and AR (Argentina)
SITH has SI (Slovenia), IT (Italy) and TH (Thailand)
PASS has PA (Panama), AS (American Samoa) and SS (South Sudan)
PAWS has PA (Panama), AW (Aruba) and WS (Samoa)
VISIT has VI (US Virgin Islands), IS (Iceland), SI (Slovenia) and IT (Italy)
MAGI has MA (Morocco), AG (Antigua and Barbuda) and GI (Gibraltar)
BAGGAGE has BA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), AG twice (Antigua and Barbuda), GG (Guernsey), GA (Gabon) and GE (Georgia)

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  • $\begingroup$ Well that was fast. It was tough to come up with a name that wasn't a dead giveaway. 4 hours of work for a 10 minute puzzle :( $\endgroup$
    – ferret
    Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 22:54
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    $\begingroup$ You beat it to me. I was just bolding out all the answers. $\endgroup$
    – padawan
    Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 22:54
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    $\begingroup$ @frabjew Don't be too disheartened. I find it incredibly hard to tell how long it will take for a puzzle to be solved. Often it is being looked at by so many people that the chances are somebody will hit upon something very quickly. For me, the CZAR example stood out immediately and put me on the right track. +1 for ingenuity though, I am always impressed by how people keep inventing new variations on this type of puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 23:09
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    $\begingroup$ The funny thing is I thought the lack of uncommon letters (KQXZ) would be too noticeable so I added CZAR as the last one :) Curses! $\endgroup$
    – ferret
    Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 23:13
  • $\begingroup$ Nice job, @frabjrew. That was very creative. :) $\endgroup$
    – Prince North Læraðr
    Commented Feb 13, 2018 at 23:53

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