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Grandpa likes a Whale but not a Hippo

Grandpa likes Hulk but not Frankenstein

Grandpa likes a Foot but not Eighteen inches

Why?

Hint

Things he dislikes are linked together by an incredible single long word

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3 Answers 3

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Grandpa has

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

His three dislikes

compose the three parts of the phobia.

Hippo

Hippopoto --> Hippo

Frankenstein

monstro --> Monster (Frankenstein)

Eighteen Inches

sesquipedalio --> Latin literally meaning one and a half feet long

As for his likes:

They are all short words

And as for the hint:

hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is an incredibly long word.

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  • $\begingroup$ If this is the answer, seems more appropriate for the description to use "hippopotamus" as opposed to the shortened "hippo". $\endgroup$
    – Colton
    Jul 25, 2018 at 19:38
  • $\begingroup$ Your answer is in my bio! :) $\endgroup$
    – Mr Pie
    Jul 26, 2018 at 2:53
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    $\begingroup$ If this is correct it also would be more appropriate to use pick any other famous monster reference that refers to the monster rather than the scientist. $\endgroup$
    – Jesse
    Jul 26, 2018 at 4:30
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One rule that fits all the information we have so far is that

Grandpa likes a thing if, and only if, its name doesn't contain the letter I.

In this case

the things he dislikes are linked together by the word "I". Is that word "incredible" and "inconceivable"? Well, for a slightly far-fetched affirmative answer, consider the phrase "I couldn't believe my 'I's" ... :-).

For what it's worth, my guess is that this is not the intended answer. But I think we need rather more information in order to nail down a single right answer. I don't think anything's wrong with the one above, and I bet there are several other answers of approximately equal plausibility.

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  • $\begingroup$ Right @Gareth McCaughan. I modified the hint. $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Jul 25, 2018 at 18:54
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Grandpa dislikes words with multiple syllables

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  • $\begingroup$ Good observation. Did not realize this when I designed it. $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Jul 26, 2018 at 11:41

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