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What peculiar property do all these words have in common?

AMP

APP

BARF

COME

CUR

EAR

GANG

GROW

IMP

ON

PEAR

PIMP

SING

STAB

TRIP



Afterword:

As @TwoBitOperation astutely observed, it's not just that you can add –LY to each of these words to get a new word. It's that the new word is etymologically distinct from the original word. The original word is not the stem/base of the new word, and sometimes it even changes pronunciation upon adding –LY.

It actually took a fair amount of deep dictionary research to be sure. For example, I didn't realize that HARDLY really does come from HARD, and HOMELY really does come from HOME. I'm still not sure about PORT/PORTLY, as I found the etymologies confusing.

A few others that didn't make the shortlist:

COMP

CRAW

DANG

FEE

REP

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    $\begingroup$ Inspired by a puzzle posted by @HughMeyers $\endgroup$
    – SlowMagic
    Aug 12, 2019 at 14:52
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    $\begingroup$ Woo! I'd present, like, hard rep! (as a reward for creating this clever puzzle, were it not for the time limit on bounties.) $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Aug 12, 2019 at 19:48

1 Answer 1

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For each given word you can:

Add LY to get a new word.

This is hinted at by:

The title suggesting 'LY-ing'

Edit:

I was reading 'BARFLY' wrong which lead to some doubt. Clever!

Double edit :

And it's worth noting that none of the new words are just adverb forms of the original. Double clever!

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    $\begingroup$ Nice! The title fits as well :) $\endgroup$
    – Jafe
    Aug 12, 2019 at 14:50
  • $\begingroup$ @jafe: Indeed, it's only LY-ing, it's also plain lying about their origins. $\endgroup$
    – Matthieu M.
    Aug 13, 2019 at 15:04

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