[Allen Tice]

A recent post reminded me that 'subcontinental' is the only English language word in relatively common use that I know of which has all the vowels in reverse alphabetic order (except 'sometimes y'). I happened on this fact all by myself when I was playing with things like that, sometime after being challenged to find a word that had the vowels in forward order, which I did before long.

Who knows other words that fit either category, forward or reverse? (Might there be a rival to 'facetious" out there?)

Crypsters?

[Michael Cantor]

Quotiental (Of or relating to quotients)

Accretinous (Disposed to growth)

Acretinous (Lacking in obnoxious behavior, such as inventing words to win a silly contest.)

[John Whitworth]

unoriental and unoccidental - I don't see why these words should not exist. Boringly facetiously and abstemiously contain all the vowels including y, but I like the word tragediously, in the manner of tragedy.

I just now made it up and I claim my prize.

[Allen Tice]

Molto bene, you two. 'Abstemious(ly)' was the lurker I was thinking of.

I like especially 'acretinous' and 'quotiental' and the 'un-oriental/occidental' pair, all in no special order, and won't damn 'accretinous' either. All good 'ly' stems.

Still, I like the 'un' pair because both would be instantly understood by dogs and cats. They seem like two winners so far that incidentally map the subcontinental area most usually thought of.

You have temporarily won the tragedious prize, John, though I cannot grant it yet, since other children might want to play. It is a terrible word and goes tragediously well with a mouth full of hellebore and sauerkraut. Also it nicely combines tedium and tragedy.

I don't even have a prize to cowbingo with yet. Suggestions? Maybe one kudos?

All good efforts so far. The more common sounding the word is, the bester.

People could vote on those words that exceed 'abstemious(ly)', 'facecetious(ly), and 'subcontinental' in their levels of rollometric titrated garbistan. Why should I be the judge? We three could even form a committee.

What would blow the top off is almost any 'reasonable' (hah) word using 'y' as its first vowel and then going up the alphabet in reverse order.

Several decades of desultory diddling have netted me not one good candidate yet. YUGOSLIVEVATS is about as close as I have gotten (these are tubs full of a tragedious drink, whoopsy, on to the Dneipr, Днепр...). But then I hadn't had the E-ball around to turbocharge things.

Y-U-O-I-E-A !!

[Michael Cantor]

YURTOPIETA - An idealized Mongol concept of a home dedicated to religious introspection and sorrow. When John Wayne took on the film role of Ghengis Khan, he was believed to have had a yurtopieta constructed on the set, for purposes of contemplation and use as a dressing room.

[Allen Tice]

Lah-di-dah, you're a funny man. The yurt is obviously a sheltering tent over the shrine that holds Mongolangelo's figure of the expired Khan, G.?

Or is the yurt a screen for a jade example of Piet Hein's "Superegg"?

As prods to get people thinking I offer : "zym-" as in yeastliness (ex. zymurgy),

and "Cym-" as in Welshness.

[FOsen]

I find Michael's suggestions unforgiveably uncomplimentary, while Alan's response was unpolicemanly uncontinental; John's are merely unnoticeably unproprietary.

Frank

[Allen Tice]

A.L.L.E.N. says, Oh crap! You probably win. Oh crap, how could I have missed those? Duh.

You are part of the Committee, by co-optation.

Thanks for saying Hello at W.C.U.

BUT, the Y conjecture remains !!

PS Wait just one minute! Immediately after I looked at the post by Frank, my wife called me to the dinner table with the tone of a master cook who has just prepared a balluvious meal (it was!) and who won't brook my ignoring it even one moment. (You can congratulate me on my wife's justified pride in her meal preparation.)

So I didn't read Frank's words as closely as I should have. I made abashed remarks and went to eat. DUH.

Actually, Frank, I see now that I hadn't missed those words, because I now have returned from yesteryear and note that, alack indeed, they don't qualify except insofar as "sometimes y" could be deconstructed to mean "put 'er at the end the word so it flaps in the tailwind". Won't do. The only one of your words that can function without the final "y" is "uncontinental" --- and we will sort of accept that, maybe. "Unpoliceman" might be brought around as UN-Policeman, a cop for the General Assembly, or it might not : you and the rest of the Committee must decide. Otherwise one must append an "e", as in "unforgiveable" & "unnoticeable".

SO, the game is afoot again, and the Y is loose !

[Terese Coe]

Tragediously. Sigh. A sublime word. We needed that, John.

tra JEED ee us LEE

I hope that's the way you pronounce it, otherwise it's no longer sublime, you know.

As in "You trageedied us, Lee Harvey Oswald."

It even rhymes with grievously, as it should. Yes, a significant addition to the OED. Let's write them and insist they include it next round!

[FOsen]

Well, actually, this sounds like a job for . . . the NUN-POLICEMAN.

And I also offer "unproprietal," meaning any wine that doesn't belong to a group of patented, proprietary varietals. As in:

this is Monsanto's synthetic zinfandel, but I think you'll find it tastes remarkably unproprietal.