Revisiting Mackerel in St Johns Wood,
There was a query asked a while back - Whilst I was still in the UK listening to Radio 1 in the morning that "St Johns Wood" was the only London Underground station not to have any letter of the word "mackerel" in it. This is remarkable as it is a oft quoted fact.
It occurred to me that this was exactly the sort of question that might tempt Language Teachers into programming. Having a reason to do something is the first part of using ICT in lessons, and it is exactly this sort of task that appeals to teenagers, and bored adults like myself before my mind harked back to this previous problem.
Solving this ten years ago involved getting a hold of the map of stations, and going through the station list in order. Nowadays my planned route through the problem is much the same, but using tools to make it quicker.
A better question might be - Which are the longest words for which only one station on the underground has no letters in common?
My code for answering this question can be found on github. I obtained the station list from Wikipedia - feel free to update it and send a pull request if your local station is missing.
However some other more recognisable words did appear in the list:
Clapham common is the only station to have no letters in Common with "redistributive"
Simmilarly Dollis hill has nothing in common with "temperance", or "argument" - Might be a great place for a wine bar!
Loughton - is the only station with no letters in common with "americawise", "ceramics", "bridesmaid" or "daydreamy".
Oval with "freethinking" "nightdress", "murkiness" or "demystified". which is a "humdinger" of a combination, and maybe "uncircumcised" should be left unmentioned, but this fits the pattern also.
Richmond - is the only station which shares no letter in common with "wasteful", or "tastefully"
Ruislip - woodenheaded, nonattendance, bogeyman
Seven sisters - blowlamp
Sheperds bush - 'Civilisation', or 'titillation' - might avoid that one again!
In total I found over 37000 words which have only one station which has no letters in common with it. Which is possibly more than the average persons lexicon, according to the Johnson blog in the Economist.
It occurred to me that this was exactly the sort of question that might tempt Language Teachers into programming. Having a reason to do something is the first part of using ICT in lessons, and it is exactly this sort of task that appeals to teenagers, and bored adults like myself before my mind harked back to this previous problem.
Solving this ten years ago involved getting a hold of the map of stations, and going through the station list in order. Nowadays my planned route through the problem is much the same, but using tools to make it quicker.
A better question might be - Which are the longest words for which only one station on the underground has no letters in common?
My code for answering this question can be found on github. I obtained the station list from Wikipedia - feel free to update it and send a pull request if your local station is missing.
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| Image courtesy of Wikimedia commons |
Conclusion
My conclusion is that Debden is the only station with no letters from the word "pathologicopsychological" This was the longest word that fitted the criteria.However some other more recognisable words did appear in the list:
Clapham common is the only station to have no letters in Common with "redistributive"
Simmilarly Dollis hill has nothing in common with "temperance", or "argument" - Might be a great place for a wine bar!
Loughton - is the only station with no letters in common with "americawise", "ceramics", "bridesmaid" or "daydreamy".
Oval with "freethinking" "nightdress", "murkiness" or "demystified". which is a "humdinger" of a combination, and maybe "uncircumcised" should be left unmentioned, but this fits the pattern also.
Richmond - is the only station which shares no letter in common with "wasteful", or "tastefully"
Ruislip - woodenheaded, nonattendance, bogeyman
Seven sisters - blowlamp
Sheperds bush - 'Civilisation', or 'titillation' - might avoid that one again!
In total I found over 37000 words which have only one station which has no letters in common with it. Which is possibly more than the average persons lexicon, according to the Johnson blog in the Economist.
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