h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

1. Three words in the English language end with the letter combination "GRY". What are they?

2. What drives the logic behind a large portion of manholes and their covers being round?

1) Angry
2) erm.....
3) hmmm.

angry hungry
Manhole covers are round so they can be rolled and they wont fall in the hole

Power-Hungry shows up in my dictionary.

Chris

The answer to your first question is that there is no answer. There are only two words that end with gry and that is angry and hungry. It was not very fair of you to ask such a question so I applaud you! As for the second question I beleive that it shaped that way because holes, logically, are rounded. You never see diamond shaped holes. Aesthetically it is pleasing as well. If manhole covers were square, we'd be asking why are they not round because logically we would make it round. Also the workers have to get down there so if it were any other shape then it would be kinda difficult unless the cover was made bigger. Which would be disturbing if you ask me.

Rat - are you really sure that there are only 2? Am I then not an illiterate?

Well i am not rat but i can answer your question. there is actually a third word but it isn't really a fair answer since it isn't part of modern english
it was used a long time ago and has since died out

Manhole covers are made round for many of the wonderful reasons that you have already stated. They are also made round because they're heavy. Generally they are taken from their holes by people with things like crowbars and picks. This causes the tiniest bit of damage to them. If they were square one would have to line the cover up exactly to get it back in, the damaged part corresponding exactly etc. Because they're round you can heave the things in any old way and not break your back trying to line it up properly. At least that's what my old dad told me an' he's a plumber. I am illiterate, cannot spell and do not know the third GRY word.

Well I've got angry and hungry so give me a clue.
As to manholes. I think they are round for a logical reason like the sewage pipes bellow are round. therefore, it is easier to make a round cover than to make a round pipe that ceases to be round at the top and becomes square. If I am wrong I'm Wrong who cares.

As Iodine(eggie-please don't kill me!=-))said, and he is probably right, the word does not exist in modern english and therefore does not count. As for the manhole thing again, I hear its also shaped that way so that the cover does not fall into the hole itself, that it is virtually impossible.Whatever! I hoped I helped you-if I'm wrong, I am an illiterate as well.=-)

Sigh. I bit and zipped off to the wonderous, if slow, crosswords un-crossed page http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~bryn/HTML/Crosswords.html What should I find but:

Note:
If you are looking for a solution to the "third word ending in
gry" question, you will not find it here - there is no answer
except hungry or angry. This is a (misleading) riddle that is
really asking what the third word in the sentence is, not what
the third word ending with gry is. By the way, Gry itself is a
word, but is obsolete.

In Websters Third Unabridged there is a word ending in 'gry' though it is somewhat defective, in that it is actually part of the phrase, "aggry beads" whatever those are. You can find this information, along with other, older words ending in 'gry' at http://einstein.et.tudelft.nl/~arlet/puzzles/sol.cgi/language/english/spelling/gry

YES! This has been pissing me off for years now. For a while there was a big thing with this riddle around my area. Radio stations were offering prizes to anyone who could answer it. And then it spread aound offices, and schools... It was terrible.

I did once hear the riddle as it SHOULD appear. And there was an answer, but, it being a riddle, had nothing to do with a word which ended with the letters GRY.

So PLEASE, for heaven's sake, stop asking this question! My mental health depends upon it! Heh.

Or at least one form of it. I got this from the Internet Public Library:

"Think of words ending in -gry. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? The word is something that everybody uses everyday. If you have listened carefully, I've already told you what it is."

The secret here is that the real question is "There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word?" That is, there are only three words in the phrase "the English language". The third word is "language", which is indeed something we use every day. The first two words are "the" and "English".

Another minor point in favour of round manholes is that it's impossible to drop the cover down the manhole by mistake. Assuming it isn't too think, it is possible to drop a square cover down a square hole. Not ideal if it cracks a sewer, or severs a load of cabling when it lands.

Also, if a manhole was being cast into a concrete roadway, a round one would weaken the concrete significantly less than an equivalent square one. Stress from thermal expansion and contraction, and from varying loads on the roadway would be concentrated by the shape of a square manhole, and cracks would tend to propagate from the corners.
(That's one _very_ good reason why portholes in ships are round - a long line of square holes would be a terminally bad idea)

Whoops - I didn't notice the earlier post where someone said exactly the same thing (being impossible to drop. Sorry.

We are not worthy Turtle! Thanks, and I can't wait until the next person asks me that one!