In linguistics and speech therapy, a
minimal pair consists of two words that differ only by one sound. Bike/pike, rib/rip, and dabble/dapple are examples of minimal pairs for b/p. Pronunciation, not spelling, is what counts; for example, cook/kook is a minimal pair NOT for c/k, but for the two different sounds that "oo" makes (which linguists would write in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ʊ] and [uː]).
Can you identify these minimal pairs?
|
Sounds distinguished (NOT necessarily spelled this way!) |
Meanings of the two words |
| 1. |
"n" and "m" |
adj., familiar or established as fact /
n., a legendary creature resembling a tiny person, often depicted with beard and pointy hat
|
| 2. |
"s" and "z" |
n., pattern or expectation established by past events /
n., chief executive |
| 3. |
hard "th" and soft "th" (IPA: [ð], [θ]) |
poss. pron., your (archaic) /
n., part of the leg
|
| 4. |
"v" and "w" |
n., an English parish priest /
n., a flexible wood material used to weave baskets and furniture
|
| 5. |
"sh" and "zh" (IPA: [ʃ], [ʒ]) |
adj., pertaining to the teachings of a certain ancient philosopher /
n., perplexity, disorder
|
Which large fruit is named (in English and many other languages) for an Italian town whose name, in turn, means "singing wolf"?
Hint
In Afrikaans, this fruit is called spanspek, which means "Spanish bacon". No wait, that's not a hint at all, it's just downright weird (lol).
What might actually be a hint is that the Finnish call it verkkomeloni, and here's what comes up if you search for part of that word online:
Solution
It's a cantaloupe, named for the town of Cantalupo where it was grown. The town itself may have been named for the sound of howling wolves in the nearby countryside. Knowledge of a Romance language (such as French, Spanish, or... Latin) would have helped here; all these languages have similar words for "sing" and "wolf".
The Finnish name verkkomeloni literally means "net melon", which is a lot more descriptive (if less poetic).
Speaking of wolves and fruits/vegetables, the scientific name for the tomato is Solanum lycopersicum. The genus Solanum identifies it as a nightshade, while lycopersicum means "wolf peach". Owooooo!
Congratulations to yesterday's solvers Inca, Maddy, Jacob C., Yana, Charlie, Leo S., Nico, Dr. Yetman, and Kate. Thanks to everybody who made a guess!
Though he now teaches mathematics, Dr. (né Mr.) Shapiro's first job in a K–12 school was as a lunch monitor in Davis, CA. It was there that he originated the Puzzle of the Day, even rewarding correct answers with tickets in denominations like "15 points" (though without a clear idea of how he'd ultimately redeem these). Dr. Shapiro's favorite puzzle from this pre-professional era was "Tell me the location of the beehive on this campus."
Ten years later, Dr. Shapiro revived Puzzle of the Day at Proof School, writing each day's puzzle on a name tag. After 600 puzzles or so, he was just starting to feel normal about students reading his chest all the time when campus closed and the puzzle, like the rest of our lives, moved online. New puzzles are posted daily on school days.
Want to catch up on old PotDs? There's an archive currently containing puzzles from March to June 2020.