Non-Transitive Word Games

Authors

Jeremiah Farrell

Abstract

"Longer than" is a binary relation R on the set of words with the property that whenever a R b and b R c, we always have a R c. Such relations are called transitive and examples abound: "shorter than", "precedes lexicographically", "scores higher in Scrabble than", etc." Transitive relations often impose a kind of "can you top this" attitude among logologists: "what is the longest word you know?" In this article we wish to avoid transitive relations, and instead play word games that have no "best" answer.

Recommended Citation

Farrell, Jeremiah (1995) "Non-Transitive Word Games," Word Ways: Vol. 28 : Iss. 3 , Article 12.
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol28/iss3/12