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Our Weekend Genius Challenges sometimes test your intellect, sometimes your creativity, and sometimes your mental ability. This one might cover all three. You’re probably familiar with word ladders, where one word is converted into another by changing one letter at a time. For instance, “bat” can become “cow” in three steps:
B A T
C A T
C O T
C O W
So here’s your challenge: Create a word ladder that changes the word “FLOSS” into the word “BRAIN.” Here’s an example:
F L O S S
F L O W S
B L O W S
B R O W S
B R O W N
B R A W N
B R A I N
If you can come up with one smarter, or funnier, or so incredibly long that it’s goofy, give it your best shot. On Tuesday, we’ll select a winner to receive an exclusive T-shirt of his/her choice from our mental floss store. Answer by commenting below. Please include what style/size of T-shirt you’d like in your response. (Remember, we must approve comments before they appear, so it may take minutes/hours before they show in the list. It is NFL playoff time, after all!)
Good luck!
BROWS cannot follow FLOWS.
BROWS
BLOWS (as in blowhards)
FLOWS
posted by Maggie on 1-12-2008 at 11:16 am
Here’s an example that works. heh heh
FLOSS
GLOSS
GLOWS
GROWS
GROWN
GROIN
GRAIN
BRAIN
posted by AMR on 1-12-2008 at 11:31 am
Wow, not as easy as it looks! Here’s mine:
floss
gloss
gross
cross
crass
craws
draws
drawn
drain
brain
Mental Floss T, size S
posted by Karen on 1-12-2008 at 11:42 am
FLOSS
FLOWS
GLOWS
BLOWS
BROWS
CROWS
CROWN
BROWN
BRAWN
DRAWN
DRAIN
BRAIN
posted by Ash on 1-12-2008 at 11:47 am
Oops, I forgot:
Gregor Mendel, Size small please.
posted by Ash on 1-12-2008 at 11:48 am
You’re right, Maggie; I missed “blows” while typing it in.
(insert your favorite pugilism joke here)
posted by Sandy on 1-12-2008 at 11:53 am
does it all have to be english?
posted by Dany on 1-12-2008 at 11:56 am
FLOSS
FLOES
FLOED
FLOOD
BLOOD
BLEED
BLEND
BLAND
BRAND
BRAID
BRAIN
simple as pi, women’s medium
posted by mri on 1-12-2008 at 11:58 am
the SHORTEST one i could think of:
floss
flows
flown
blown
brown
brawn
brain
karl marx, medium
posted by marissa on 1-12-2008 at 12:01 pm
floss
flows
glows
crows
crown
frown
drown
brown
brawn
brawl
brail
drail
drain
train
trail
Crail (a village in Scotland)
frail
frais (French)
Frain (a small French commune)
Brain
Womens medium simple as 3.14…
posted by Dany on 1-12-2008 at 12:14 pm
These are so much fun…
FLOSS
FLOPS
FLIPS
CLIPS
BLIPS
SLIPS
SLAPS
FLAPS
CLAPS
CLAWS
FLAWS
FLAWN
FLOWN
CLOWN
BLOWN
BROWN
BRAWN
BRAIN
small “Ship Happens” t-shirt please ;)
posted by Jessica on 1-12-2008 at 12:28 pm
OK I think this works. . .
An Ode to mental_floss (by me.)
mental_FLOSS is really hip,
It beats some FLOGS on a Singapore trip.
Learn about FROGS along the way,
Drink some GROGS and hit the hay.
Your knowledge GROWS with fun for all.
Don’t furrow your BROWS; that’s thinking small.
The cover is BROWN or blue or red.
Increase the BRAWN inside your head,
So use your BRAIN or you’ll be dead!
Tah-dah!
Binary Social Club Medium
-PJM
posted by Kmanpat on 1-12-2008 at 1:20 pm
Floss
Kloss
Bloss
Blass
Blaus
Braus
Kraus
Kraut
Braut
Braun
Brain
der Pluto RIP (Frauen mittel). Danke.
posted by AMR on 1-12-2008 at 1:38 pm
FLOSS
FLOPS
FLIPS
SLIPS
SLITS
SUITS
SUITE
QUITE
QUIRT
QUIRK
QUIRT
QUINT
QUILT
GUILT
GUILE
GUIDE
GLIDE
GLADE
GLAZE
GRAZE
GRAVE
CRAVE
CRANE
CRANS
CRAMS
CRAWS
DRAWS
DRAWN
DRAIN
BRAIN
GRAIN
GROIN
GROWN
GROWL
GROWS
CROWS
CROPS
COOPS
COOKS
COCKS
DOCKS
DICKS
PICKS
PACKS
PACTS
FACTS
FACES
FAXES
FOXES
BOXES
BOWES
BOWLS
BAWLS
PAWLS
PAWNS
DOWNS
TOWNS
TOONS
MOONS
MOODS
HOODS
HOOTS
BOOTS
BOOTY
BOOZY
WOOZY
WOOLY
COOLY
COOLS
COILS
COINS
JOINS
LOINS
LOONS
LOOMS
DOOMS
DOORS
DOURS
SOURS
SPURS
SLURS
SLUTS
SLATS
SLAPS
CLAPS
CLAWS
FLAWS
FLOWS
FLOSS
Whew. That took awhile. If there’s any mistake then pfft it all, but yeah.
I think I used every letter of the alphabet. And other than FLOSS, I don’t think I used the same word twice.
I went from FLOSS to BRAIN back to FLOSS again.
Freud, Small.
posted by Ryan on 1-12-2008 at 3:08 pm
Not feeling so witty, so I’m going with the absurdly long …
FLOSS
FLOPS
CLOPS
CROPS
DROPS
DRIPS
GRIPS
GRITS
GRINS
GRIND
GRAND
BRAND
BLAND
BLEND
BLEED
BREED
CREED
CREEP
CHEEP
CHEEK
CREEK
CREAK
CREAM
DREAM
BREAM
BREAD
DREAD
TREAD
TREED
TREES
FREES
FLEES
FLUES
BLUES
CLUES
CLUED
GLUED
GLEES
GLEEN
GLEAN
GLEAM
GLOAM
GLOAT
BLOAT
BLEAT
PLEAT
PLEAS
PLEAD
PLIED
PLIES
PRIES
CRIES
CRIED
TRIED
TRIES
TRIMS
BRIMS
BRIGS
BRAGS
CRAGS
CRAPS
CLAPS
FLAPS
FLAWS
CLAWS
SLAWS
SLOWS
FLOWS
BLOWS
BLOWN
BROWN
CROWN
CROWS
GROWS
GROWL
GROWN
FROWN
DROWN
DRAWN
BRAWN
BRAIN
um, scurvy, large
posted by Jenn on 1-12-2008 at 3:12 pm
FLOSS
FLOPS
FLAPS
CLAPS
CRAPS
WRAPS
TRAPS
TRAMS
DRAMS
CRAMS
CLAMS
SLAMS
SLUMS
PLUMS
PLUME
FLUME
FLAME
FLAMS
CLAYS
CLOYS
CLOPS
PLOPS
PROPS
DROPS
DROSS
CROSS
CROWS
CROWN
BROWN
BRAWN
BRAIN
Men’s Medium “Sharing is Caring”
:)
posted by Will on 1-12-2008 at 3:44 pm
Dang, I worked so hard, then when I hit “submit,” Ryan’s was up…imagine the letdown! hehe, good job, Ryan ;)
posted by Will on 1-12-2008 at 3:46 pm
Mine involves some obscure words. I shall define the less obvious, just in case.
FLOSS
FLASS (the Icelandic word for “dandruff”)
FLASK
FLACK (to promote)
FLOCK
GLOCK (a type of gun)
BLOCK
BROCK (an Old-English word for a badger)
BROOK
BROOD
BLOOD
BLOND
BROND (a sword)
BRAND
BRAID
BRAIN
Pluto — Women’s Small
posted by Becca on 1-12-2008 at 4:06 pm
this is not clever, but was fun.
FLOSS
FLOWS
FLAWS
CLAWS
CLAPS
CHAPS
CHOPS
SHOPS
SHOES
SHOWS
CHOWS
CROWS
BROWS
BROWN
BRAWN
BRAIN
posted by JOHN on 1-12-2008 at 5:13 pm
FLOSS
FLOPS
PLOPS
PROPS
PROMS
PRAMS
PRATS
PRAYS
PLAYS
PLOYS
PLOWS
BLOWS
BLOWN
BROWN
BRAWN
BRAIN
Yay! I love… prams :P
posted by Mandie on 1-12-2008 at 6:21 pm
I came up with a brilliant idea, but it involved links (only from this site). I tried to post it and got the “Err, sorry, no links.” error and almost -fill in interesting verb phrase here (ed)-. I understand why this policy is in place, so I won’t edit the links and repost until (hopefully?) given permission. In the meantime, I’ll try to come up with some other clever idea just in case.
posted by Eileen on 1-12-2008 at 7:21 pm
Never mind my last comment – I fixed it.
After several hours of reading years of _Floss blog archives, quizzes, and the like (or maybe just two hours coming up with interesting word ladders and googling – I don’t know, I still thought it was clever), I have compiled references from the site related to each of the words in my word ladder (originally there were links too, but that didn’t work so well with the comments, so you get dates instead). Even if I don’t win, some poor bored soul may find something interesting in one of them. I know I did. And anything’s better than doing my pre-calculus proofs homework, especially when it involves my favorite website (Flattery much? Yeah, sorry, but it’s absolutely true!) Here goes:
FLOSS: All these words gathered from mental_FLOSS archives:
(Check the header at the top of every one of the pages. Either I’m just that amazing…or it has something to do with the name of the site. Hmmm. *scratches chin*)
GLOSS: October 15, 2007: Blog: 5 Celebs Who Suffer from Aviphobia (and 1 who used to) (“I’m starting to think of it as yet another example of Anderson’s knack for retouching reality with an idiosyncratic gloss.”)
GLASS: March 26, 2003: Quiz: See-through (All about glass)
GRASS: April 19, 2007: Blog: Who else drinks grass?
BRASS: February 8, 2007: Blog: On Music: the use of brass in Scheherazade
BRASH: December 14, 2006: Blog: The wit and wisdom of Prince Philip (“Nobody could be that brash, could they?”)
CRASH: September 27, 2007: Blog: A Disturbingly long list of Celebrity Motorbike Crash-ups
CLASH: March 7, 2007: Blog: Greg Veis, YouTube Hunter: Coulter Clash
CLASS: August 30, 2007: Blog: 6 Sports Too Deadly for Gym Class
CLAWS: February 17, 2004: Fact Library: “Grooves on the pads of the cheetah’s paws assist in traction, and its claws (which don’t retract when running, as is the case with most other cats) help as well.”
FLAWS: February 15, 2003: Quiz: Character Flaws
FLOWS: December 5, 2007: Blog: World’s worst memory, world’s best memory (“My memory flows like a movie – nonstop and uncontrollable”)
GLOWS: December 14, 2007: Blog: Weekend Word Wrap: cryptic puzzle no. 1: Group A clue: “No good comes from halogens’ eerie glows”
GROWS: August 11, 2006: Blog: A corpse flower grows in Brooklyn
GROWN: December 25, 2007: Blog: Tuesday Turnip: Six out of every ten apples you eat are grown in Washington.
DROWN: September 12, 2007: Blog: Five Great Prison Escapes (“Although two officers drowned in the attempt…the Confederates couldn’t help being impressed by their enemy’s feat”)
DRAWN: February 13, 2007: Blog: Spamusement: Poorly-draw cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines!
DRAIN: January 9, 2008: Blog: Vampire Drain: it’s Watts for Dinner
BRAIN: December 12, 2006: Blog: How To: Use All of Your Brain
If I win, I would like an “Idioms are for the birds” mens small t-shirt. Thanks!
posted by Eileen on 1-12-2008 at 7:35 pm
I always called this word golf, and Nabokov’s Pale Fire uses this game in its title.
posted by Grant on 1-12-2008 at 9:06 pm
Help for Ryan (wow, that’s a long list! Jenn’s too.)
You skipped from PAWNS to DOWNS, but throw in DAWNS, and you’re good. =]
posted by Eileen on 1-12-2008 at 9:34 pm
FLOSS
FLOWS
FLAWS
CLAWS
CRAWS
CROWS
BROWS
BROWN
BRAWN
BRAIN
DRAIN
DRAWN
DROWN
GROWN
GROWS
GROSS
GLOSS
FLOSS
i tried to do a short version of floss-brain-floss…its hard to do without using a lot of the same words
posted by Jamie on 1-12-2008 at 9:40 pm
In an attempt to create a chain, I cheated and called Chuck Norris up for help.
He was more than happy to lend me this chain.
FLOSS
ROUNDHOUSE KICK TO THE FACE
BRAIN
Consequently all dictionaries and grammar books are now being recalled as a massive re-editing/issuing is taking place.
posted by jonathan n. thomas on 1-12-2008 at 9:55 pm
forgot I’d like a large rhesus please
posted by jonathan n. thomas on 1-12-2008 at 10:04 pm
FLOSS
I
THINK
EILEEN
SHOULD
WIN
NOT
ONLY
FOR
HER
CREATIVITY
BUT
ALSO
FOR
HER
COMRADERIE
BRAIN
posted by Johnny Cat on 1-13-2008 at 1:45 am
Mine is absurdly short in comparison with the other ones up there, but here it goes:
FLOSS
GLOSS
GROSS
GRASS
GRAIS (as in Michael Grais!)
GRAIL
GRAIN
BRAIN
I admit the first 3 are kind of mouth-centred…(While you FLOSS your teeth you look at your tongue (GLOSS in koine greek)and ask yourself how GROSS it would be to have a soccer field GRASS herbal lip GLOSS.) And then I miraculously change the subject to Poltergeist (M. GRAIS) and the Holy GRAIL.. and I haven’t got an explanation for grain other than it rhymes with brain. :)
posted by Terrier on 1-13-2008 at 6:01 am
I forgot… just in case, Pluto T-Shirt/S. ^^
posted by Terrier on 1-13-2008 at 6:09 am
FLOSS
FLOWS
GLOWS
PLOWS
SLOWS
BLOWS
BLOWN
BROWN
BRAWN
BRAIN
posted by JEN on 1-13-2008 at 9:18 am
FLOSS
FLASS (As in Detective Flass of Batman)
GLASS
GRASS
GRAIS (Co-writer of Poltergeist- Michael
Grais)
GRAIN
BRAIN
That was fun!
If I somehow win, I would like a Gregor Mendel T-shirt in small, please.
posted by Ash on 1-13-2008 at 11:43 am
Eileen, thank you so much so seeing that. I had DAWNS in my original list. Don’t know what happened.
And I’m not good, I just had a lot of free time yesterday. And trust me it was a painful (but fun) process.
posted by Ryan on 1-13-2008 at 12:01 pm
Another mistake I found on my list:
I repeated the word QUIRT. The first QUIRT is supposed to be QUIRE. My bad.
posted by Ryan on 1-13-2008 at 12:08 pm
I’m reading Mental FLOSS after returning
from Ecuadorean adventure not to GLOSS over, but many bus rides smelled GROSS and opened this blog to find my list was almost same as AVR’s posting, so it GROWS to include GROWN language like Kmanpat’s posting, and I must say the GROIN is an important area in giving one a poetic edge but we ate many GRAINs and fruits… and spent 18 hours in airports yesterday: it has affected my BRAIN!! We didn’t take any TRAINs, but we did hike some TRAILs in the mountains and my knees began to feel FRAIL. Luckily our eyesight was good, so we didn’t need BRAIL(e) to read our e-mails
We did enjoy BROILed fish; we didn’t see any BPOIL for sale, and when we returned I was happy to find that the papaya in the refrigerator did not SPOIL. From here I’ve got no new ideas, sorry.
in the odd event: Easy as 3.14… XL
posted by Anne on 1-13-2008 at 12:54 pm
I’ll try to do this right…
1.floss
2.flows
3.flow
4.flows
5.fled
6.sled
7.sleds
8.slids
9.slide
10.slime
11.slim
12.slap
13.snap
14.snip
15.snipe
16.sipe
17.ripe
18.rape
19.cape
20.cap
21.nap
22.rap
23.rasp
24.grasp
25.grass
26.brass
27.brase (Norwegian for crash)
28.brace
29.race
30.face
31.fact
32.pact
33.sack
34.snack
35.shack
36.smack
37.mack
38.mace
39.lace
40.late
41.fate
42.flate (norwegian for plain)
43.flat
44.fat
45.cat
46.cab
47.lab
48.lap
49.laps
50.maps
51.mats
52.mat
53.mate
54.make
55.cake
56.rake
57.rase
58.case
59.cane
60.can
61.ran
62.rat
63.rate
64.late
65.plate
66.slate
67.slat
68.sat
69.scat
70.scab
71.scan
72.scam
73.slam
74.blam
75.blat
76.bat
77.bait
78.bant
79.rant
80.rent
81.bent
82.pent
83.pant
84.paint
85.pain
86.rain
87.main
88.gain
89.grain
90.BRAIN
91.bran
92.ban
93.pan
94.pane
95.lane
96.land
97.sand
98.send
99.mend
100.mind
101.find
102.fend
103.fent (hungerian for up)
104.fant (Slovenian for boy)
105.fanta (the soda)
106.santa
107.santi
108.sant
109.slant
110.plant
112.plan
113.plane
114.pane
115.sane
116.same
117.lame
118.flame
119.flase
120.glase
121.glass
122.gloss
123.floss
ok so i think i got it all maybe.
sorry i went from floss to brain and back to floss again, i got 90 words to floss though. can i have a pavolov small tee please? thank you.
posted by Alicia on 1-13-2008 at 2:56 pm
Here is my word ladder. I did something different and decided to use only words that begin with S, apart from a few F and B words at the beginning and end. The whole thing is 70 words.
FLOSS
FLOPS
SLOPS
SLAPS
SLIPS
SLITS
SLUTS
SLOTS
SLATS
SLATE
STATE
STAVE
STARE
STAKE
STOKE
SPOKE
SPORE
SPARE
SPADE
SPACE
SPICE
SLICE
SLICK
STICK
STUCK
STACK
STANK
STUNK
STINK
STING
SLING
SLANG
SLUNG
SWUNG
SWING
SWINE
SHINE
SHONE
STONE
STOVE
STORE
STOLE
STALE
SHALE
SHAME
SHADE
SHAPE
SHAKE
SHARE
SHARD
SHARP
SHARK
STARK
STORK
SPORK
SPORT
SKORT
SKIRT
SHIRT
SHORT
SHORN (old word for sheared)
SHOWN
SHOWS
SLOWS
BLOWS
BLOWN
BROWN
BRAWN
BRAIN
If I win, I’d like a women’s large Beethoven shirt, please :)
posted by Bethany on 1-13-2008 at 4:54 pm
This isn’t as long as some of the others, but I was pretty excited to get it.
FLOSS
FLOWS
FLOWN
FROWN
GROWN
GROIN
GRAIN
BRAIN
posted by Mej on 1-13-2008 at 5:10 pm
Three and four letter words mixed in?!? That’s a twist that I didn’t think was allowed… in the odd event that you decide to spoil me with a less than perfect entry prize, I’d prefer a women’s XL gregor mendel’s peas shirt… I’d love to be SPOILed, since this is my first time on your site… Thanks!
posted by Anne on 1-13-2008 at 6:28 pm
I vote for #14 Ryan, that was absurdely long, but hilarious, and used the best words, and also the dirtiest. Bravo!
Kelly
posted by Kelly on 1-13-2008 at 7:12 pm
“Mentalfloss” in English Gematria [a=1,b=2] is 136. So I’ve constructed a chain 136 words long, using only words from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.
My favorites are “hurdy” followed by “gurdy” (23,24), the musical instrument, and “hocus” followed by “pocus” (41,42). Also, a personal touch in my best friend’s last name (picus-43), which is a type of woodpecker.
Finally, I included every letter of the alphabet. [However, ‘e,’ usually the most common letter, doesn’t appear until #80!]
1 floss
2 flocs
3 blocs
4 blobs
5 boobs
6 bombs
7 bombo
8 bimbo
9 limbo
10 limby
11 Libby
12 lobby
13 looby
14 loopy
15 loppy
16 poppy
17 puppy
18 pulpy
19 gulpy
20 gully
21 gurly
22 hurly
23 hurdy
24 gurdy
25 gardy
26 garda
27 Ganda
28 ganja
29 zanja
30 zanza
31 Panza
32 panda
33 pandy
34 candy
35 canny
36 carny
37 corny
38 horny
39 horns
40 Horus
41 hocus
42 pocus
43 picus
44 picks
45 pinks
46 pinko
47 pinto
48 pints
49 pants
50 punts
51 putts
52 putty
53 nutty
54 nutsy
55 gutsy
56 gussy
57 gusty
58 lusty
59 lasty
60 tasty
61 tarty
62 tarts
63 warts
64 wards
65 wands
66 winds
67 wings
68 sings
69 songs
70 tongs
71 tonus
72 bonus
73 bolus
74 bolts
75 boots
76 blots
77 slots
78 slits
79 suits
80 suite
81 quite
82 quirt
83 quilt
84 built
85 build
86 guild
87 guile
88 guide
89 glide
90 glade
91 grade
92 grave
93 grape
94 crape
95 craps
96 crops
97 coops
98 corps
99 cores
100 coxes
101 boxes
102 bones
103 bonds
104 bends
105 mends
106 sends
107 seeds
108 sheds
109 shads
110 shade
111 spade
112 spare
113 spore
114 sport
115 spurt
116 spurs
117 sours
118 soars
119 roars
120 rears
121 hears
122 heart
123 peart
124 pears
125 peers
126 beers
127 beets
128 beats
129 brats
130 brags
131 drags
132 draws
133 drawl
134 brawl
135 brawn
136 brain
Should I win, I would like a Men’s Medium Pavlov Shirt.
Thanks,
Nathan
posted by Nathan Miller on 1-13-2008 at 11:38 pm
FLOSS
flops
clops
claps
clams
crams
trams
teams
reams
reads
rends
rinds
FINDS
minds
mends
meads
leads
leans
loans
loons
LOONY
goony
goody
moody
moods
mooks
mocks
macks
packs
pacts
FACTS
fasts
fests
pests
peats
plats
plots
plops
props
prows
GROWS
grown
brown
brawn
BRAIN
it’s shorter than some, but i like to think there’s a message in there somewhere. i’d love to sport a pluto shirt, size medium. thanks
posted by atoms on 1-14-2008 at 2:07 am