Author Topic: password and contractions (Read 2846 times)

toetyper · « **on:** December 06, 2009, 12:21:10 PM »

are names like o'reilly and o'hare considered contractions and therefore are illegal clues

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #1 on:** December 06, 2009, 12:52:32 PM »

Not sure, but I'd use other clues instead. "Hannity" for blowhard and "LaGuardia" for airport.

TLEberle · « **Reply #2 on:** December 06, 2009, 01:38:33 PM »

[quote name=\'toetyper\' post=\'231699\' date=\'Dec 6 2009, 09:21 AM\']are names like o'reilly and o'hare considered contractions and therefore are illegal clues[/quote]"O'Reilly" is not 'considered' a contraction, it is a contraction. Contractions are not disallowed as passwords, only hyphenated words are disallowed specifically.

chad1m · « **Reply #3 on:** December 06, 2009, 02:06:55 PM »

Let me whip out my MDP rule guide, it's cut and dry: 5. Passwords and clues may both contain apostrophes (examples: “won't”, “O'Connor”).

jmangin · « **Reply #4 on:** December 06, 2009, 04:58:46 PM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'231704\' date=\'Dec 6 2009, 01:38 PM\']"O'Reilly" is not 'considered' a contraction, it is a contraction.[/quote]
"O'Reilly" is not a contraction--it's a last name with an apostrophe in it just as some last names have accent marks. The apostrophe is not a grammatical mark denoting the omission of letters, nor does it join two words together.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #5 on:** December 06, 2009, 05:02:15 PM »

[quote name=\'jmangin\' post=\'231714\' date=\'Dec 6 2009, 04:58 PM\'][quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'231704\' date=\'Dec 6 2009, 01:38 PM\']"O'Reilly" is not 'considered' a contraction, it is a contraction.[/quote]
"O'Reilly" is not a contraction--it's a last name with an apostrophe in it just as some last names have accent marks. The apostrophe is not a grammatical mark denoting the omission of letters, nor does it join two words together.
[/quote]
I thought it meant "Of Reilly" to indicate son of or some sort of relation. Sort of like Mc for the Scots and D' in Italian.

jmangin · « **Reply #6 on:** December 06, 2009, 05:22:25 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'231715\' date=\'Dec 6 2009, 05:02 PM\']I thought it meant "Of Reilly" to indicate son of or some sort of relation. Sort of like Mc for the Scots and D' in Italian.[/quote]
Yes, the O' denotes decedents of an ancestor, but does not necessarily contract the word "of" with a surname, just as Mc isn't a shortened word. O'Reilly isn't a contraction. Can't and doesn't are.

Neumms · « **Reply #7 on:** December 06, 2009, 05:26:07 PM »

On what Regis calls "Classic Password," I was surprised recently to hear "don't" as an acceptable clue, so they do take contractions. As you say, Allen never said they're illegal.

TLEberle · « **Reply #8 on:** December 06, 2009, 06:57:27 PM »

[quote name=\'jmangin\' post=\'231714\' date=\'Dec 6 2009, 01:58 PM\']The apostrophe is not a grammatical mark denoting the omission of letters, nor does it join two words together.[/quote]Which is just pure baloney. All of it. Both of these clauses are outright falsehoods.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #9 on:** December 06, 2009, 07:27:43 PM »

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'231722\' date=\'Dec 6 2009, 06:57 PM\'][quote name=\'jmangin\' post=\'231714\' date=\'Dec 6 2009, 01:58 PM\']The apostrophe is not a grammatical mark denoting the omission of letters, nor does it join two words together.[/quote]Which is just pure baloney. All of it. Both of these clauses are outright falsehoods.[/quote]
No, in the context of his example, the apostrophe in the name O'Reilly does not denote the omission of letters, nor does it join two words together. Bill's (hey, look, another apostrophe!) last name is not "Of Reilly" The fact that the apostrophe in this case at one time represented the absence of letters is certainly an interesting etymological point, but the name "O'Reilly" certainly isn't (look, another one!) a contraction.