These were just lying around

Question

What peculiar property do all these words have in common?

AMP

APP

BARF

COME

CUR

EAR

GANG

GROW

IMP

ON

PEAR

PIMP

SING

STAB

TRIP

Afterword:

As @TwoBitOperation astutely observed, it's not just that you can add –LY to each of these words to get a new word. It's that the new word is etymologically distinct from the original word. The original word is not the stem/base of the new word, and sometimes it even changes pronunciation upon adding –LY.

It actually took a fair amount of deep dictionary research to be sure. For example, I didn't realize that HARDLY really does come from HARD, and HOMELY really does come from HOME. I'm still not sure about PORT/PORTLY, as I found the etymologies confusing.

A few others that didn't make the shortlist:

COMP

CRAW

DANG

FEE

REP

Woo! I'd present, like, hard rep! (as a reward for creating this clever puzzle, were it not for the time limit on bounties.) — Bass, Aug 12 '19 at 19:48

TwoBitOperation · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-12T20:05:13.617

24

For each given word you can:

Add LY to get a new word.

This is hinted at by:

The title suggesting 'LY-ing'

Edit:

I was reading 'BARFLY' wrong which lead to some doubt. Clever!

Double edit :

And it's worth noting that none of the new words are just adverb forms of the original. Double clever!

edited Aug 12 '19 at 20:05

answered Aug 12 '19 at 14:47

TwoBitOperation

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Nice! The title fits as well :) – Jafe Aug 12 '19 at 14:50
@jafe: Indeed, it's only LY-ing, it's also plain lying about their origins. – Matthieu M. Aug 13 '19 at 15:04

These were just lying around

1 Answers1