Oleomargarine is what margarine was originally called, sometimes shortened to 'oleo'. This makes it one of a select few: words which can be broken into two words, so that each of the two and the original word are synonymous. That is: oleomargarine = oleo = margarine. Can you find another two English words that share this property?

(In reply to re(3): Huh?? (re: Two more) by SilverKnight)

I think TomM's point is that while most of Penny's solutions fit A=B (eg over=done), they don't generally fit A=B=AB (eg over and done do not mean the same as overdone). Penny's one 'obviously right' answer is quagmire where both halves of the word are common abbreviations (and therefore synonyms) with the whole word. Of the other suggestions posted the only 'obviously right' ones (IMHO) are taxicab and bathtub.

FWIW I agree 100% with SK on the principle of 'obviously right' regarding problems of this type. Anyway from pedants' corner, the correct answer to the problem is "yes".

Posted by fwaff on 2004-02-12 06:07:53