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Again from David Crystal's  Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language , page 264, talking about the letter w:
   W/w usually represents a voiced bilabial semi-vowel, /w/ (wig )and also forms part of digraphs representing several long vowels or diphthongs (cow, saw, knew, owe. 
  and page 242, discussing the sound:
  The distinction between consonant and vowel is fundamental, but some sounds sit uneasily between the two, being articulated in the same way as vowels, but functioning in the language in the same way as consonants. /j/ as in  yes  and /w/ as in  we  are like this. ... Similarly, /w/ is formed like a short [u] vowe, but acts as a consonant ( we, me, see ). These two consonants are therefore sometimes described as  semi-vowels .
  Not 'Enry 'Iggins, but I hope he'll do.
  Bingley 
 
  
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The longest word that I can find using the top row of letters is PIROUETTE.
 
  
 
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Welcome, violaellie.
  Heavens, your name sounds as pretty as your word!
 
  
 
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>The longest word that I can find using the top row of letters is PIROUETTE.
  It's time now to branch out.  Who can make the longest (by letter count) fairly meaningful sentence from the top letter row?  I will allow commas and colons, but not semi-colons.
  Quite witty, I require pretty quiet typewriter, pour out poetry to requite.
  Not a great sentence, but not totally nonsensical either.  I get 61 letters.
  By the way the longest word available from the top letter row is typewriter.
 
 
 
  
 
  
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 Using another 10-letter top row word, REPERTIORE, I've created this 65-letter sentence:
  We require our typewriter to pour out trite, yet quite witty, repertoire poetry.
 
  
 
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WHOA!
  WAY TO GO !  MANY kudos to you, Brandon!
 
  
 
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>Using another 10-letter top row word, REPERTIORE, I've created this 65-letter sentence:
  We require our typewriter to pour out trite, yet quite witty, repertoire poetry.<
  Brandon, I will quite shamelessly build on your foundations...
  We're pretty quiet, yet we require our typewriter to pour out our trite, yet quite witty, repertoire poetry.
 
 
  
 
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 Glad a gal has had asdfghjkl salad. Shall a glass fall as sad lads sag? A sad saga, dad. 
 
  Anyone care to try the bottom row of the keyboard?
 
  
 
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  that flows about as well as your average palindrome.  
 
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>> that flows about as well as your average palindrome.
  True, working with only the vowel 'a' makes for stunted sentences. Reminds me of that curious novella written without the letter 'e' (title currently escapes me). I didn't get past the fourth page because of the evident straining.
 
  
 
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>Reminds me of that   curious novella written without the letter 'e'
  there is, of course, a word for that kind of writing; to wit, a lipogram.  (why *do I know this stuff?!)
 
  
 
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that reminds me of one of those keyboarding class workbooks that starts you off with just a few letters, usually the Home key line.   a lad;  a glad fad;  dad had salad   . . . yuck!
 
  
 
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 "lipogram"???
  tsunamied again!
  in awe...
 
  
 
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>that flows about as well as your average palindrome< So, shall we have a contest for the longest palindrome, or tsuwm, do you already have a pet site lined up for us?    
 
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>do you already have a pet site lined up for us?
  no; as you may have surmised, I don't much care for palindromes.
  A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama!
 
 
 
  
 
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Certainly not in the running for longest, but a curious favorite of mine: 1 pot CO2 = 2 octopi
 
  
 
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>>1 pot CO2 = 2 octopi
  since when can i and 1 substitute for each other?
 
  
 
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>1 pot CO2 = 2 octopi since when can i and 1 substitute for each other?< How serious is this linguistic crime?  Is it a  capital offence?    
 
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jazzoctopus,
  if ML8 can equal "i'm late", i guess anything's possible.
 
 
  
 
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