Help me use the letter 'n' as many times as possible in a sentence

July 24, 2021 5:42 PM

The 'n' key on my work laptop broke last week, which became an amusing Friday diversion for my colleagues as they tried to decipher my emails and messages. I will get a new laptop on Monday. I want to announce the return of my 'n' key by sending them a message that uses the letter 'n' as many times as possible. Can you help me compose a sentence?
posted by christa to Writing & Language (17 answers total)

Announcing an input instrument in mint condition, featuring novel buttons representing the panoply of alphanumeric signs, I am inaugurating my new internet-connected machine!
posted by philosophygeek at 5:50 PM on July 24, 2021 [22 favorites]

No sane notion of ninety bananas known to be eaten by Noon.
posted by forthright at 5:51 PM on July 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

Your unique n-lesness made your identity noticeable! Identifiable! No anonymity!

But now, though an anonymous announcement would be no nuisance, nevertheless you announce nonanonymously!
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:01 PM on July 24, 2021 [3 favorites]

Subject: "na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na - N - KEY!"
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 6:19 PM on July 24, 2021 [24 favorites]

Notable news! I now own a new n and no one can know the elation I know now that I no longer need to shun n's.
posted by Redstart at 6:34 PM on July 24, 2021 [14 favorites]

Well “nanu nanu” should probably be your greeting.
posted by obfuscation at 7:10 PM on July 24, 2021 [7 favorites]

Nary a noun—like narthex, Nancy, nor even bananananana*—need not be noted for want of an en, now or anon.

* “Nanny Ogg knew how to start spelling banana, but she didn’t know how to stop.”
posted by ocherdraco at 7:13 PM on July 24, 2021 [9 favorites]

wordsbyn.txt · GitHub Gist.

102401 words from /usr/share/dict/words sorted by the number of 'n's.
posted by zengargoyle at 8:06 PM on July 24, 2021 [6 favorites]

Behold, a sign with a lot of N's in Oakland, California.

How did I think of this right away? If you narrow your eyes or turn down the brightness of your screen, you'll notice that the N's stand out. For whatever reason, the N's on this sign are more reflective than all the other letters. Driving by at twilight, you momentarily see

  N
  N  N   N   N
       N
    N  N   N   N

and feel like you must be dreaming.

I have never had an occasion to mention this on MetaFilter before.
posted by aws17576 at 8:13 PM on July 24, 2021 [14 favorites]

The nonexistence of my 'N' key increased notation by numerous unnecessary nanoseconds, negating nuance; nonetheless, never mind your nonchalance - now is Nirvana as a new 'N' is encountered, nullifying the need for nervousness.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:50 PM on July 24, 2021 [5 favorites]

Search for baby names that contain the letter n and announce in your email that you’re helping your fantastic niece choose a baby name and list as many as you can.
posted by bendy at 9:42 PM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

Esteemedncolleaguesnnnnnnnn
nfirstnthengoodnnewsnnnnnnn
nmyn'n'nkeynisnnownfixed!nnn
nnownthenbadnnewsnnnnnnnn
nmynspacenbarnseemsntonben
nhavingnsomenissues!nnnnnnn
posted by oxisos at 9:45 PM on July 24, 2021 [19 favorites]

Nina’s nana’s nonpartisan networking netted a new Samsung notebook in exchange for Nicaraguan bananas.
posted by hotcoroner at 10:25 PM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

After the tnmnltnons fnn abont my compnter's n-key last week, yon'll be hngely happy that the n has been npgraded. Bnt now the bngger is getting nppity.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:04 AM on July 25, 2021 [7 favorites]

Good nnnews everyonne - the computer departmennt have fixed my nnotebook and I nnow have all the letters of the alphabet workinnng againn!
posted by Lanark at 12:43 AM on July 25, 2021 [5 favorites]

Perhaps you could go through all the messages you sent while the key was out, and re-send updates consisting only of the Ns missing from the originals?

Hi Colleague,

Last week I sent you an email about Subject. It has come
to my attention that due to a keyboard failure, all instances
of the letter N were omitted from that message. The failure
has since been rectified, so please find replacements enclosed.

Regards
christa

        N

    n        nn n            n                nn          n
n       n                                         N
                           n               n                n
n                                      n

posted by flabdablet at 2:49 AM on July 25, 2021 [29 favorites]

> Subject: "na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na - N - KEY!"

LOL this! And whichever script you pick for the n-laden email body, I would do a classic broken-key-on-typewriter offset for the N by putting it in superscript, like so:

> Aⁿⁿouⁿciⁿg aⁿ iⁿput iⁿstrumeⁿt iⁿ miⁿt coⁿditioⁿ...
posted by MiraK at 7:27 AM on July 25, 2021 [3 favorites]