I think it's called "above the line" "below the line" because the characters in each of the accepted words don't travel below the "character placement line" that runs along the bottom of every word. I've forgotten the "real name" for this line.

Thus,

  toothpaste -> below the line, because of "p"

  tooth -> above the line, no characters pass below it.

Right?

EDITS:

1: TIL the name for this property of a character is called a descender[1]. (And yet I still can't find the name for that blasted line.)

2: It's called a baseline[2], thanks taylorlunt

REFS:

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/descender

[2] https://typedecon.com/blogs/type-glossary/baseline/

I'll likely use it to mystify kids someday soon.

    let descenders = ['q','y','g','p','j'];
    let isBelow = (word) => descenders.some(d => word.includes(d));

    let tests = {
      "Hacker" : false,
      "News" : false,
      "chrisweekly" : true,
      "programming" : true,
    };
    
    for (const test in tests) {
      let pass = isBelow(test) == tests[test];
      console.log( pass ? `Passed for ${test}` : `Failed for ${test}` );
    }

    data TheLine = Above | Below

    categoriseWord :: String -> TheLine
    categoriseWord s
      | length s <= 10 = Above
      | otherwise      = Below

Is there a good way to play to train for “most confidence before answering” without making it a drudge of endless tests and humhawing?

Making each question a more powerful test would be good, but that’s not what racing to the answer encourages, that encourages guessing the teacher’s password.

What about tests are free, first to answer wins, but a wrong answer or two disqualifies you completely?

Fuzzy -> Below the line

Weeds -> Above the line

The land of Nodd has floors, but no ceiling. It has grass but no lawn. It has no animals but there are teeth. Etc.

The game is we asked him questions about whether it has something or does not, and we had to figure out what "The land of Nodd" was :P

What about "Hacks"? It uses only letters found in accepted words, but should be rejected because of the odd number of letters.

  "Above the line" if len(s) % 2 == 0 else "Below the line"