Can't get disemvowel to work?

Oh boy this was tricky.

First problem, which I saw right away and was so proud of myself: check out the docs on how to use String.join() - it's a bit of an awkward API if you ask me. You need to choose the string you want to use to join (often a comma - in this case, just an empty string), and then call join on that string, taking the list as an argument:

''.join(wordList)

That doesn't fix it, though (it does give you a different error message, though). So now what's happening...

I wrote your solution into a python script and added some print statements for debugging (note there's no need for a try: except: block):

def disemvowel(word):
    vowels = ["a", "e", "i", "o", "u"]
    wordList = list(word)
    for letter in wordList:
        print("letter: " + letter)
        for vowel in vowels:
            if letter == vowel.upper() or letter == vowel.lower():
                wordList.remove(letter)
                print("removed: " + letter)
    word = ''.join(wordList)
    return word

What this helped me realize is that you are changing the array while looping through it. This is a Very Bad Idea, and you should avoid doing it. The problem arrises when you have two vowels in a row. If we run this function on "Friends", the print output is:

letter: F
letter: r
letter: i
removed: i
letter: n
letter: d
letter: s

and the function returns Frends. See what's happening? When you remove the letter i, the loop moves on to what it thinks is the next letter, but you've sort of pulled the rug out from under it, and it goes to n, skipping over e. It goes from wordList[2] to wordList[3] but by the time it gets there, wordList[3] is

So, how do we fix this. Well, the smallest change to your code would be to simply add another list equal to list(word) as well, and manipulate that one while you loop through the original list. That way we're looping through one and changing the other:

def disemvowel(word):
    vowels = ["a", "e", "i", "o", "u"]
    wordList = list(word)
    list_to_return = list(word)
    for letter in wordList:
        for vowel in vowels:
            if letter == vowel.upper() or letter == vowel.lower():
                list_to_return.remove(letter)
    word = ''.join(list_to_return )
    return word

Phew! That should do it. Let me know if anything doesn't make sense. As a bonus, here's a slightly cleaner way to check the vowels:

def disemvowel(word):
    vowels = ["a", "e", "i", "o", "u"]
    wordList = list(word)
    list_to_return = list(word)
    for letter in wordList:
        if letter.lower() in vowels:
            list_to_return.remove(letter)
    word = ''.join(list_to_return )
    return word

Cheers

-Greg