I Have A Friend Who Likes ...
STRIPES
SHOES
WHIST
RACES
POTTERY
HYENA
TRUTH
ORANGE
DRUNK
ATHENS


But Dislikes ...
POLKA DOTS
SOCKS
BRIDGE
HORSES
KNITTING
PARROT
LIES
APPLE
SMASHED
GREECE


Can you figure out why my friend likes certain words and not others?



My friend likes words that shed their first and last letters to become new words:
S-TRIPE-S
S-HOE-S
W-HIS-T
R-ACE-S
P-OTTER-Y
etc.