Yes. As the above two people have said. I'd also like to add that as well as "look", "name", "job", "health", "join" and "bye", each NPC responds to exactly two unique words each (other than Lord British and Hawkwind who respond to more). These two words for an NPC can either be learned through their reply to "job", "health" and sometimes even their description (as repeated by "look"), or through other NPCs as Nedrix said. Here's a typical example:
John: Hello.
You: name
John: My name is John.
You: health
John: I'm feeling great.
You: job
John: I'm a musician.
You: musician
John: Yes. I play music to Lord British.
You: lord
John: That I cannot help thee with.
You: british
John: That I cannot help thee with.
You: bye
At this point you know one of the two unique words that John replies specifically to. The word if "musician". You've tried "lord" and "british" but they don't seem to trigger a reply, meaning that the second word is still a mystery to you. In cases like these it's up to another NPC to reveal the word. Here's an example:
Bob: Welcome.
You: name
Bob: My name is Bob.
You: health
Bob: I'm at death's door.
You: death
Bob: Yes. I've not got long to live.
You: job
Bob: I was an adventurer.
You: adventurer
Bob: I found a magical amulet. I gave it to John.
You: bye
At this point you've figured out both "unique" words that Bob responds to. One is "death" and the other is "adventurer". Furthermore, you know you need to ask John about an amulet. So you can head back to John:
John: Hello.
You: amulet
John: I lost the amulet somewhere in the tavern in Britain.
You: bye
And now you've finished off John as you know both of his words, "musician" and "amulet". Of course, you've also learnt a useful clue as to the location of an amulet, which could even be required to complete the game.
It's also worth noting that there are a few NPCs in the game that only seem to respond to one "unique" word as no one else in the game reveals their second. However, due to what I'm guessing is an engine limitation, their mystery second word is "a" which prompts them to reply with the word "a". In other words, if you type "a" to an NPC, if they reply with "a" then you know they are one of those NPCs that only respond to one "unique" word, as their second is "a".
(All of these examples are made up.)
Post edited September 12, 2011 by DeathStrike