newbie - infinite loop

[Terry Reedy]

Use a dictionary, not a list, to compile a 'list' of unique words.

words = {}
for word in text:
  if not hasattr(words, word):
    words[word] = None
wordlist = words.keys()

With only a little more effort and use of words.setdefault(), you can
easily count occurences.
Code recently posted.

Terry J. Reedy