Search found 316 matches

by Stewart Gordon
Mon Dec 31, 2018 7:49 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Introducing... the H2H-o-Matic!
Replies: 36
Views: 23884

Re: Introducing... the H2H-o-Matic!

I've noticed there are a few events missing from the last 3 years or so:
  • CoStAl 2016
  • CO:DUB 2017
  • CO:DUB 2018
  • Co:Blackpool 2018
  • CoBrum / FOCAL Finals 2018
  • probably a few others that I didn't participate in....
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Dec 31, 2018 7:17 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 13th December 2018 (Series 79, QF 1)
Replies: 17
Views: 9058

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 13th December 2018 (Series 79, QF 1)

I looked up some of the names of swingers and ringers mentioned in the guest anecdote. Jeffrey Allan Maggert George Walter "Bunky" Henry Jr (sadly passed away in August) Barkevious Levon "Keke" Mingo The last of these is an American footballer. And it would appear that Barkevious...
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Dec 16, 2018 7:31 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 22nd November (Series 79, Prelim 105)
Replies: 10
Views: 6681

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 22nd November (Series 79, Prelim 105)

Susie doesn't know the difference between a metaphor and a simile. :(
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Oct 20, 2018 11:41 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th September 2018 (Series 79, Prelim 59)
Replies: 7
Views: 4879

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 19th September 2018 (Series 79, Prelim 59)

"The 60-year-olds, who would have been born in the early 1950s" - don't think much of the arithmetic here!
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:19 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Change one letter of a film title to make a funny one
Replies: 63
Views: 41568

Re: Change one letter of a film title to make a funny one

Zarte Siempre wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 9:14 am *cheating slightly*

V for Vienetta
Nice one despite the slight cheating.
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 28th June 2018 (Series 79, Prelim 4)
Replies: 8
Views: 5956

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 28th June 2018 (Series 79, Prelim 4)

My inkling was that "inkling" came from "inclination".
by Stewart Gordon
Wed Dec 27, 2017 1:02 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: What's happened to dictionary definitions being shown on screen?
Replies: 2
Views: 3302

Re: What's happened to dictionary definitions being shown on screen?

Is that what they said - it looked rubbish? Or are you just hazarding a guess? Furthermore, at the moment I don't remember being unable to see it properly. And you would have thought it would have been sorted out by now.
by Stewart Gordon
Wed Dec 27, 2017 12:55 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 8th December 2017 (Series 77, Prelim 112)
Replies: 1
Views: 2348

Re: Spoilers for Friday 8th December 2017 (Series 77, Prelim 112)

I was surprised nobody mentioned OVENING in round 10. I'm also surprised that it doesn't seem to be a word according to ODO, but would have thought someone would have at least queried it.

(If I try searching for it it gives me "micro-ovening". It's even weirder that that's in there.)
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Dec 17, 2017 4:38 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: What's happened to dictionary definitions being shown on screen?
Replies: 2
Views: 3302

What's happened to dictionary definitions being shown on screen?

Back in the day, we had the pencam.

When the laptop was introduced to replace the paper ODE, the pencam was replaced with superimposing a screenshot of the ODO over the central portion of the screen.

However, they then stopped doing this. Does anybody have any idea why?
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Dec 02, 2017 1:33 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Count to Infinity in Pictures
Replies: 53
Views: 38799

Re: Count to Infinity in Pictures

This game doesn't seem to be moving ... let's give it some of this stuff:
Image
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Nov 19, 2017 8:20 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 26th September 2017 (Series 77, Prelim 60)
Replies: 5
Views: 3439

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 26th September 2017 (Series 77, Prelim 60)

At the risk of telling the world how far behind I am with Countdowns.... Malaphor. I've come across the concept but had no idea there was a word for it. The 'Mangled Expressions' section here has a few examples of these. The one I've heard quite a bit in my time is "get the short end of the sti...
by Stewart Gordon
Thu Oct 19, 2017 1:50 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: How many countries have you been to?
Replies: 172
Views: 82098

Re: How many countries have you been to?

Vatican City (dubious if this is counted) OF COURSE THIS COUNTS. Wait what? That's a sovereign state that's a member of the UN in its own right? I went there while I was in Rome. So 9. Vatican City is one of the two sovereign states that aren't UN members - the other being Taiwan. At least, I'm not...
by Stewart Gordon
Thu Oct 19, 2017 1:40 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: How many countries have you been to?
Replies: 172
Views: 82098

Re: How many countries have you been to?

Not quite at the bottom of the list with 6/197 (3/4):
United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Republic of Ireland, Belgium (purely by the 10-minute rule), Finland (England, Scotland, Wales)
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Oct 03, 2017 12:17 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Co:Glasgow & Co:GlasgowOnThen
Replies: 2
Views: 7199

Re: Co:Glasgow & Co:GlasgowOnThen

I'm confused. The Facebook event page says it's cancelled, but the indication here and on the entry form is that it's still going ahead. Which is correct?
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Aug 15, 2017 11:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 13 June 2017
Replies: 4
Views: 4495

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 13 June 2017

Looks like MATEY now has a variant form MATY. So by standard English rules, MATIES would be the plural. But if (as Susie implied) the dictionary doesn't explicitly give the plural, then according to something we were told once upon a time the plural would be MATYS. Unless it's changed since that tim...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Aug 05, 2017 7:10 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Set designs and opening sequences over the years
Replies: 3
Views: 4186

Set designs and opening sequences over the years

Has anybody kept track of these?

It would be good to have a full list, or as near to a full list as we can, of the various sets and title sequences and the range of series for which each was used. And maybe start a page or two on the wiki....
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jul 11, 2017 2:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Has MOTLIER ever actually been valid?
Replies: 3
Views: 3376

Re: Has MOTLIER ever actually been valid?

I see. So the dictionary that used to be freely available (and which Countdown use) has now been hidden behind a paywall, and a cut-down version has been sneakily put in its place. And so now only subscribers to Oxford Dictionaries Premium can verify if a word validation error has been made on the s...
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jul 11, 2017 12:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Has MOTLIER ever actually been valid?
Replies: 3
Views: 3376

Has MOTLIER ever actually been valid?

It seems that on a handful of occasions this word has been given by a contestant, and each time allowed. I've just checked the dictionary, and from what I can make out it isn't a valid word at all. There is no entry for MOTLIER, MOTLY or MOTLIE on en.oxforddictionaries.com. The entry for MOTLEY does...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Apr 29, 2017 4:11 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 24th April 2017
Replies: 5
Views: 3850

Re: Spoilers for Monday, 24th April 2017

Yes, as I guessed, OUTBOX as a verb means to be better at boxing than someone else. On the other hand, INBOX as a verb is somewhat more puzzling. To my surprise, ODO tells me the email meaning of OUTBOX is an Americanism. What's it called on these shores then? I always thought it was called an outbo...
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Apr 17, 2017 6:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 17th April 2017
Replies: 11
Views: 7545

Re: Spoilers for Monday 17th April 2017

Susie talked about expletives. I knew about the literal meaning being 'filler word'. According to Wikipedia, this includes something not mentioned in Susie's piece: words such as "it" and "there" when used as grammatical placeholders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_exple...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:05 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Monday 13 February 2017 (Series 76, Prelim 25)
Replies: 4
Views: 4785

Re: Spoilers for Monday 13 February 2017 (Series 76, Prelim 25)

Do you reckon CUTLERIES would have been allowed in round 4? (Where does the scope of the 'portions' rule begin and end?)

Also, there was no mention of PULSATOR in round 11.
by Stewart Gordon
Fri Dec 30, 2016 3:17 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thusday August 25th 2016
Replies: 13
Views: 5100

Re: Spoilers for Thusday August 25th 2016

Hi Martin, just wondering: Are you any relation to Jack or Josh? Or, for that matter, Bill, John, Rachel or Tony?

PS Congrats for winning the series. :)
by Stewart Gordon
Fri Dec 02, 2016 11:49 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: How many UK cities have you been to?
Replies: 43
Views: 16300

Re: How many UK cities have you been to?

Chipping in a bit late here (and if I've counted correctly):

England: 15 (17 if you include having changed trains there; 16 if you include those that later became cities; 18 if you include both)
Wales: 0
Scotland: 1
Northern Ireland: 0
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Nov 22, 2016 10:30 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 25th October 2016
Replies: 14
Views: 4543

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 25th October 2016

You wouldn't speak of "a tinsel" or "five tinsel", therefore it's nonsense. Speaking nonsense in the name of saving time is a false economy.

I'm pretty sure her usual "shortcut" explanation is "you can't pluralise it"....
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Nov 21, 2016 11:46 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 25th October 2016
Replies: 14
Views: 4543

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 25th October 2016

Joe asked if TINSELS would be valid. So TINSEL is the word that Susie was claiming is singular, plural and a mass noun all at the same time. (Which might actually be true of some words, but they would be distinct subcategories of noun to which the word belongs, not ways of saying the same thing.)
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Nov 21, 2016 11:28 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Tuesday 25th October 2016
Replies: 14
Views: 4543

Re: Spoilers for Tuesday 25th October 2016

I have trouble believing Susie managed to make this fundamental error: "Yes, same in the plural. It's a mass noun, in other words." Somebody of her standing certainly shouldn't be confusing the two concepts.
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Jul 25, 2016 11:44 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: On the mass noun restaurant rule
Replies: 9
Views: 4297

Re: On the mass noun restaurant rule

The point is that something appearing on a menu seems to be an invitation for people to stick an S (or ES or whatever) on the end of a word regardless of how its usually pluralised or indeed whether it is usually pluralised What are the exact rules about the "S (or ES or whatever)"? I thi...
by Stewart Gordon
Fri Jul 22, 2016 10:07 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: Countdown in Nottingham V- Saturday 23rd July 2016
Replies: 20
Views: 10903

Re: Countdown in Nottingham V- Saturday 23rd July 2016

What are people thinking of doing about lunch?
by Stewart Gordon
Tue May 17, 2016 6:02 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Dress and make-up when appearing on show
Replies: 25
Views: 9451

Re: Dress and make-up when appearing on show

What sort of dress and make-up do the production team insist on for contestants appearing on the show? I am asking this for a serious reason. I was on in 2007. What I remember being told is: Not white No logos or patterns, other than wide stripes Preferably not round-necked T-shirts for men (why me...
by Stewart Gordon
Fri May 06, 2016 12:50 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 21 April 2016 (Series 74 Episode 57)
Replies: 11
Views: 3845

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 21 April 2016 (Series 74 Episode 57)

How many meanings of DINGBAT are people here familiar with? It seems odd to me that Nick apparently knew only the "crazy person" meaning. I knew both meanings (crazy person and crazy Unicode character), but was surprised that the clue was basically just a dictionary definition/description...
by Stewart Gordon
Mon May 02, 2016 2:07 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 29 April 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 63)
Replies: 5
Views: 2031

Re: Spoilers for Friday 29 April 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 63)

No Susie, the French for "to the right" is "à droite", not "à droit". The two words are very closely related, but you have to be careful not to confuse them when giving or interpreting directions.
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Apr 24, 2016 5:16 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday 21 April 2016 (Series 74 Episode 57)
Replies: 11
Views: 3845

Re: Spoilers for Thursday 21 April 2016 (Series 74 Episode 57)

How many meanings of DINGBAT are people here familiar with? It seems odd to me that Nick apparently knew only the "crazy person" meaning.
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Apr 23, 2016 8:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Wednesday 20th April
Replies: 11
Views: 4254

Re: Spoilers for Wednesday 20th April

Of WORSER, "According to the rules of Countdown, we'd allow it, because WORSE is a single syllable." So the rules now say you can put the -ER on any single-syllable word? And so a lot of these agent nouns that have been rejected in the past are now valid? Even if she meant only single-syll...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Apr 23, 2016 2:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday April 18th 2016
Replies: 8
Views: 2995

Re: Spoilers For Monday April 18th 2016

Gavin Chipper wrote:People see the "dis" and think of that even though that would make it dis-hevelled.
Maybe. But on this basis I ought to have come across at least one commentary that includes a comment to the effect of "If this were the opposite of anything, it would be 'hevelled'".
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:26 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For Monday April 18th 2016
Replies: 8
Views: 2995

Re: Spoilers For Monday April 18th 2016

Not for the first time, Susie spoke about words like "gruntled", "kempt" and "couth". It seems that "shevelled" always comes up in discussions of this nature. Susie gives it as an example of "where we think only the opposite exists". It puzzles me th...
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Apr 17, 2016 12:19 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday March 31st 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 44)
Replies: 9
Views: 3278

Re: Spoilers for Thursday March 31st 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 44)

Gavin Chipper wrote:You definitely want to look right as the last thing you do before crossing. That's where you'd get hit from as you step into the road.
Exactly. Well said.
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Thursday March 31st 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 44)
Replies: 9
Views: 3278

Re: Spoilers for Thursday March 31st 2016 (Series 74 Prelim 44)

Tim Vine was taught the Green Cross Code as "look left, then look right, then look left again". Opposite of what my mum taught me and what seems to make most sense. Do you think he learned it from someone in a country that drives on the right? That said, according to every edition of the H...
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:48 pm
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers for Friday 1st April 2016
Replies: 13
Views: 4298

Re: Spoilers for Friday 1st April 2016

I was taught as a child that you're only allowed to play April Fool before 12:00. But I've always wanted to know who invented that rule.
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Apr 10, 2016 6:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Where have all the recaps gone?
Replies: 12
Views: 3890

Re: Where have all the recaps gone?

I thought we had multiple recap writers ... so they've all collapsed? :( (I'd volunteer myself, but knowing me I'd probably fall behind with it.) For the meantime, where's the best place to start discussions of things referred to on individual Countdown episodes? For example: the words the contestan...
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Apr 10, 2016 4:02 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Where have all the recaps gone?
Replies: 12
Views: 3890

Where have all the recaps gone?

The last one here seems to be from 4 March.
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Mar 27, 2016 10:21 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Thursday 18th February 2016 ( Series 74 Prelim 19 )
Replies: 3
Views: 2310

Re: Thursday 18th February 2016 ( Series 74 Prelim 19 )

Johnny Canuck wrote:Her mind must have only been going a few knots per hour when she said it, I guess.
:)

(Where's the like button when I need it?)
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Mar 20, 2016 10:53 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Thursday 18th February 2016 ( Series 74 Prelim 19 )
Replies: 3
Views: 2310

Re: Thursday 18th February 2016 ( Series 74 Prelim 19 )

Susie misread the definition of POUNDAL. And everybody seemed blissfully unaware that "an acceleration of one foot per second" makes no sense....

(Not to mention that it actually came out as "icceleration"....)
by Stewart Gordon
Sun Mar 06, 2016 1:05 am
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Tuesday 26 January 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 2)
Replies: 13
Views: 4676

Re: Tuesday 26 January 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 2)

Gavin Chipper wrote:There is also WOMAN but no WOWOMAN.
What would that be - an adult fefemale human being?
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Mar 05, 2016 6:23 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Tuesday 26 January 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 2)
Replies: 13
Views: 4676

Re: Tuesday 26 January 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 2)

The male contestant takes first blood with a masculine word which apparently has no feminine equivalent. Nope, not even in the 2016 aptodic update can one be a SHOWWOMAN^. If she were still with us in Recapland, Jen would be outraged. You could well ask. There are loads of feminine words that seem ...
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Mar 05, 2016 6:10 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Tuesday 26 January 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 2)
Replies: 13
Views: 4676

Re: Tuesday 26 January 2016 (Series 74, Prelim 2)

Do many people realise that, once your opponent has buzzed in and got the conundrum wrong, you have the rest of the time to yourself? Margaret should have taken her time, and checked her answer before buzzing in.
by Stewart Gordon
Fri Feb 05, 2016 2:22 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)
Replies: 14
Views: 4500

Re: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)

Gavin Chipper wrote:We don't have to know literally everything to come up with a "best explanation". My version has the gap of why Susie doesn't/didn't use the pronunciation guide.
Which is the whole thing I was asking in the first place. Hence my point.
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Feb 02, 2016 2:01 am
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)
Replies: 14
Views: 4500

Re: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)

Gavin Chipper wrote:1. She uses the same dictionary as us but doesn't use the pronunciation guide,
How does this explain why she refuses to use the pronunciation guide?
Gavin Chipper wrote:or at least didn't use it on this occasion.
How does this explain why she decided not to use it on this occasion?

Please stop this silliness.
by Stewart Gordon
Sat Jan 30, 2016 8:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)
Replies: 14
Views: 4500

Re: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)

Gavin Chipper wrote:That Susie doesn't look at the pronunciation guide.
That isn't an explanation at all. It's really just saying the same thing I'm querying (that she guessed the pronunciation rather than referring to any pronunciation guide) in different words.
by Stewart Gordon
Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:37 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)
Replies: 14
Views: 4500

Re: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)

Is that a quote from Susie? Is the point you're making that because she didn't know the pronunciation even though it's specified, she must have been using a different dictionary? Of course. I don't think that's really evidence that they use a different dictionary. What alternative explanation do yo...
by Stewart Gordon
Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: COREA16 - Saturday 26th March 2016
Replies: 20
Views: 14430

Re: COREA16 - Saturday 26th March 2016

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Tony Atkins wrote:The fifth COREA (Countdown in Reading) is on the Saturday of Easter weekend
But is it Easter Saturday?
Don't start that again.
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:35 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: COLIN XII- Countdown in Lincoln, 30-31 January 2016
Replies: 132
Views: 41723

Re: COLIN XII- Countdown in Lincoln, 30-31 January 2016

Ben Wilson wrote:As always, COLIN will begin at 11:30
I could have sworn it used to start earlier than that....
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:31 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Countdowners On Other Quizzes
Replies: 253
Views: 165857

Re: Countdowners On Other Quizzes

Those of you who aren't regulars on the wiki might be interested to know that we have a comprehensive list of such people.
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jan 26, 2016 9:56 pm
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)
Replies: 14
Views: 4500

Re: Wednesday 20th January 2016 (CoC XIV, 1st Semi-Final)

"I think 'ow-bwwt' probably." I had to look it up.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... ish/ouboet does give the pronunciation. So it looks like we were wrong, and this isn't the dictionary the show uses after all.
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Jan 26, 2016 1:15 pm
Forum: Countdown - Events
Topic: COLIN XII- Countdown in Lincoln, 30-31 January 2016
Replies: 132
Views: 41723

Re: COLIN XII- Countdown in Lincoln, 30-31 January 2016

What are the lunch arrangements this time round?
by Stewart Gordon
Mon Nov 16, 2015 2:21 am
Forum: Countdown - Current recaps
Topic: Thursday 17th Septmeber 2015 ( Series 73 , Prelim 54 )
Replies: 3
Views: 2196

Re: Thursday 17th Septmeber 2015 ( Series 73 , Prelim 54 )

From which dictionary did Nick get that NYLON comes from London and New York? I was explicitly taught that this isn't the case ... and I would have expected Susie to comment on the matter.
by Stewart Gordon
Thu Nov 05, 2015 5:36 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: How do I know if my word is valid?
Replies: 57
Views: 59675

Re: How do I know if my word is valid?

VASELINE is weird - it's marked as a trademark but it's lowercase. I would say the trademark supersedes the case, as many trademarks have a lowercase initial letter anyway (ebay to name but one - I have always thought of it styled as eBay but maybe I imagined it?). Is the rule that the word must st...
by Stewart Gordon
Thu Nov 05, 2015 1:06 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: How do I know if my word is valid?
Replies: 57
Views: 59675

Re: How do I know if my word is valid?

I'm sure that when the ODO was being put together there were many competing requirements. It's hard to imagine the needs of Countdown being the highest priority. What other requirement would have competed with this one, exactly? I can imagine. The Countdown community would have just been a small bu...
by Stewart Gordon
Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:27 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: How do I know if my word is valid?
Replies: 57
Views: 59675

Re: How do I know if my word is valid?

You'd think that with an online dictionary you could just enter a word in the search box, and if it's a word then it'll find it, and if it isn't then it won't. Sadly, it doesn't seem that this is the case with ODO. For instance, POETRIES brings up POETRY, even though Susie once told us there's no se...
by Stewart Gordon
Tue Oct 20, 2015 12:33 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: The restaurant rule
Replies: 17
Views: 3782

Re: The restaurant rule

I've just looked it up , and it now gives RAVIOLI as a plural noun. It must have been listed as a mass noun in the dictionary that Countdown used at the time. So now, if they allow RAVIOLIS, then I guess that they would have to allow CHIPSES? Or does it make a difference whether it's listed as a plu...