c4countdown

Brian Moore

Thought Andrew was going to go far. Not in the field of public speaking, I'll wager. I did actually wonder if Andrew had a slight communication difficulty - he didn't seem to find it easy to express himself at all fluently. Maybe it was just nerves, but I did wonder. It contrasted with what looked ...

Brian Moore

Rich Priest wrote:PASTICHE, round 2.

I was pleased to get that too, also DOVETAIL in R1

Brian Moore

Well I have watched every Jeff Stelling episode, and I have never heard him do so. Amazingly my brain must shut off at that exact moment each episode. Yep, definitely no way you could just forget something. Isn't Derek referring to the way DesO used to say things like "well, you're just playin...

Brian Moore

Phil Reynolds wrote:but it's a bit hit-and-miss, and quite difficult to jump forward

Women would probably be more accurate in their aim, even if the jumping forward still presents problems.

Brian Moore

Yeah, I noticed ORRERY first too. In my case I knew ORRERIES was a word but spent the rest of the round trying to count the Es and Rs I could see on screen to convince myself I had enough. Not helped by the new "improved" Channel 4 Catch-Up which seems much jerkier than the old one. Also,...

Brian Moore

In my previous post I toyed with the idea of quoting Matt's "anti-emitics" and putting "sic" in brackets afterwards, but it wasn't all that funny so I didn't bother. I'm glad you got that out of your system. (I toyed with the idea of putting that as a reply, but decided that tha...

Brian Moore

Phil Reynolds wrote:insofar™ as

How long before it turns into insofaras™ ? (Do you ever get 'insofar' without 'as'?)

Brian Moore

I thought I'd done well with a DC-beating CADENCE in R12, but I see that's been beaten here already. It wasn't a vintage DC day today - surprising, given the intellectual capacity and rigour of Jon Gaunt (as evidenced by his cogently argued homilies). I've really warmed to Cate - it would be nice to...

Brian Moore

I finally got to see the game last night after all the problems with channel4.com/catchup Catch-Up still doesn't work for me after the first commercial break. Pooh. Have just rechecked from here, and it's still not working, you're right Phil. I'll have a grrr at C4 for lying to me. Sorry, I had foo...

Brian Moore

Not so amazingly quick; there was a gap of nearly a month between the recording of Thursday's show and this one. I should have given a wink ... I had actually guessed that it was week's gap, though I haven't studied beard growth rates. Interesting to see Tim Roth's biography - he seems to specialis...

Brian Moore

Interesting game, even if DC did have a fairly easy ride. But was also surprised about the DC miss of ENFORCES. Thought I must have made a mistake, as usual. Stephen has spoilt the master criminal look though with the amazingly quick beard growth (wow, not even a weekend for it ... he must get throu...

Brian Moore

Mike Brailsford wrote:CATERER for 7

Or TRACERY.

I've been thinking that Stephen could convincingly play the part of a particularly cold-blooded criminal, if he were an actor. I'm sure he's actually a really nice person. Nothing personal. Sorry.

Brian Moore

Apparently the whole show is now available at Catch-Up. Here's the email from C4: "Thank you for your email regarding Catch-Up on Channel4.com. I have checked Catch-Up and can confirm that this full episode of COUNTDOWN is now available to stream. You can find this episode along with the other ...

Brian Moore

I hope that they don't blame it on Digital Rights Management. Or Windows Media Player. I remembered you pestering them a couple of weeks ago, Phil. Well, if they try to suggest it's just an individual's problem, let's just send them a link to this page. BTW - am trying downloading from 4oD, but it'...

Brian Moore

Howard Somerset wrote:I've informed them using the on-line comment form. If I hear back I'll let you know.

Ditto. I hope that they don't blame it on Digital Rights Management.

Brian Moore

Sadly bloody channel 4 catch up and 4od only show the first 5 rounds and then it cuts off :x Yes, grrrrr indeed. I only get to watch on catch-up, had been really looking forward to it today, then up come these ladies in hair dryers after just five rounds. Even now I know the result (and congratulat...

Brian Moore

Yes, "to be" is the only verb in English which has a distinct subjunctive, so most of the time you can just ignore it. It's used to denote a kind of uncertainty or hypotheticality, e.g. "If he were to win, he would be the greatest ever." Don't we also use the subjunctive in a si...

Brian Moore

I haven't read all of that but my understanding was that "I used to" is "standard" and fine, "I did use to" isn't "standard" but is quite common and "I did used to" is just weird. Although I'm not even in the foothills of understanding linguistics (...

Brian Moore

If nothing else, I am delighted to have discovered (via the second link I posted) that "used to" is "a defective quasimodal verb", a phrase I shall lose no time in dropping into conversation at the Cricketers' Arms. That catchy terminology caught my eye too. It's just the settin...

Brian Moore

I think that you possibly did use the wrong tense. If you mean by dropping the d of "used to" when used in a clause with "did" (either for emphasis, as in my case, or to form a question or a negative - "did you use to...?", "I didn't use to..."), then not acc...

Brian Moore

Oh blimey, sorry Phil, can't resist, but is that a mistake there? Is what a mistake where? I'm not immune to making mistakes (though it's nice to know I have a reputation for infallibility), but having re-read those particular nine words of mine several times, they seem fine to me. It does seem a b...

Brian Moore

After arguing for a couple of days with some jobsworth from C4 (who tried to get me to do everything from reinstall Windows Media Player to reset the time on my PC), I finally managed to convince them that the problem lay at their end rather than mine and Friday's episode is now viewable via Catch-...

Brian Moore

My ex-GF told me he practised in her home town, which is midway between Bath and Bristol, has 8 letters, and was also the title of an album by the Bonzo Dog Band. Here's your 30 seconds: ding-diggle-iggle-iggle-ing diggle-iggle-iggle-ing... Keynsham. Got it in 2 seconds. Google even gets you the ad...

Brian Moore

My ex-GF told me he practised in her home town, which is midway between Bath and Bristol, has 8 letters, and was also the title of an album by the Bonzo Dog Band. Here's your 30 seconds: ding-diggle-iggle-iggle-ing diggle-iggle-iggle-ing... Keynsham. Got it in 2 seconds. Google even gets you the ad...

Brian Moore

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Tracey Lilly wrote:I am trying to watch today's episode on Channel 4 Catchup but I keep getting a media error sign and it wil not play.
Any one else having problems or is it just me?
Didn't see this before posting on the other thread but, yes, I'm having the same problem.

Me too ...

Brian Moore

AnnieHall wrote:Who is the woman on dictionary corner and what is she famous for??

Reading out loud from books, apparently.

Brian Moore

Oh now that is cool! Tough though. I follow a man but I am not a man, I am a woman but I don't follow a woman, I am who I am, but I am not what I follow because if I was what I follow, I would not be who I am. I also follow a car, a train, a dog, and all that moves? Is this at least partly right? Y...

Brian Moore

Ah, I remember getting very confused before finding out that suivre was a horrible irregular little verb. "I follow a woman, but I am not a woman"? As for Sartre, "L'enfer, c'est les autres"- he knew his stuff! I've just found a longer version of the riddle on French website: Je...

Brian Moore

But you don't need accents (or lack of them) to make ambiguous phrases in French. There was a case of a French teacher (a teacher in France) several years ago who lost his job because he used to set his class riddles. Unwisely, for each time the class got the wrong solution to the riddle, his chosen...

Brian Moore

"f***" may be a catch-all word, functioning as a verb, adjective and interjection-style noun, but you can't say precisely what you mean with it I think the script-writers of The Wire might disagree. If you've seen Season 1 Episode 4, you'll know what I mean. Only about 3 different words o...

Brian Moore

Ray Folwell wrote:My wife got CRABWISE in R1

I was actually playing crabwise scales while the letters came up ... once the C came up, I was so hoping for an S. Didn't have to wait long.

Brian Moore

Jon Corby wrote:
Brian Moore wrote:The clues are in the panel to the left - the name's there, and the thing stuck on the front of my face, below my nose, is a trumpet.
Welcome Brian. Phil Reynolds used to have a very similar-looking avatar by the way, until we lobbied him to change it.

I hope I've removed the offensive bit.

Brian Moore

I have a confession to make - I always practise the trumpet while watching Countdown. I do all the boring routine stuff while I watch, and encourage my pupils to do the same; it's good brain-training, and makes the routine enjoyable. Most of my pupils think I'm odd for playing scales and watching C...

Brian Moore

I wouldn't want people to think I would actually say something that moronic (to Phil or anyone else) with a straight face. I actually rather hope that you will continue to keep a straight face. One of the joys of good intellects is the quality of invective and insult. Anything other than a straight...

Brian Moore

I must look up 'irony' in my dictionary. I'm unsure whether you're trying to be funny or if this is the most spectacular joke miss ever, please clarify. I suppose that it must be the former (sorry, yes, it's not) ... the question is, should I stoop to using emoticons to indicate 'attempt at humour'...

Brian Moore

The clues are in the panel to the left - the name's there, and the thing stuck on the front of my face, below my nose, is a trumpet. I play it and teach it. I've also done things academic in music, and in my life as a herdsman became qualified to do artificial insemination (AI) on cows. I never work...

Brian Moore

Respect other people, and if they're worthwhile human beings they'll respect you. Phil, I should totally employ you as my full-time apologist. What's the pay like? I have a Cambridge degree, I shouldn't have to pay people like you who haven't even been on the show. I must look up 'irony' in my dict...

Brian Moore

Martin Gardner wrote:For instance, how do you explain the totally different pronunciations of THROUGH, THOUGHT and THOUGH. I suppose you might as well add TROUGH and TOUGH to that list.

And LOUGH and BOUGH and THOROUGH and ....

Brian Moore

What's polysemic mean? My NODE's downstairs, it isn't in my average-size dictionary I keep up here. Polysemy is when the same word has very closely related but different meanings. I'm nicking this straight out of Steven Pinker's 'The Stuff of Thought' (there, I capitalised the nouns, to make it eas...

Brian Moore

Ah, well I thought I ought to make a deliberate mistake in my first post. At least the mistake was my own work. At least you have contributed more to the forum already than most people have. Perhaps I ought to post a long list of all the mistakes I make for each programme ... though I have some sor...

Brian Moore

SPACERS round: SUNSPACE is a contestant/DC beater (not really my own work, was checking the Stemmer for UNSPACES) I think I got PRANCERS in this round - and it was my own work. Well done. Although the selection only had 1 R Ah, well I thought I ought to make a deliberate mistake in my first post. A...

Brian Moore

Matt Morrison wrote:SPACERS round: SUNSPACE is a contestant/DC beater (not really my own work, was checking the Stemmer for UNSPACES)

I think I got PRANCERS in this round - and it was my own work.

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