Words You Would Have Thought...

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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Adam Gillard »

*diablo/diablos

You know the toy on the string that you throw up and catch...
Mike Brown: "Round 12: T N R S A E I G U

C1: SIGNATURE (18) ["9; not written down"]
C2: SEATING (7)
Score: 108–16 (max 113)

Another niner for Adam and yet another century. Well done, that man."
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

Adam Gillard wrote:*diablo/diablos

You know the toy on the string that you throw up and catch...
Diabolo?
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Gavin Chipper »

*diablo/diablos

You know the devil...
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Miriam Nussbaum »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Liam Tiernan wrote:I've seen a similar thread before (HEPTANES/ethanes etc.), but is there any good reason why BOVINE, FELINE & EQUINE are listed as nouns as well as adjectives,(allowing BOVINES, FELINES, EQUINES as valid words) while similar words like CAPRINE, PORCINE, VULPINE etc. are not ? CANINES (teeth) and LUPINES (flowers), are understandable exceptions, but these three just seem totally arbritrary to me. Is there some rule that i'm missing?
Probably not. Statistical lexicography is often inconsistent when you slice it in a different direction, for example TRIGRAM, TETRAGRAM, PENTAGRAM but not bigram. It just depends on coincidences of usage frequency.
Not even 'digram'?
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

Miriam Nussbaum wrote:Not even 'digram'?
Nope.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Miriam Nussbaum wrote:Not even 'digram'?
Nope.
Diabolical! You know the toy on the string that you throw up and catch...
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Ian Volante
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Ian Volante »

Fairnesses.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Simon Le Fort »

In French versus Matt B:

NOYERAI.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Karen Pearson »

Simon Le Fort wrote:In French versus Matt B:

NOYERAI.

NOIERAI

Bloody irregular verbs!!!
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Simon Le Fort »

NOYERAI is the correct spelling of will drown, as confirmed by a simple google. I'll paste a little bit:

noyerai
will drown verbe

All the --YER verbs keep their Y in past and future forms, just the present and the noun forms modify. Making the rule up myself, I think it's like that. (Essuyait; payerez; tutoyerai etc)

Apterous just doesn't like the word NOYERAI.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Karen Pearson »

Simon Le Fort wrote:NOYERAI is the correct spelling of will drown, as confirmed by a simple google. I'll paste a little bit:

noyerai
will drown verbe

All the --YER verbs keep their Y in past and future forms, just the present and the noun forms modify. Making the rule up myself, I think it's like that. (Essuyait; payerez; tutoyerai etc)

Apterous just doesn't like the word NOYERAI.
Sorry, not according to my dictionary. Payer is the only one that can be PAYERAI or PAIERAI. Admittedly my dictionary is pretty old. But an online translator also comes up with NOIERAI.
http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_s ... lator.html

Maybe Jeff Clayton could clarify for us - his French is a lot more up-to-date than mine!
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Jeff Clayton »

I believe it's NOIERAI.

"Nettoyer" is another -oyer verb that follows the same rule in the future tense.

Jeff
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Ryan Taylor »

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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Michael Wallace »

Ryan Taylor wrote:Shocking
Err...
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Ryan Taylor »

Michael Wallace wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:Shocking
Err...
That's at least some relief that the word exists, but quite frightening how bad my spelling is!
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Simon Myers »

Ryan Taylor wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:Shocking
Err...
That's at least some relief that the word exists, but quite frightening how bad my spelling is!
You're not the first to have made that kind of mistake...
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Dinos Sfyris »

Has mauves recently been removed? I've played it a few times before and it's been fine but played it in this game yesterday only to have it disallowed (although bizarrely I still got a Page of Page for my efforts). I'm guessing it's been taken out because you can't have different shades of MAUVE because mauve is a specific shade of purple. Bizarrely AZURES was acceptable in the same round and on the same basis should this be removed :?:
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Michael Wallace »

Dinos Sfyris wrote:Has mauves recently been removed? I've played it a few times before and it's been fine
Really? If you look down the list in word search it's been played loads of times and doesn't seem to have ever been valid. I can remember playing MAUVES months and months (possibly years) ago and having it disallowed.

Edit: Although from searching the forums it seems it has been allowed on the show, so hmm...
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Liam Tiernan »

MELLOWER http://www.apterous.org/lexplorer.php?g ... ower&dic=0 ended up costing me the game.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Adam Gillard »

Liam Tiernan wrote:MELLOWER http://www.apterous.org/lexplorer.php?g ... ower&dic=0 ended up costing me the game.
On a similar note, *SHALLOWER isn't in. SHALLOWED, SHALLOWING, SHALLOWLY and SHALLOWNESS all are. So it doesn't make much sense to me.

NB: Of course Liam could have declared the obvious 7 EELWORM to win that round, so I don't see why he's complaining.
Mike Brown: "Round 12: T N R S A E I G U

C1: SIGNATURE (18) ["9; not written down"]
C2: SEATING (7)
Score: 108–16 (max 113)

Another niner for Adam and yet another century. Well done, that man."
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Ian Volante »

Adam Gillard wrote:
Liam Tiernan wrote:MELLOWER http://www.apterous.org/lexplorer.php?g ... ower&dic=0 ended up costing me the game.
On a similar note, *SHALLOWER isn't in. SHALLOWED, SHALLOWING, SHALLOWLY and SHALLOWNESS all are. So it doesn't make much sense to me.

NB: Of course Liam could have declared the obvious 7 EELWORM to win that round, so I don't see why he's complaining.
Well SHALLOWER (and MELLOWER for that matter) are comparative forms of two-syllable words, which mostly aren't allowed. The other forms of SHALLOW aren't particularly relevant.
meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

Ian Volante wrote: Well SHALLOWER (and MELLOWER for that matter) are comparative forms of two-syllable words, which mostly aren't allowed. The other forms of SHALLOW aren't particularly relevant.
This.

At some point I might invest some time in making a list of the longer adjectives which do have inflections.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Miriam Nussbaum »

After having DC give SEXTETTES many times, I was pretty surprised to discover that *nonettes was invalid.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

Miriam Nussbaum wrote:After having DC give SEXTETTES many times, I was pretty surprised to discover that *nonettes was invalid.
Variations with numbers are often weird. For some reason QUARTETTE, SEXTETTE and SEPTETTE are accepted, but there's no DUETTE, QUINTETTE, OCTETTE or NONETTE. Incidentally the usual spelling is SEXTET, and NONET is indeed valid.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Miriam Nussbaum »

Yeah – this was in unlimited and I was feeling confident, never having bothered to check it and assuming it was like the fencing guards, which are also numbers and valid.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Dinos Sfyris »

Charlie Reams wrote:Variations with numbers are often weird. For some reason QUARTETTE, SEXTETTE and SEPTETTE are accepted, but there's no DUETTE, QUINTETTE, OCTETTE or NONETTE. Incidentally the usual spelling is SEXTET, and NONET is indeed valid.
This is true. In the audience for The Series 61 final I was sat next to Innis who had NONUPLET^ written down which I thought was a brilliant beater. Turns out its invalid :(
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Ian Volante »

Swatter.
meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Ian Volante »

SUD!
meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Liam Tiernan »

Ian Volante wrote:SUD!
One just doesn't wash.


*Marc Meakin is on holiday.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Ian Volante »

Unclotted. Humph.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Graeme Cole »

FANBASE. Also, you can have UPTIME but not DOWNTIME.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Andrew Feist »

ferrites. Especially when DC chides me for not playing FERRATES.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Peter Mabey »

Andrew Feist wrote:ferrites. Especially when DC chides me for not playing FERRATES.
Whereas NODE records FERRATE as a ferric salt, it does not have FERRITE as a ferrous one :roll: , so it's only there as a mass noun (in two senses) :shock:
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Miriam Nussbaum »

On the flip side, I'm surprised that WYSIWYG is in.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Graeme Cole wrote:FANBASE.
I got that a couple of years ago, but it looks as though it's built up quite a fanbase since then.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Ryan Taylor »

I can't believe FATTENER isn't a word. Pfftttttt
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Hugh Binnie »

Graeme Cole wrote:FANBASE. Also, you can have UPTIME but not DOWNTIME.
Good news and bad news wrt the 3rd edition — DOWNTIME is in [mass noun] but fan base is two words.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Miriam Nussbaum »

LENITION is in but not FORTITION^. :cry:
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Adam Gillard »

Yes that is strange Miriam. One that just came to my attention was FRO*. I suppose it's only ever used in the set phrase "to and fro" / "to-ing and fro-ing", so that would be why it isn't in. Or, as Mark James suggested, is it an abbreviation of "towards and from", hence the disallowedness. Thoughts?
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Matt Morrison »

...Ought Not Be Valid As Conundrums.

Had two conundrums recently that have confused me.

FLESHPOTS - without the S it is not valid, but I can still not find a definition of the word which isn't a plural definition of a singular fleshpot.
HOOKAHS - to me, clearly a plural, and also in this case HOOKAH without the S is valid on apterous.

Not saying anything's wrong, just need them explained to sate my curiosity and understanding.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Dinos Sfyris »

Nasty numbers 15 rders include plurals as conundrums. Some of these have been included in recent duels inc fleshpots
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

Matt Morrison wrote:FLESHPOTS - without the S it is not valid, but I can still not find a definition of the word which isn't a plural definition of a singular fleshpot.
I see what you mean, it's difficult to know how to handle the plural-but-no-singular cases (BEESTINGS is another example). I tended to allow them where I wasn't sure.
HOOKAHS - to me, clearly a plural, and also in this case HOOKAH without the S is valid on apterous.
Yep, just a mistake. Will remove.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Miriam Nussbaum »

I would have beaten my Junior Unlimited personal best just now if I'd declared PEEWEE or even WEEP instead of BEWEEP^. >>;
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Adam Gillard »

beheadings
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

Adam Gillard wrote:beheadings
Can someone with a ODE3 check this? Perhaps you could argue it was a surgical procedure and justify the mass noun plural on that basis...
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Peter Mabey »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Adam Gillard wrote:beheadings
Can someone with a ODE3 check this? Perhaps you could argue it was a surgical procedure and justify the mass noun plural on that basis...
From OED3 (thanks to online Manchester City library)
The action of cutting off the head; spec. of execution by decapitation.
a1225 Ancr. R. 184 Nolde me tellen him alre monne dusi{ygh}est, {th}et forsoke..ane nelde prikunge, uor ane bihefdunge. 1541 R. COPLAND Guydon's Quest. Cyrurg., Whan he had a deade body by beheadyng or other wyse. 1585 THYNNE in Animadv. Introd. 75 The duke of Buckinghams beheadding. 1586-7 Churchw. Acc. St. Margaret's, Westm., (Nichols 1797) 21 Paid for ringing at the beheading of the Queen of Scotts. 1615 HIERON Wks. I. 664 That story, which reports his beheading at Rome. 1732 T. LEDIARD Sethos II. VII. 54 The easiest and shortest of all deaths, beheading. 1863 THACKERAY in Cornh. Mag. Jan., Battles and victories, treasons, kings, and beheadings.
Last edited by Peter Mabey on Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

Peter Mabey wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:
Adam Gillard wrote:beheadings
Can someone with a ODE3 check this? Perhaps you could argue it was a surgical procedure and justify the mass noun plural on that basis...
From OED3 (thanks to online Manchester City library)
The action of cutting off the head; spec. of execution by decapitation.
I forget the exact wording of the intro, but I believe that specific actions are pluralisable.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Kirk Bevins »

Certainly in ODE2r, BEHEADING is not specified in its entirety but you asked about ODE3 so I can't help.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Jon Corby »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Peter Mabey wrote:From OED3 (thanks to online Manchester City library)
The action of cutting off the head; spec. of execution by decapitation.
I forget the exact wording of the intro, but I believe that specific actions are pluralisable.
OED3 != ODE3
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Adam Gillard »

I have a book at home called Countdown - The Ultimate Challenge (Wylie & Eadie, 2005). Apart from Whiteley being spelt wrong on the front cover, there is something else that bothers me. In the introduction on page 8, it is claimed that the selection AAIIRHKTS yields a 9-letter word, TARAHIKIS (fish). However, it's not in the apterous lexicon - was it in the dictionary in 2005 and subsequently removed or is it just another mistake?

Edit: I've just found TARAKIHI(S) in Lexplorer so it must have been a mistake.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Matt Morrison »

Absolutely really surprised by GICLEE not being in when other French-sounding art words like GOUACHE are fine. I can only suppose it's because Giclee has an accent in it, is that right? For some reason I thought if a word was valid in English then you could play it without using the accent, but guess I'm massively wrong as no one else has even attempted GICLEE.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

Matt Morrison wrote:Absolutely really surprised by GICLEE not being in when other French-sounding art words like GOUACHE are fine. I can only suppose it's because Giclee has an accent in it, is that right? For some reason I thought if a word was valid in English then you could play it without using the accent, but guess I'm massively wrong as no one else has even attempted GICLEE.
Don't think the accent comes into it, must just be insufficiently common. (I've never heard of it, for what that's worth.)
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Matt Morrison »

ZINES too.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by James Hall »

MINOTAURS

I was well chuffed when I saw it too...
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

James Hall wrote:MINOTAURS

I was well chuffed when I saw it too...
The Minotaur is a particular fictional character, like Theseus or Robert Baxter.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by James Hall »

Well they're no less fictional than manticores - I just thought as a mythical beast it would be a good score.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Jon Corby »

James Hall wrote:Well they're no less fictional than manticores
Or the legendary Esquilax, a horse with the head of a rabbit and... the body of a rabbit!
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

James Hall wrote:Well they're no less fictional than manticores - I just thought as a mythical beast it would be a good score.
It's not because they're fictional (I just threw that in for the joke), it's because the word Minotaur refers to a specific thing so it's a proper noun like Paris.
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Jon Corby »

Charlie Reams wrote:
James Hall wrote:Well they're no less fictional than manticores - I just thought as a mythical beast it would be a good score.
It's not because they're fictional (I just threw that in for the joke), it's because the word Minotaur refers to a specific thing so it's a proper noun like Paris.
I think there's certainly a case for saying it has become generalised as a half-man/half-bull creature, but obviously not so much that the ODE cares to recognise it. I was surprised too when I first found it wasn't in, but I did learn MINATOUS and TINAMOUS and improved my spotting of NATURISM as a result :D
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Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Post by Charlie Reams »

Jon Corby wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:
James Hall wrote:Well they're no less fictional than manticores - I just thought as a mythical beast it would be a good score.
It's not because they're fictional (I just threw that in for the joke), it's because the word Minotaur refers to a specific thing so it's a proper noun like Paris.
I think there's certainly a case for saying it has become generalised as a half-man/half-bull creature, but obviously not so much that the ODE cares to recognise it. I was surprised too when I first found it wasn't in, but I did learn MINATOUS and TINAMOUS and improved my spotting of NATURISM as a result :D
Yep, sure. I'm not saying James was wrong to be surprised. Incidentally it just occurred to me that people tend to assume that the Minotaur was just one from a race of minotaurs, whereas poor old Polyphemus has the reverse problem, he always gets called "the Cyclops" even though there were plenty of other cyclopses (or cyclopes if you prefer).
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