c4countdownA group for contestants and lovers of the Channel 4 game show 'Countdown'.
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Derek Hazell
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Post subject: One in a Million  Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:57 am |
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Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:52 am
Posts: 1535
Location: Swindon
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You now have one million words to choose from every time you play a game of Countdown, as the Global Language Monitor crowned "Web 2.0" as the millionth word in the English language yesterday.
But the OED, the official guide for Countdown, are not quite so sure, as they say the term has been used since 1999.
Obviously you can only use the letters available to you when playing, and many of the words would be over 9 letters, but it still gives a hint to the amazing amount of vocabulary top-end players in both Countdown and Scrabble need to cram in.
If terms like "Web 2.0" are now being classed as words though, maybe we will eventually see a new round in Countdown which is comprised of both letters AND numbers!
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Kirk Bevins
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:58 am |
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Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:18 pm
Posts: 4262
Location: York, UK
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Derek Hazell wrote:
Obviously you can only use the letters available to you when playing, and many of the words would be over 9 letters, but it still gives a hint to the amazing amount of vocabulary top-end players in both Countdown and Scrabble need to cram in.
Surely there aren't this many in the ODE2r, the Countdown word source. Derek Hazell wrote: If terms like "Web 2.0" are now being classed as words though, maybe we will eventually see a new round in Countdown which is comprised of both letters AND numbers! And decimal points?
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Peter Mabey
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:32 am |
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:15 pm
Posts: 402
Location: Harlow
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Kirk Bevins wrote: Surely there aren't this many in the ODE2r, the Countdown word source.
... and how many are accepted by Lexplorer?
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Jon Corby
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:40 am |
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Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:36 am
Posts: 4627
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Peter Mabey wrote: Kirk Bevins wrote: Surely there aren't this many in the ODE2r, the Countdown word source.
... and how many are accepted by Lexplorer? My own dictionary file (which is very similar to that used by Lexplorer) has a little over 82,000 words in.
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Charlie Reams
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:58 am |
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Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:33 pm
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Location: Cambridge
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Jon Corby wrote: My own dictionary file (which is very similar to that used by Lexplorer) has a little over 82,000 words in. Lexplorer has 97199 words so something odd is going on here...
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Charlie Reams
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:03 am |
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Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:33 pm
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Location: Cambridge
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Derek Hazell wrote: If terms like "Web 2.0" are now being classed as words though, maybe we will eventually see a new round in Countdown which is comprised of both letters AND numbers! Prior art
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Jon Corby
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:06 pm |
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Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:36 am
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Charlie Reams wrote: Jon Corby wrote: My own dictionary file (which is very similar to that used by Lexplorer) has a little over 82,000 words in. Lexplorer has 97199 words so something odd is going on here... Is that the extended dictionary for hyper etc though? If not, I didn't put any of the one letter words in (except 'a') so there could well be a few thousand of them.
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Howard Somerset
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:23 pm |
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:02 am
Posts: 1743
Location: Alsager, UK
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Jon Corby wrote: If not, I didn't put any of the one letter words in (except 'a') so there could well be a few thousand of them. You've found a few thousand one-letter words! What alphabet are you using? Chinese? 
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Charlie Reams
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:45 pm |
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Jon Corby wrote: Charlie Reams wrote: Jon Corby wrote: My own dictionary file (which is very similar to that used by Lexplorer) has a little over 82,000 words in. Lexplorer has 97199 words so something odd is going on here... Is that the extended dictionary for hyper etc though? If not, I didn't put any of the one letter words in (except 'a') so there could well be a few thousand of them. Ah, that's it. 82178 of nine letters or fewer.
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Ben Wilson
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:35 pm |
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Location: Lincoln
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And CSW, the so-called 'ridiculously expansive Scrabble word list', only has around 270 000.
Though to be pedantic isn't 'Web 2.0' more of a 'term' than a 'word'?
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Dinos Sfyris
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:59 pm |
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Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:07 am
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Howard Somerset wrote: Jon Corby wrote: If not, I didn't put any of the one letter words in (except 'a') so there could well be a few thousand of them. You've found a few thousand one-letter words! What alphabet are you using? Chinese? Haven't you seen the new Apterous DC guest?
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Derek Hazell
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:02 pm |
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Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:52 am
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Ben Wilson wrote: And CSW, the so-called 'ridiculously expansive Scrabble word list', only has around 270 000.
Though to be pedantic isn't 'Web 2.0' more of a 'term' than a 'word'? I would have thought so, yes Ben. But the term was classed as a word when it was christened the "millionth word". That is why I made the comment about a words AND numbers round, and then Charlie showed me a similar thing which had been done in Scrabble.
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Derek Hazell
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Post subject: Re: One in a Million Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:50 am |
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Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:52 am
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Location: Swindon
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Susie also mentioned the millionth word debate on Countdown on Monday 15th June.
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