Spoilers for Wednesday 2nd March 2022 (Series 85, Prelim 43)
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 1:32 pm
that eric guy plays his second game
A group for contestants and lovers of the Channel 4 game show 'Countdown'.
http://www.c4countdown.co.uk/
Shouldn’t have been.Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:29 pmIMPALAS was allowed at Manchester, but it was pretty controversial
Correct to allow it - it was clearly stated that the dictionary used was apterous.Philip A wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:39 pmShouldn’t have been.Thomas Carey wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:29 pmIMPALAS was allowed at Manchester, but it was pretty controversial
If the event is rule-bound to go by the latest facsimile of the Apterous dictionary and chooses to use that for adjudication then that’s absolutely fine. The problem is the ‘latest’ version of the Apterous dictionary is a tad out of sync with ODO and latest Countdown practices and there’s always 0.01% of it incorrect. I would have overruled the Apterous dictionary on that particular occasion if I was organising, and even inform entrants if its validity beforehand.
That's such a strange stance to have - once you start allowing people to make subjective judgments, you're only allowing for further controversy. A rule of "apterous valid = acceptable" avoids any room for people feeling hard done by because it was decided that the word they saw in a game the other day is actually being disallowed. I'd argue it really doesn't matter whether a word is technically in the dictionary or not when it comes to co:events - provided everyone is playing by the same rules (a word is judged according to apto), then it's fair for everyone. Apterous is never going to perfectly line up with the ODO, so you might as well accept this and just apply the rule of "apto valid = fine". Most people haven't got nearly enough linguistic expertise that they could really have an informed opinion on a word's validity, and you can't really be consulting the few people at the event that do every time a slightly dodge word comes up because it's simply not time-effective.Philip A wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 9:46 pmIf the event is rule-bound to go by the latest facsimile of the Apterous dictionary and chooses to use that for adjudication then that’s absolutely fine. The problem is the ‘latest’ version of the Apterous dictionary is a tad out of sync with ODO and latest Countdown practices and there’s always 0.01% of it incorrect. I would have overruled the Apterous dictionary on that particular occasion if I was organising, and even inform entrants if its validity beforehand.
Yeah I ticketed it for removal after the discussion at the event, but I have no problem at all with my opponent winning the round with it - it was valid in apto at the time of the event, and therefore valid under the rules of the game.Adam Latchford wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 8:42 am I got caught by the impalas being valid - thinking impala was a mass noun. Got shown it was valid in apto - that was enough for me and we moved on quickly to the next round... Can't really see how the system used should be improved by adding subjectivity - especially when the subjectivity is often up for debate...