Lexigame Community
General Category => Words => Topic started by: Linda on March 27, 2007, 08:37:22 PM
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Hi Alan and fellow Chi addicts
Wonder if it would be possible to add a new word to the dictionary? Was playing the Standard game today and thought I'd come up with a really good word, only to find it was not allowed! :( The word is ladette - sadly, a particularly British word which means - (informal) a young woman that behaves like a lad: being loud, drinking heavily, sleeping around. Charming word, I don't think, but it is in popular usage in Britain now. What do you think?
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Hi Linda and all,
I tried that word too...and got a horrible noise when it was rejected? As you say, not the nicest word or description but then there are much worse 4 letter swear words [ :o ] that are acceptable..
So i second that nomination....all those in favour say Ay!
Cheers,
Technomc :)
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When I was playing that puzzle I thought of "ladette" without consciously knowing of it as a word. So I didn't even try it (not that I'd have been any the wiser if I had), but perhaps I'd read the word some time and it had lodged in some poorly-lit cranny at the back of my brain.
Anyhow, it certainly qualifies. The Oxford and Encarta online dictionaries both include it, and there are plenty of websites discussing the word and the phenomenon it names. So it'll go in our list sometime soon.
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Thanks Alan - the word will probably never crop up again but I will pounce on it if it does!!! ;D
Linda
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What about "rerod"? It is a reinforcing rod or bar used for concrete work. It is also sometimes known as rebar...
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Hi,
how about rebarred...thats happened to me several times after a rowdy night at my local??
Technomc
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"Rebar" is in the Chihuahua word list. "Rerod" seems to be used as an alternate term on quite a lot of building and construction websites, although I haven't found it in any dictionary so far. (It's also the name of a rock band (http://www.rerod.com/) from Fridley, Minnesota, but they don't seem to say where they got their name from.)
So, probably "rerod" should be admitted.
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Hi Alan,
Would it be possible to add lees to the list (i.e. the sticky goop at the bottom of a red wine bottle?) I know it's a plural, ::) but there's no possible singular use. Thanks, Bobbi
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I second Bobbi..........I was vaguely peeved to have "lees" rejected!
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Hi Bobbi
Yes, "lees" seems like it should be allowed. It is apparently the plural of a long-disused word "lee", meaning the same thing. But already in Shakespeare's time "lees" was being used as if it were the singular word:
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.
Of course, there's another word "lee", meaning the sheltered side, but this is completely unrelated. So, I can't see why "lees" shouldn't be added. Of course, it's too late for today's puzzle, but it will go into the list soon.
Thanks for the suggestion. I raise my glass to you.
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Alan--I've got another one.
I know this is treading on shaky ground -- and can't recall if anyone's already brought it up, but what about "news" - like, as in news reports. I realize that new would seem to be the singular form, but "news" is usually reserved only for one meaning. Am I right?
Thanks.
3-B
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3-B, your suggestion is so good that it's already been implemented!
"News" has always been allowed, and in fact was discussed just a couple of days ago in another topic (https://theforum.lexigame.com/index.php?topic=75.0), in answer to a question from Colhad.
It shows how busy the forum's getting, that even lexicomanes can't keep up with all the discussions!
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Ooops! Sorry, Alan,
Thanks, doh. You're right. That's why you are the leader of the pack. And, yet, the forum all of a sudden has gotten intense again.
Cheers,
3-B
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I just tried "Smilies" but no luck with it either.
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Colhad, if you're thinking of these things :) :) you could make "smiley" (if you had a Y :( ), but of course, you wouldn't be able to have "smileys" because of the plural rule.
On this forum, they're called "smileys", but looking around the Net, they seem to be spelled "smilies" just as often. But then the question arises, what is the singular - is it "smily" or "smilie". Again, both seem to be used quite a lot.
So, in conclusion, I'm not sure what to think about "smilies". ???
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Alan,
What about "ills", as in, bodily ills? One can be ill, but having ills is used slightly differently. Would that qualify?
Thanks,
3-B :)
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I have to say I'm a bit dubious about "ills", 3-B.
It is the plural of the noun "ill" which dictionaries define as meaning misfortune, trouble, harm, ailment. The singular is used in the phrase "I wish you no ill", or you might say, "Sometimes good can come from ill", although the word certainly is more commonly used in the plural.
I'll have to mull it over some more...
In the meantime, a word you can use when the letters are there is "illth". (You probably already know it, 3-B, but maybe some others don't.) As you can imagine, it means the opposite of health, but it can also mean the opposite of wealth. This usage possibly comes from John Ruskin, who used the word to describe products that do not add to people's well-being.
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Thanks, Alan. You're always fair.
:) Cheers,
3-B
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Thanks, 3-B. But I don't see it so much as a matter of being fair - after all, adding a word doesn't necessarily advantage or disadvantage any particular group of players. I think it's more a matter of trying to make the game behave in a way that players will see as consistent - and entertaining.
And discussing whether a word should be allowed or not can be entertaining in itself, regardless of the outcome.
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hey al - what about including "endeth" as in "here endeth the lesson" - i'm sure that's biblical or somthing.
Viz
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Hi Alan..
good old John Ruskin...
he obviously wasn't into sex and drugs and rock n' roll.... nor drink..nor cigarettes...nor gambling....nor chocolate...
I don't think him and i would have got on very well...nothing in common at all in fact.....
[What must you think of me? Do not answer that!!!...it was retorical... :-X]
What a boring life he must have had...or a very discreet skeleton or 3 in his cupboard...who didn't want to sell their story to the papers for a fortune...
Ta Ra...
T ;)
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What about dane?
I have been tripped up by this one several times. I assume that it is not included because it would normally be written with a capital letter, but what about a dog that is a great dane? I don't think that would be capitalized, but please feel free to correct me ... I have been wrong before ;)
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Hello Dean,
We don't hear from you very often...
Nice to hear from you now...
Technomc ;)
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Hi there Dean
So you want to be able to play "dane", eh? Not content with being able to use your own name, you want every anagram of it as well?
Only kidding, of course. It actually looks to me as if the word is always written with a capital D, whether referring to a person from Denmark or a dog. Another obstacle is that "Dane" in the dog sense is almost always part of the phrase "Great Dane", rather than being a word in its own right. But the Shorter Oxford Dictionary does give "Dane" as a variant of "Great Dane", so the real problem seems to be the capital D.
It looks like you'll have to be content with "dean". By the way, we have something in common, because "alan" is also recognised as a word. Apparently an alan is a wolfhound, and also a "huge tree found mainly in the peat-swamp rain forests of northern Borneo".
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hey al - what about including "endeth" as in "here endeth the lesson" - i'm sure that's biblical or something.
At a guess, I'd say the Book of Common Prayer, Viz, but anyhow, I think it probably ought to be allowed.
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Hi Alan,
How long before "bling" becomes acceptable? It seems to be part of everyday vocabulary now, but Chi turned it down! :(
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Somebody suggested "bling" in the early days of Chihuahua, but from what I could see at the time, the usual form was "bling-bling", with or without the hyphen. But maybe that needs another look.
Any thoughts, other Chi-folk?
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I was gutted to see my percentage drop yesterday because I assumed bling was accepted contemporary vocab. Then I googled it, and was told all over the place that bling is not on, it has to be bling-bling. I never hear anybody say bling-bling. In this country many Maori words are repeated like this (e.g. rewa-rewa lilies,) I would have though bling-bling would fit in really well?
But then I'm just a Kiwi with an appalling sense of acceptable. We recently had bugger declared a non-offensive word. The Aussies hated our 'Toyota Bugger' ad, and banned it! [Am I allowed to say bugger Alan? ] If anyone wants to see this ad, and I think it's a really funny, even though it's about 5 years old now and no longer shown on TV, it's googlable (googlible?) if you have reasonable searching skills... (is google a chi word?)
Yeah, I vote FOR bling!
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Bobbi, Chihuahua allows "google", "googled" and "googling", but I'm not saying the letters will ever come up to use any of them!
I must have missed the story about the Toyota bugger ad, but I found it easily, and it is funny. It's ironic that Australians got upset about it, given the flack drawn by the "Where the bloody hell are you?" Australian tourism ads. The people behind those ads said "bloody" is not an offensive word in Australia. But they forgot that international tourists come from other countries.
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I also tried bling. I think that it should be allowed. I hear bling by itself more often than "bling-bling" now.
anonsi
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I agree w/Anonsi - the term started off as bling-bling, but it seems to have been (d)evolved into just bling now.
Is it heard much in Oz, or do you just get it from what you hear in the US?
Cheers,
3-B
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It's everywhere here in Oz, BBB......bling is the latest buzz-word. I agree with previous comments....when the term first appeared, it was "bling-bling" but thanks to the Aussie love of abbreviation, the only thing you seem to see, read or hear now is "bling"
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Hi 3B and Binkie,
Or should i say...
Hi 3bling-bling-bling and Blingie, ;D
I think bling should be included....i haven't got enough to have bling-bling....
So 'bling' is the poor persons definition!
Cheers mateys,
T ;)
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It's ironic that Australians got upset about it, given the flack drawn by the "Where the bloody hell are you?" Australian tourism ads. The people behind those ads said "bloody" is not an offensive word in Australia. But they forgot that international tourists come from other countries.
Hi Alan,
Nobody in New Zealand turned a hair - it was the UK that got upset about the tourism ads. Only caveat is that it has to air on telly after 8.30 - fair enough ;)
Just as well for Australia, because Kiwis are a great source of tourist revenue. I reckon whoever desigend the ads knew a thing or two about what would and would not offend Kiwis (pretty much nothing.)
Bobbi
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Hi All,
I found the advert easily and thought it was really funny...and i wasn't offended at all..but then as you may have gathered i'm not really the prudish English , narrow-minded type... it certainly made me titter... :D
Ta Ra
T ;)
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We in America probably have our own prudish ways (there's a real dichotomy), but frankly, I don't get why the hell anybody would get so bloody uptight! Oops!
;D
3-B
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OK, I'm sold on "bling".
It seems we know exactly where "bling bling" came from: when it was included in the Oxford a few years ago, MTV News ran a story (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1471629/20030430/bg.jhtml) about it, saying:
The term, which is used to describe diamonds, jewelry and all forms of showy style, was coined by New Orleans rap family Cash Money Millionaires back in the late '90s and started gaining national awareness with a song titled "Bling Bling" by Cash Money artist BG.
But, in the meantime, general usage was tending to knock one of the blings off. So far, not a lot of dictionaries have caught up with this. In fact many dictionaries haven't yet caught up with "bling bling" at all, at all.
However, Encarta and the Canadian Oxford both now offer "bling" as an alternative form.
So the Chihuahua word list will be adorned with bling in the near future.
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Getting back to Colhad's suggestion of "smilies" (https://theforum.lexigame.com/index.php/topic,46.msg593.html#msg593) last week, I think "smilie" should definitely be allowed, as it's used quite a lot, even though it's absent from just about every dictionary so far.
But the plural could only pass our criteria as the plural of "smily", which seems to be used much less often than "smilie", so I don't think "smilies" should be allowed.
Of course, any set of letters that could make "smilies" could also make "smilie", but the reverse is not the case, so you're more likely to get a word this way, anyhow.
A tip, which is probably already well-known to forum members, is that any time a word ending in "ies" is rejected, it's worth trying the word with the "s" dropped off if the letters permit it. For example, "aunties" is not allowed because "auntie" is.
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Alan -
I came across a possible word on the random puzzle - "noni", which Chi would not accept. It is classified as Morinda citrifolia, and is a shrub or tree with white flowers, found in Asia, India, and now in the French Tahiti area, among others. I know someone who sells noni juice and other products, and swear by its beneficial health effects. I'm not sure that it needs to be capitalized, but it would be like most flora and fauna that aren't, I suspect.
Breathlessly, I await your wise reply.
Cheers, ;D
3-B
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Alan:
I know that you do not want to get into a whole bunch of computer terms ... but ... I think that although bios is an acronym, it has been generally accepted, and in fact it appears in the Farlex dictionary that Chi links with. What do you think?
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3-B: "noni" looks good. I hadn't heard of it, but it's in recent editions of the Oxford, so that's good enough for me.
Dean: As far as I can see, "BIOS" is almost always written in capital letters, so that would probably rule it out for Chi purposes.
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Alan--
How 'bout "edda" - which can mean either tuberous roots (not capitalized) or, old Nordic poetry (with caps)?
Also, "argel" (its common name)- a medicinal plant
Thanks, encore!
:D
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3-B:
Interestingly, "edda" in the sense of a tuberous root seems to me to be a misprint for "eddo"! All the Web pages I could find that use the word "edda" in relation to tuberous roots seem to be derived from one source: The Princeton WordNet. As far as I can see, no other dictionary gives "edda" this meaning, although many of them have "eddo" with that meaning. The WordNet also has "eddo".
Is "edda" an alternative version of "eddo"? Perhaps, but it's intriguing that I couldn't find any confirmation from an independent source. I've actually written to WordNet asking them if they could possibly have made a slip. I don't know whether I'll get a reply, but anyhow, I'd prefer to leave "edda" in the pending file for now, unless you have any additional information.
Both "eddo" and its plural "eddoes" are already Chihuahua words.
As for "argel", there the situation seems a little clearer. I couldn't actually see a dictionary entry for it anywhere, but there are Web pages that demonstrate the word is used for a medicinal plant indigenous to Africa, so I'll go along with that suggestion.
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Alan - could we include the word 'nustle' - to fondle, cherish? Sweet word - I think it deserves inclusion, what say you?
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Alan -
What about "custode" (v.) - as doing custodial work. Not nearly as cute as nustle, tho.
Cheers,
;D
3-B
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Linda, "nustle" was labeled as obsolete in the 1913 Websters, and I don't think it's become any less obsolete since then. However, it is such a nice word, I think we could give it the benefit of the doubt.
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3-B:
The "custode" I found in my Shorter Oxford was actually a noun, meaning custodian or guardian. Either way, it's a valid word.
Incidentally, should the letters ever come up, you can play "custodes". It's in the list already, as the plural of "custos", a Latin-derived word, also meaning custodian, but more particularly it's a title given to certain officials in the Franciscan order.