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Words / Re: demesne common?
« on: July 27, 2021, 09:33:56 PM »
Thanks, Alan.
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Words / Re: Eurozone
« on: July 25, 2021, 12:04:32 AM »i have heard of eurozone but I would not call it common
Ditto. Is its frequency of use regional?
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Words / Re: Monday 19th July 7-by-many HEXAMETER puzzle
« on: July 21, 2021, 09:51:01 AM »
FWIW, methinks hexameter should be known by a moderately well-read person.
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Words / demesne common?
« on: July 21, 2021, 01:54:24 AM »
According to Ngram it used to be far more common in British English (not surprising, IMO), but has become much less so. The second least played word in the puzzle (emend) was played by 265 players; demesne by only 91 players. A candidate for reclassification?
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Words / Re: Monday 19th July 7-by-many HEXAMETER puzzle
« on: July 21, 2021, 01:47:30 AM »Off the top of my head no.
I think they all derive ultimately from the same source which is the Greek word for 'measure'
TRex?
No idea, but I checked the OED which has this:
Quote
Etymology: < Latin hexameter adjective and (sc. versus ) noun, < Greek ἑξάμετρος , < ἑξα- hexa- comb. form + μέτρον measure, metre. Compare French hexamètre (1511).
Since the French uses hexamètre I'd have guessed British English would use hexametre. But whereas the OED has an entry for kilometre | kilometer, n (both spellings), the entry is hexameter, adj. and n..
But 'English is logical' said no one, ever!
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Words / word suggestion: fuzzer, fuzzing
« on: July 19, 2021, 03:01:37 AM »
I wasn't surprised when fuzzer was not accepted in the 7-by-many UNFROZE puzzle as it is relatively new. But fuzzing has become well-established in the computer programming world. A fuzzer is an automated software testing program; fuzzing is the technique.
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Whatever / Re: The Mind Boggles....
« on: July 10, 2021, 12:04:38 PM »
Until fines for such actions exceed the cost of doing the correct thing, companies will continue to take the less expensive course of action. Companies are completely amoral (in the technical sense of that word).
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Words / Re: inconsistency, perhaps?
« on: July 10, 2021, 09:46:49 AM »I'm still of the opinion that login (noun or verb), logon and logout are so common that they should all be...,well, 'common'.
All should be known to English speakers, even those not 'well-read', it seems to me.
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Words / inconsistency, perhaps?
« on: July 10, 2021, 07:45:17 AM »
The word login is classified as a common word. Whilst playing a 'Your Puzzles' game, I entered logout and found it wasn't common. Methinks the pair should be treated the same. What do others think?
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Words / Re: June 14 Standard puzzle
« on: June 16, 2021, 10:26:44 AM »
Unfortunately, the word seditious has become much more used in the U.S.A. since the sixth of January.
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Words / Re: June 14 Standard puzzle
« on: June 16, 2021, 01:44:05 AM »I have no scientific or statistical evidence to support this, it is merely a hypothesis, but I suspect that when we play Chi we are, at least at first, looking for words that are part of our active vocabulary.
Which is why I wrote:
Common in the sense of easily understandable. But when is the last time anyone here used inertness in a sentence?
ISTM 'familiar to an educated, adult native speaker of English' and 'words that are a part of our active vocabulary' are not the same.
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Words / Re: June 14 Standard puzzle
« on: June 15, 2021, 11:32:45 AM »Perhaps inertia is more common, but I tend to think of that word being used mainly in a scientific sense.
All too often used in business-speak.
Remembering that in Chi, 'common' is usually taken to mean 'familiar to an educated, adult native speaker of English' I can't really see how inertness can be anything but common.
IMNSHO, this doesn't seem to apply as much as it once did as attested by changes in the status of dunned, dunning, mooting, luau, staph, tamale, auricle, lapin, tattooer, termini, rime, gladiola, gerund, kith, octal, orate, collocate, parolee, outdraw, outdrew, nonet, limn, limned, fain, loosed, loosing, sonatina, educe, educed, osculate, confute, confuted, angstrom, centavo, demotic, irenic, oldster, neonate, legato — and a whole lot more. Is, for instance, oldster NOT 'familiar to an educated, adult native speaker of English'
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Words / Re: June 14 Standard puzzle
« on: June 15, 2021, 10:14:14 AM »It isn't the difficulty in finding the word that I am complaining about. I did find it, obviously, but I contend that the word is not in common usage...
Ditto from me. When I got the word, I said to my much better half, 'That's a common word?' without giving it away. When we compared, her reaction was similar.
Common in the sense of easily understandable. But when is the last time anyone here used inertness in a sentence?
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Words / deliria common?
« on: June 14, 2021, 10:19:15 AM »
The only word I missed was deliria — definitely not a word which made me slap myself; rather, my reaction was huh? Only played by 23 of 409 players (5.6%). Surely a word to be relegated to the rare list!