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Topics - pat

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16
Words / Maneuver
« on: December 31, 2022, 09:57:37 PM »
I was surprised to see maneuver as a seed word in yesterday's 7-by-many. Mention of this word (vs manoeuvre) was made by TRex in this thread https://theforum.lexigame.com/index.php?topic=3106.msg50691#msg50691 and I agree with him that when the spelling of a word is significantly different between countries (as opposed to words ending in ise/ize) then that word shouldn't be a seed word.

17
Whatever / Energy prices
« on: December 08, 2022, 08:27:12 PM »
OK, I might be revealing myself to be incredibly thick, but here goes.

In a supply chain, the producer sells to the wholesaler at a price plus profit, the wholesaler sells to the retailer at a price plus profit, and so on down to the consumer. If the cost at source rises then the price increases down the line with the buck stopping at the consumer and profits, unless driven by greed, staying pretty constant all along the chain.

Prices have shot up dramatically due to the energy crisis and the consumer is definitely feeling the pain. But how is it that the energy companies are reaping obscenely excessive profits?

18
Whatever / Christmas cracker jokes
« on: December 05, 2022, 07:34:08 PM »
I don't know if the same is true in other countries, but over here Christmas crackers contain a slip of paper with a groan-inducing 'joke'. Apparently the manufacturers reuse the same jokes every year but they've added a few new ones this year. (Some of them won't mean anything to the non-Brits.)

What type of peas ruin Christmas dinner? MPs.
Why does Kate Bush need to turn the heating off? She’s running up that bill.
How did King Charles III sign his Christmas cards to his family? The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.
What’s the difference between Liz Truss and a shepherd? One U-turns and the other turns ewes.
Why are Will Smith and Chris Rock not having turkey this Christmas? Because they’ve got beef.
Why has Santa been banned from sooty chimneys? Carbon footprints.
What crisps do Phil and Holly serve at their Christmas party? Skips.
Why are the government having problems with their own version of the Christmas Nativity? They can’t find three wise men.
What do people heating their homes and wrapping paper have in common this Christmas? Both of them are getting ripped off.
How can you keep your home warm this Christmas? Tinsulation.

19
Word Games / A question
« on: November 10, 2022, 09:52:57 AM »
Or rather a mystery. I've just spent three days in a remote Amazon lodge with no Internet, yet I managed to get the current games. I was the only one on the scoreboard, unsurprisingly, but how did I manage to get the games?

20
Words / Chiminea
« on: October 29, 2022, 06:11:08 PM »
I'd like to suggest for inclusion chiminea,  a type of outdoor stove.

21
Whatever / Madness in the UK.
« on: October 15, 2022, 08:21:18 AM »
How are all the shenanigans going on within our government being reported in other countries? I'd imagine with great mirth. Chancellor of the Exchequer is arguably the 2nd highest post in the government and we've had four of them in the last four months. We've replaced a useless, corrupt, narcissistic PM with another equally incompetent one. You couldn't make it up.

22
Words / Becard
« on: September 20, 2022, 08:19:12 PM »
A type of tyrant flycatcher found in central and south America. The word is in my Oxford dictionary.

23
Words / Sacristan
« on: September 19, 2022, 02:20:14 AM »
I'm probably showing my ignorance here but I've never heard of a sacristan. Is it really a common word?

24
Word Games / Is the seed word selection random?
« on: September 17, 2022, 03:23:59 AM »
I can't find the thread but a while back someone commented on the frequency of letters such as Q and X in the daily games and I remember commenting that I thought the seed word selection was completely random. Being someone who doesn't like puzzles containing those letters I've been struck by the number of times they've occurred since then (unless it's my imagination). So I'm wondering if the word selection is random after all although I guess it must be - if Alan chose the words each day he wouldn't be able to play the games,

25
Words / Setsquare common?
« on: August 26, 2022, 06:07:08 PM »
Really? I've only ever seen it written as two separate words. Even Chi's own dictionary says "Sorry, definition not available". Even if it's accepted as a word at all I don't think it should be classed as common.

26
Words / Recuse
« on: August 25, 2022, 10:36:15 PM »
I know this word has been mentioned before and this is what you had to say about it, Alan:

"Dictionaries published in Britain identify it as chiefly North American, so I think it should remain as rare. ("Rare" being shorthand for "not common everywhere".)"

I'm surprised it's considered as chiefly American; 225 people played it in the persecute puzzle which suggests to me that a lot of non-Americans are familiar with the word.

Might it be reconsidered as a candidate for a status change?

27
Whatever / One-liners
« on: August 23, 2022, 04:38:02 AM »
An arts festival is held in Edinburgh in Scotland every year and some of the performers are stand-up comedians. They hold a competition for the best one-liner.

These are the winners this year; some of them might give you a chuckle.

1. I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me and I couldn’t get pasta.
2. Did you know, if you get pregnant in the Amazon, it’s next day delivery?
3. My attempts to combine nitrous oxide and Oxo cubes made me a laughing stock.
4. By my age, my parents had a house and a family, and to be fair to me, so do I, but it is the same house and the same family.
5. I hate funerals. I’m not a mourning person.
6. I spent the whole morning building a time machine, so that’s four hours of my life that I’m definitely getting back.
7. I sent a food parcel to my first wife. FedEx.
8. I used to live hand to mouth. Do you know what changed my life? Cutlery.
9. Don’t knock threesomes. Having a threesome is like hiring an intern to do all the jobs you hate.
10. I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days.

28
Whatever / Energy costs
« on: August 11, 2022, 03:59:02 AM »
I'm curious to know how people in other countries are being affected by rising energy costs.

Here in the UK we're paying:

Unleaded petrol, £1.76 per litre (3.04 AUD, 2.16 USD)
Diesel £1.86 per litre (3.21 AUD, 2.28 USD).

The annual price the average household is expected to pay for their combined gas and electricity in the early part of next year is:

£4,266 (7,357 AUD, 5228 USD). This is roughly half the annual state pension.


29
Whatever / Sticky rubber
« on: July 09, 2022, 08:50:56 PM »
I have a Roland Edirol (a recording device) which is encased in what I assume is rubber, presumably to give it better protection than a plastic case would. It hasn't been used for three years  but when I got it out today, intending to use it to record our concert tonight, the whole case was horribly sticky to the touch. I assume the rubber (if that's what it is) has degraded in some way. Wiping it down just seems to make it worse. Does anyone know what would have caused this, and what I can do to remove the stickiness?

30
Words / Pinko/es
« on: July 04, 2022, 08:39:10 PM »
Pinkoes was classed as a common word in yesterday's 7bm. Never having heard of pinko, let alone multiple pinkoes, I clicked on the word for the definition, which says it's an informal, chiefly US, word. I don't think it warrants common status.

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