1
A couple of days ago the 7-by-many puzzle did not allow passata, the Italian tomato sauce base. It's been suggested to me that it should be accepted. I'm inclined to agree. Any thoughts?
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2
Words / Suffering succotash!
« on: March 26, 2024, 02:51:30 PM »
Another word queried in the 7-by-many club topic is succotash. This was the seed word in the 24 March puzzle.
I'm posting this here as a reminder to me, as well as an opportunity for all to comment.
I'm posting this here as a reminder to me, as well as an opportunity for all to comment.
3
Words / Milliard and laminar - common?
« on: March 25, 2024, 04:15:38 PM »
A while back, in the 7 by many club thread, guyd queried milliard and laminar being classed as common. I made a note at the time to have a look at them, because I suspect they both should be rare. Does anyone else have any thoughts on either of these words?
4
In the 7-by-many club topic, people have queried the absence of hakea, referring to some types of Australian shrub.
Hakea is the name of a plant genus, and hence is written with a capital H. This is no doubt why some dictionaries show it only with a capital. However the word is also used in the common names of various members of that genus. The Collins dictionary defines hakea as:
An example is from the Age newspaper in June 2023, announcing the discovery of a new type of stink bug:
I'll add it as a rare word.
Hakea is the name of a plant genus, and hence is written with a capital H. This is no doubt why some dictionaries show it only with a capital. However the word is also used in the common names of various members of that genus. The Collins dictionary defines hakea as:
Quote
any shrub or tree of the Australian genus Hakea, having a hard woody fruit and often yielding a useful wood: family Proteaceae
An example is from the Age newspaper in June 2023, announcing the discovery of a new type of stink bug:
Quote
The bug, yet to be officially described and given a scientific name, is the size of a pea, has curved horns and bright yellow tusks and is remarkably well camouflaged on its host plant, a local hakea species.
I'll add it as a rare word.
5
In various forum topics over the years, people have queried whether banns, meaning the announcement of a forthcoming marriage, should remain classed as a common word. For example, here. I'll look into that shortly. In the meantime, comments are welcome.
6
Words / Word suggestion: camino
« on: October 08, 2023, 05:55:00 PM »
In the 7-by-many club topic aka53 asked if camino could be regarded as a word that has entered the English language and is suitable to be a Chihuahua word.
I think not. Spanish for road, path or way, It is often seen in English writings as part of a place name. When used by itself it is almost always a short term for the Camino de Santiago, a network of pilgrims' ways in Galicia leading to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. In all of these uses it is normally capitalised, as part of a proper name.
I think not. Spanish for road, path or way, It is often seen in English writings as part of a place name. When used by itself it is almost always a short term for the Camino de Santiago, a network of pilgrims' ways in Galicia leading to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. In all of these uses it is normally capitalised, as part of a proper name.
7
In the 7-by-many club thread rogue_mother queried the word fruiterer:
See this post and the following couple of posts.
This does, indeed, seem to be a regional issue. The word is seldom used in North America. It is used fairly often in Britain and Ireland, but even more frequently in Australia and New Zealand. I was prompted to respond to this query by a headline today in the Melbourne Age: "Mongols bikies get decades in jail for killing Melbourne fruiterer". (Bikie is also a word mainly used in Aus and NZ. It doesn't mean precisely the same as biker: it's usually used of a member of a motorcycle club, especially one accused of involvement in criminal activities. It is accepted in Chi as a rare word.)
In future fruiterer will be classed as a rare word.
Quote
I have never seen nor heard fruiterer used by anyone of my personal or commercial acquaintance. It sounds like a word made up by an inebriated three-year-old.
See this post and the following couple of posts.
This does, indeed, seem to be a regional issue. The word is seldom used in North America. It is used fairly often in Britain and Ireland, but even more frequently in Australia and New Zealand. I was prompted to respond to this query by a headline today in the Melbourne Age: "Mongols bikies get decades in jail for killing Melbourne fruiterer". (Bikie is also a word mainly used in Aus and NZ. It doesn't mean precisely the same as biker: it's usually used of a member of a motorcycle club, especially one accused of involvement in criminal activities. It is accepted in Chi as a rare word.)
In future fruiterer will be classed as a rare word.
8
Several months ago I received via email a request for duchesses to be allowed in Chihuahua. As old hands will anticipate, the reason for the current absence of the word from our lists is that it's treated as the plural of a rare word duchesse. I put this suggestion aside, since I've been avoiding anything to do with plurals. However, it seems to be a fairly straightforward case, so I've decided to bite the bullet.
Duchesse has a few meanings in English, the most frequently used being a type of satin. However, it's a much more rarely used word than duchess. I'm sure that most people seeing the word duchesses would think of aristocratic ladies, rather than samples of fabric or chaise longues.
In future duchesses will be allowed as a common word. (Duchess is common; duchesse rare)
Duchesse has a few meanings in English, the most frequently used being a type of satin. However, it's a much more rarely used word than duchess. I'm sure that most people seeing the word duchesses would think of aristocratic ladies, rather than samples of fabric or chaise longues.
In future duchesses will be allowed as a common word. (Duchess is common; duchesse rare)
10
Words / Words disallowed in NYT Spelling Bee puzzle
« on: April 12, 2023, 12:57:08 PM »
As I've mentioned before, our 7-by-many puzzle was inspired by a New York Times puzzle called Spelling Bee. One difference, among several, is that the NY Times word list excludes non-American words, whereas I try to include words from all parts of the English-speaking world.
Lynne Murphy, aka lynneguist, has just posted about this on her blog Separated by a Common Language. Specifically, NYT Spelling Bee: an archive of disallowed BrE words. Forumites might find it interesting to look through her list. I haven't checked it out, but I suspect a few of the words listed are not currently accepted in Chi, particularly recently coined colloquialisms.
Lynne Murphy, aka lynneguist, has just posted about this on her blog Separated by a Common Language. Specifically, NYT Spelling Bee: an archive of disallowed BrE words. Forumites might find it interesting to look through her list. I haven't checked it out, but I suspect a few of the words listed are not currently accepted in Chi, particularly recently coined colloquialisms.
11
Word Games / Chihuahua Puzzles Galore - new book format
« on: March 15, 2023, 10:40:29 AM »
I've just released a new puzzle book called Chihuahua Puzzles Galore:
I've crammed 400 9-letter puzzles into the book. Rather than have a volume of more than 500 pages, I've put four puzzles to the page. As a consequence, there's no lined space for writing answers, so the reader will have to provide their own paper for this.
The book's web page is here, with links to its Amazon pages.
I've crammed 400 9-letter puzzles into the book. Rather than have a volume of more than 500 pages, I've put four puzzles to the page. As a consequence, there's no lined space for writing answers, so the reader will have to provide their own paper for this.
The book's web page is here, with links to its Amazon pages.
12
Words / Flavourful
« on: March 11, 2023, 06:53:55 PM »
Blackrockrose noticed in a random puzzle that flavourful is not recognised in Chi, although flavorful is. The former seems to be the favo(u)red spelling in most countries outside the US, so I'll add it to the list. Also flavourfully.
13
This Forum / Punctuation wrongly displayed
« on: January 17, 2023, 11:57:26 AM »
Recently people have been having problems with the way some punctuation characters are being displayed on the forum.
It seems that if you copy something from Microsoft Word that includes certain characters, such as ?smart quotes?, it can come out looking weird.
Contrary to suspicions, I don't think this is caused by a recent update to the software underlying the forum, because there has been no recent update. It's a few months since the last upgrade I applied to the SMF (Simple Machines Forum) package. What might have changed is still a mystery to me.
However, the problem may be able to be solved by converting the forum database to the UTF8 character code. I'll try that out over the next couple of days.
It seems that if you copy something from Microsoft Word that includes certain characters, such as ?smart quotes?, it can come out looking weird.
Contrary to suspicions, I don't think this is caused by a recent update to the software underlying the forum, because there has been no recent update. It's a few months since the last upgrade I applied to the SMF (Simple Machines Forum) package. What might have changed is still a mystery to me.
However, the problem may be able to be solved by converting the forum database to the UTF8 character code. I'll try that out over the next couple of days.
14
Word Games / Creating a new word puzzle
« on: December 26, 2022, 03:54:46 PM »
There's an interesting article in the Guardian about the process of designing and implementing a new word puzzle. You can play the resulting puzzle, Wordiply, at https://www.wordiply.com/.
Among other things, the article covers the problem of making the word list comprehensive enough, but not too comprehensive - a problem Chihuahua tries to deal with by having two sub-lists, common and rare.
Among other things, the article covers the problem of making the word list comprehensive enough, but not too comprehensive - a problem Chihuahua tries to deal with by having two sub-lists, common and rare.
15
In the 7 by many club topic, yelnats and others queried vagus being a common word.
Dictionaries tend to list it as an alternative term for the vagus nerve, and it does seem that people almost always write the full name. The short version vagus is used quite infrequently. I'll make it a rare word.
Dictionaries tend to list it as an alternative term for the vagus nerve, and it does seem that people almost always write the full name. The short version vagus is used quite infrequently. I'll make it a rare word.