In yesterday's 10 letter game -- Amyl

[Les303]

Would anyone agree that AMYL should be downgraded to rare.

It was found by just 42 players which placed it second last on the list with only DALT scoring a lower total of 19.

So while i was surprised to see AMYL classified as common ,i was just as surprised to see DALT classified as rare as it is a word that appears quite regularly in chi.

[mkenuk]

Played by 42 in the admittedly game; well, that's 3 more than the 39 who played it two days earlier in the intimately game, so it is becoming more common!

Dalt? You'll have to enlighten me, Les. It's a word I'm totally unfamiliar with; COD doesn't know it and even clicking for a definition on Chi is no use; it simply says 'definition not available' and suggests trying Collins 'Scrabble Dictionary'.

MK

[Maudland]

Hello,

Amyl is still in use as a word but I don't know how widely used it is across the world. (I mean the word, not the drug!) I have heard of it though and when I don't get it, it's because it doesn't follow a pattern. It's one of those 'doh!' words.

I found a definition of dalt, categorised as Scottish obsolete. So that'll be why it's rare! Perhaps people play it because it follows a pattern. I doubt anyone plays it because it's a familiar word to them.

I think the common/rare line can't be drawn just by number of plays on Chi!

[Alan W]

I won't comment at this stage on the commonness or otherwise of amyl, but I'd like to clarify that it is far from being 2nd last on the list of words in order of how often they were played. If you tick the box in the top right corner labeled "Show all?", you will see about 60 rare words that were found by fewer players. It was the least played "common" word, though.

By default, the solution view does not show the rare words that you didn't play. If you see dalt quite often, Les, it's probably because you play it whenever the letters are there. Others, who've never played it, would probably have been completely oblivious of the word's existence (until now).

[Les303]

Thanks for those replies , i think my original post was badly worded & has been a little misconstrued.

I will usually only look at a solution when i am just a few words short of a rosette as was the case in this particular game , so i don't tick " show all " as i am only looking for the common words that i have missed & it is for that reason that i was just trying to highlight that AMYL was the least played common word which potentially could have prevented myself & i assume ,many other players from achieving another of those elusive rosettes.

So it was only while i was checking out AMYL that i noticed the word DALT.had only been played 19 times which struck me as odd simply because of the common letters involved.
I was not suggesting that DALT ( Thanks for the definition Maudland - obsolete for foster child) should be made common,in fact the only reason i began playing it was by accident when i was actually thinking of DOLT & i had always assumed it was just one of those variant spelling things but as i said previously , due to the common letters involved , i find that both DOLT & DALT tend to appear quite regularly.

[Calilasseia]

Amyl nitrate used to be used as an anaesthetic, until it was realised that it could be addictive.

[Les303]

Couldn't possibly be any more addictive than chi.

[yelnats]

Well said!

When I wake early and start doing Chi in bed at 5 am or so, I wonder how many other players are as addicted. Then I get the 9 letter, get under 10 common words left, and go back to sleep!

[anona]

Yelnats: I think that's pretty restrained behaviour.

[Alan W]

I agree amyl should be treated as rare.

As a chemical term, it's never been part of common parlance, and on this account it qualifies for rare status, like a number of other terms from chemistry that have been discussed previously. As a casual term for amyl nitrite, used as a recreational drug, I don't think it ever became widely known either. And I have the impression that its heyday has passed anyway - the Corpus of Contemporary American English shows the use of the word declining from a low peak in the late 1990s, with no examples at all from the most recent 5-year period.

[Les303]

Thanks Alan.