Spoiler alert common word 24/8 Standard

[Tom44]

I question the commonality of verger.  According to Merriam-Webster, this word falls into the under 20% usage rate.  Also listed as primarily British, which may be the root of my problem.  So how about it, anyone from "Across the pond" want to weigh in on this word?

[mkenuk]

Well-known to older UK audiences, perhaps, through two very popular BBC sitcoms: 'Dad's Army' and 'The Vicar of Dibley', both of which had a verger as part of the cast.
In the latter series, which was about a 'lady vicar', the verger was also a lady.

I also remember, from my youth, a rather crude 'rugby song' which began with the line
'Ring the bell, verger, ring, ring,ring.....'

I won't quote any more. This is a family website!

 

[yelnats]

Known to this Aussie from my youth, and I'm not a fan of "Dad's Army" and seen only some of the "Vicar of Dibley". I did get verger, and didn't think it odd that it was common.

[birdy]

I knew the word as someone having something to do with a church, but I doubt I've ever heard it used.

[anona]

I'm not Church of England and so have rarely used the word myself, but nevertheless it's one I've known all my life from reading and so I would have been very taken aback had it been rare. But that doesn't carry much weight because I'm British.

[Barbaram]

Known to this Aussie too. Probably from tv, novels etc.

[rogue_mother]

I know verger from growing up in the Protestant Episcopal Church (part of the Anglican Communion), but I wouldn't consider it common. The percentage of Americans who are Episcopalian is not large. I have say, though, that I do not know whether other church denominations also use the term. I suspect not.

[nineoaks]

I wasn't surprised to find it considered common.

nineoaks

[Alan W]

Some dictionaries label verger as chiefly British; some do not. In any case, the word is certainly not used much in the US. The News on the Web corpus had only one example from the US that was not the name Verger. The UK texts had about 100.

No doubt some US players would know the word from reading or in other ways. (Incidentally, I don't recall the word verger being used much in "The Vicar of Dibley" - she was generally just referred to as "Alice".) I'm pretty sure the word would be unfamiliar to a fair few players, so I'll make it rare.