Author Topic: Rostered uncommon?  (Read 991 times)

blackrockrose

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Rostered uncommon?
« on: May 30, 2020, 01:42:26 PM »
In yesterday's standard DESTROYER game, 'roster' was common (played by 404 participants), but 'rostered' (played by 297 out of 618 participants) was classed as rare.

I cannot see why 'rostered' should not be common. Surely it is a verb just as much as a noun?

And 'redye' (which the Chi forum spellchecker underlines in red) was classed as common, which I also find odd.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2020, 01:45:13 PM by blackrockrose »

mkenuk

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Re: Rostered uncommon?
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2020, 02:34:09 PM »
According to the COD, the use of roster as a verb is 'chiefly British'.
This almost guarantees its 'uncommon' status.

As for redye, I've long since given up trying to understand why certain 're-' words are common while others get 'rare' or 'not known'.

I simply try to remember which ones are playable and which ones aren't.

I suppose people who dye their hair have to continually 'redye' it when the original colour starts to show itself at the roots.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2020, 05:43:47 PM by mkenuk »

blackrockrose

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Re: Rostered uncommon?
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2020, 09:31:00 PM »
Thanks Mike. Your words of wisdom clear up my blurry thinking.

Jacki

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Re: Rostered uncommon?
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2020, 10:58:36 PM »
Yep I played rostered. I was surprised it was rare.
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Greynomad

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Re: Rostered uncommon?
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2020, 11:03:47 AM »
One of the more ridiculous "uncommon" words in my opinion.

Katzmeow

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Re: Rostered uncommon?
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2020, 01:09:52 PM »
I wouldn't have tried redye, but rostered seems pretty common here in Tasmania.  People are frequently 'rostered on'  at work.
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Alan W

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Re: Rostered uncommon?
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2020, 04:40:13 PM »
Over the years we've had several discussions of roster vs rota, but the common/rare status of rostered, and by implication, rostering, hasn't come up before.

It seems fairly clear that roster as a verb is more common in Britain than in the US. In fact, the verb isn't even listed in the online Merriam-Webster, or in the American Heritage dictionary. But what's even more striking is how much more often the word rostered is used in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland than anywhere else. Here is a chart from the Corpus of Global Web-based English, GloWbE:



The pattern is similar in the News on the Web corpus:


So, it's no wonder some of our Australian forumites are astonished the word is not considered common. But it seems it's much less common in a lot of other places.

I think rostered should remain as rare.
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blackrockrose

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Re: Rostered uncommon?
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2020, 05:39:42 PM »
Thank you, Alan.

Just another example of how much we absorb from our surroundings. When I first came to Australia in 1974 I struggled to understand what people were saying to me (which made job interviews a bit tricky). And now I am unable to identify a word usage as particularly Australian!

mkenuk

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Re: Rostered uncommon?
« Reply #8 on: June 02, 2020, 10:43:09 AM »

 I've long since given up trying to understand why certain 're-' words are common while others get 'rare' or 'not known'.

I simply try to remember which ones are playable and which ones aren't.


A good example of what I mean came in yesterday's caregiver standard game.
I tried recage and got 'sorry not known'.

Is there really no word in English meaning 'to return an animal which has escaped and been recaptured to its cage'?
Maybe there should be one!

Google NGram Viewer recognizes it, by the way. For some reason it peaked in 1940, but it seems to still be around today