A group for contestants and lovers of the Channel 4 game show 'Countdown'.
http://c4countdown.co.uk/
Hate the game not the player, homedog.Jon Corby wrote:Stop trying to fill it with shit like thisCharlie Reams wrote:I seem to remember this being discussed in the mists of yore, but shouldn't MAINER and MAINEST be in?especially when there's perfectly good anagrams of each.
You're making me angry.
Jon told me this yonks ago and it's still friggin' hilarious.Charlie Reams wrote: Also lol @ hotelier.
The doubly-hilarious thing is that I now use the adjective "hotely" (and its comparative/superlative) whenever possible (in the company of people who get the joke) and since I'm so freaking great it will probably catch on and end up in the dictionary anyway.David O'Donnell wrote:Jon told me this yonks ago and it's still friggin' hilarious.Charlie Reams wrote: Also lol @ hotelier.
Anyone fancy checking more of the "portions of food and drink"? I'm sure there must be a load of others that lack plurals, I only got round to doing some of them.Michael Wallace wrote:I'll have 2 OKRAS please?
The portions thing is okay(ish), but surely it's taking the piss to allow any food or drink though - when does anyone order 'an okra' ffs?JimBentley wrote:Anyone fancy checking more of the "portions of food and drink"? I'm sure there must be a load of others that lack plurals, I only got round to doing some of them.Michael Wallace wrote:I'll have 2 OKRAS please?
I'd do it myself, but you know, I'm really lazy and can't be bothered just now.
I agree, but I think the point of the rule was so that it should include anything that could be found on a menu. Some Indian restaurants do okra curries, so it's sort of plausible...ah fuck it, maybe not, I've talked myself out of it now.Jon Corby wrote:The portions thing is okay(ish), but surely it's taking the piss to allow any food or drink though - when does anyone order 'an okra' ffs?JimBentley wrote:Anyone fancy checking more of the "portions of food and drink"? I'm sure there must be a load of others that lack plurals, I only got round to doing some of them.Michael Wallace wrote:I'll have 2 OKRAS please?
I'd do it myself, but you know, I'm really lazy and can't be bothered just now.
I know, it's queer and requires somebody to make an arbitrary decision, but surely some fall in the "definitely yes" or "definitely no" camps. I was a little bit sick into my mouth when Susie allowed "FENNELS" on the show a while back, although I did think she had done it because the guy was caned so badly and she felt sorry for him.JimBentley wrote:I agree, but I think the point of the rule was so that it should include anything that could be found on a menu. Some Indian restaurants do okra curries, so it's sort of plausible...ah fuck it, maybe not, I've talked myself out of it now.
Susie allowed FENNELS on one of my shows when me nor my opponent offered it arguing you could order two fennels in a restaurant. This should be an addition to Countmax.Jon Corby wrote:I know, it's queer and requires somebody to make an arbitrary decision, but surely some fall in the "definitely yes" or "definitely no" camps. I was a little bit sick into my mouth when Susie allowed "FENNELS" on the show a while back, although I did think she had done it because the guy was caned so badly and she felt sorry for him.JimBentley wrote:I agree, but I think the point of the rule was so that it should include anything that could be found on a menu. Some Indian restaurants do okra curries, so it's sort of plausible...ah fuck it, maybe not, I've talked myself out of it now.
HALER is allowed in Apterous/Lexplorer and is in JimDic. But HALEST isn't. Not sure what relation, if any, CountMax has to either of these.Charlie Reams wrote:HALER and HALEST.
This doesn't belong in this thread at all, but it's great to see these neologisms getting the recognition they deserve at last. Only a childish observer would see some connection in the likes of bumhole, dick (v.), hardbody and fudgsicle.Shaun Hegarty wrote:http://www.oed.com/help/updates/latest-additions.html
One of my fave wordsKirk Bevins wrote:ANGREZI should be deleted as it is no longer listed as the plural of ANGREZ.
Ha. Surprised to see footwell (noun) in that list. It's been in the ODE for 10 years. Perhaps a mistake.Charlie Reams wrote:This doesn't belong in this thread at all, but it's great to see these neologisms getting the recognition they deserve at last. Only a childish observer would see some connection in the likes of bumhole, dick (v.), hardbody and fudgsicle.Shaun Hegarty wrote:http://www.oed.com/help/updates/latest-additions.html
Is it? Ah well. It's an odd one, though, since the given sense seems to be attributing a quality that something either has or doesn't have, rather than one that is measurable and hence liable to comparison. Paper that is marked with faint lines is "feint paper". The lines on one such piece of paper may be fainter than on another, but that doesn't make the first piece of paper "feinter". I realise that the rules of Countdown simply say that the comparative and superlative of all one-syllable adjectives are allowed, but in this particular case blind application of the rules seems to result in a non-word.Simon Myers wrote:It is in the relevant dictionary, "denoting paper printed with faint lines as a guide for handwriting; denoting the lines so printed".Phil Reynolds wrote:FEINT isn't an adjective.Rich Priest wrote:I had FEINTER disallowed in yesterday's duel which I would have thought would be acceptable as it's a comparative of a 1-syllable adjective.
Has to be folic acidLiam Tiernan wrote:FOLIC
Whenever a new edition comes out. The changes between versions are usually minor, and generally additions rather than deletions.Gavin Chipper wrote:How often do they change dictionaries? All this would presumably be rubbished overnight.
Kirk Bevins wrote: Susie allowed FENNELS on one of my shows when me nor my opponent offered it arguing you could order two fennels in a restaurant. This should be an addition to Countmax.
GOLD is not given as an adjective.Kieran Child wrote:Couple of ones. "golder"? If it's one syllable I thought that would be allowed.
Only listed as "tardive dyskinesia", so no.Kieran Child wrote:Also I don't have ODE to hand but am wondering if "tardive" should be in?
You're welcome.Kieran Child wrote:Thanks.
SUPREMUM is given as a noun so the plural will be SUPREMUMS. (SUPERMUMS anyone?) Do you think people just assume it's called SUPREMA on the MAXIMUM/MAXIMA link and they actually made a mistake?Dinos Sfyris wrote:I don't have an ODE2r so I can't check this myself, but I had SUPREMA disallowed a few days ago on apterous, and was a bit surprised. It's used very commonly in maths (singular SUPREMUM)
I can only presume that describes a mix of solid and liquid output.Kirk Bevins wrote:Just missed LOGORRHEA on a conundrum attack. Turns out this is the US spelling so should be deleted.
Yah. I need to update this, there's quite a few changes to make. I'll go through the posts since the last update and sort it aaaht later (but if some kind person wants to summarise them for me, I'll do it a bit quicker).Kirk Bevins wrote:Just missed LOGORRHEA on a conundrum attack. Turns out this is the US spelling so should be deleted.
You are awesomeness. On it.Charlie Reams wrote:Summary since last edition:
+ALOHAS (ick)
+BLOGGINGS
+CHEVIED
+CHEVIES
+CHEVYING
+COGITOS
+DIASPORAS
+ESCHATONS
+FAKEST
+FEINTER
+FEINTEST
+FENNELS (double ick)
+HALEST (and HALER, although maybe this is in already)
+JOUSTINGS
+LARBOARDS
+LOATHINGS
+MAINER
+MAINEST
+OKRAS (maybe. IMO no)
+OLIBANUMS
+PROPENES
+SANDMANS (yeah, I know)
+TAUPES (possibly)
+VANITASES
+WHOLER
+WHOLEST
-ANGREZI
-LOGORRHEA
-MACARONIS
-POUNCER
-OVERDYING
I don't see a refutation of PORNOS either.Charlie Reams wrote:Summary since last edition:
+ALOHAS (ick)
+BLOGGINGS
+CHEVIED
+CHEVIES
+CHEVYING
+COGITOS
+DIASPORAS
+ESCHATONS
+FAKEST
+FEINTER
+FEINTEST
+FENNELS (double ick)
+HALEST (and HALER, although maybe this is in already)
+JOUSTINGS
+LARBOARDS
+LOATHINGS
+MAINER
+MAINEST
+OKRAS (maybe. IMO no)
+OLIBANUMS
+PROPENES
+SANDMANS (yeah, I know)
+TAUPES (possibly)
+VANITASES
+WHOLER
+WHOLEST
-ANGREZI
-LOGORRHEA
-MACARONIS
-POUNCER
-OVERDYING
I think they should be valid, yeh.JackHurst wrote:In my first edition OED jack is listed as an adjective, leading me to think that jacker and jackest should both be added to the list of valid words. The word jake was also listed as an adjective, implying that jaker and jakest are valid.
Both these words are followed by [predic.] and then abreviations for other countries, does this mean that they are contraptions from other languages and not valid as a word under the countdown rules?
I'm not an expert either but YARE is supposed to rhyme with HAIR, which is a diphthong, and so counts as a single syllable for this purpose. So basically, you're right.JackHurst wrote:I also stumbled across the word YARE listed as an adjective. Im not a master of the phonetic symbols that the dictionary uses yet, but if its pronounced as one syllable, then YARER and YAREST should be in.
It is done (well, JACKER/JACKEST/JAKER/JAKEST/YARER/YAREST anyway). I reckon there's more of these forms still missing though.Charlie Reams wrote:I'm not an expert either but YARE is supposed to rhyme with HAIR, which is a diphthong, and so counts as a single syllable for this purpose. So basically, you're right.JackHurst wrote:I also stumbled across the word YARE listed as an adjective. Im not a master of the phonetic symbols that the dictionary uses yet, but if its pronounced as one syllable, then YARER and YAREST should be in.
+YARER and +YAREST please Jimothy.
That still confuses me because I always thought 'a porno' was 'an item of pornography', as in the question: "Are you watching a porno tonight?"Mike Brown wrote:And sorry, Alec, you can't have PORNOS, as far as the ODE is concerned, anyway. It's only given as an alternative spelling of PORN, which is a mass noun.
Yeah. Or the hi-larious Judd Apatow film "Zack and Miri make a porno"Alec Rivers wrote:That still confuses me because I always thought 'a porno' was 'an item of pornography', as in the question: "Are you watching a porno tonight?"Mike Brown wrote:And sorry, Alec, you can't have PORNOS, as far as the ODE is concerned, anyway. It's only given as an alternative spelling of PORN, which is a mass noun.
Yes, this and DIORITES really should go.JackHurst wrote:dictionary corner got JADEITES in one of my games the other day, but its a mass noun i the dictionary. Seeing as though other minerals aren't allowed in, I dont see why this should be either.
The plural is given as MEN explicitly (e.g. FIREMAN -> FIREMEN) if it's expected, so yes, I think you're right. But this is really a whole can of worms.Kirk Bevins wrote:What about the plural of PIVOTMAN. It doesn't suggest PIVOTMEN so surely it's PIVOTMANS? I have no idea on this one.