#72349
06/12/2002 6:36 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Word play and fun isn't word games. this is not a game site.Despite the gentleman who pules, "We don't need no steenkin' rules," Upon your point I must agree; I side with you and not with he. Your principle thus demonstrates How rules can help forestall debates. (Yet I confess that all the same, I rather much enjoyed the game!  )
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#72350
06/12/2002 6:54 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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a further point... its not so much a rule that we can't have games here, but games need to meet the function of the board.. this is not set up as game board, and since it in theory, if not in acuality, has members who post from all points of the globe, its hardly fair or fun to have games that are unable to particapate in, or if they do, they are at a handicap.
hogwash invites suggestions for a week or so, (and has a deadline,) then has another week to vote. so everyone in the world can play, on equal footing. personally i found it boring and slow. and never joined in.. but any one who wanted too, could. a game of similar to hang man might be divised that could be fairly played across 24 time zones, and several days.. but this game wasn't.
game sites have software that responds differently.. and makes games available 24 hours a day.. this has never been a game site, (and changing to one would require new software. has any asked Anu to host a word game site? that might be an other solution.
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#72351
06/13/2002 4:37 AM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
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Posts: 833 |
Not to sound like a broken record, but this is another reason I like of troy: she didn't just identify a problem, she explained WHY it was a problem (thanks Helen, because I hadn't thought of the time-zone unfairness!), AND (most important of all) - she suggested a possible solution or two. So one of us could try to come up with a way to make hangman something fair we could play here - although it might be boring and slow, like hogwash - or we could leave it (as of troy mentions, there are several game sites out there), or ask Anu about a word games site..... For now, for those who love word games and perhaps don't know about it, might I recommend http://www.yourdictionary.com/ and click on the "games" portion of the site? I just spent some enjoyable time there myself and can recommend it....
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#72352
06/14/2002 12:50 AM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148
member
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member
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I'm not sure whether this is a complaint or a thank you... I've looked up the Boggle site mentioned long, long ago at the start of this thread, and it's pretty good. Thus my uncertainty over whether to complain or thank; I will be returning there, and it may be that I do so too much!
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#72353
06/14/2002 8:46 AM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
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If it's the one I mentioned, I hope you have plenty of fun there.
My nick over there is "elbillaf" and hopefully we'll meet there in real time in the near future.
These are great games for expanding vocabulary - probably super boggle moreso than regular boggle, though I enjoy both games for sheer fun. I'm really surprised when I play with my kids to discover that they know words that I wasn't expecting them to know - like 'wary' and 'remit'. These two came up last night when I was doing crosswords with the kids. I wasn't so surprised that she had heard of them so much as that she read the definitions and immediately knew the words. (It's become our nightly passion instead of reading to each other to play games.) Okay, so crosswords are among the many word games I love and at which I suck, so maybe I'm overly impressed.
Still, I think the combination of activities: talking with the kids regularly, reading to them, playing various smart games with them, etc. has had a cumulative beneficial effect on their vocabularies. I'm kinda excited now about the prospect of teaching my oldest how to do cryptograms.
People set different standards as you'll discover (in scrabble as well as in boggle). For example, the words "em" and "en" mentioned in the subwords thread in the other group are very commonly played in scrabble, and "cwm" and "airn" and "airt" are often played in boggle - very, very often by people who don't know or care about the meanings. I think that the love of words and language is so deep among the better players, though, that most of them (the high red fellows) know most of the words they play. I note that the two dictionaries which the different programs resort do not always agree about what is a word.
k
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#72354
06/15/2002 3:23 AM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
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Posts: 833 |
Okay, so crosswords are among the many word games I love and at which I suck
You mention cryptograms - doncha love those? I feel compelled to offer, here, the shortest clue in cryptogram history:
e (13 letters)
It was in The Times (of course!) - did anyone hear about this one, a few years ago?
any guesses?!
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#72355
06/15/2002 10:52 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,070 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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the words "em" and "en" mentioned in the subwords thread in the other group are very commonly played in scrabble
There is a recent book on "professional" Scrabble - I forget the author - in which it becomes clear that, at that level, it's more an exercise in symbol manipulation, and words are no longer important: what matters is has the better command of the finite list of data known as the Scrabble Dictionary. Some folk with no significant command of English do a well as any and better than most.
How disillusioning! What a sterile ending to the wonders of the language. (Anyway, whom are you going to believe, me or some strange dictionary?)
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#72356
06/15/2002 11:01 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,070 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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the shortest clue in cryptogram history:
e (13 letters)I think you are referring to Cryptic Crosswords, full of all kinds of wordplay, rather than cryptograms, subtitution-coded phrases. If that's your cup of tea, drop in on the NPL (National Puzzlers' League) site at http://www.puzzlers.org and sample what they have to offer. They pride themselves in their cleverness and word-savvy, and perhaps justifiaby so. And they have come up with bunches of phrases that they have expressed cryptically as a single letter ! P.S. "senselessness" ? No, that would apply to any nonsense collection. I'll work on it some more.
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#72357
06/16/2002 12:36 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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#72358
06/16/2002 4:58 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
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the shortest clue in cryptogram history: e (13 letters)
I hate to disagree, but my favourite clue of all time is:
(4,4,1,4)
Any guesses? Answer available if anyone wants it? I have no idea about the e one.
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#72359
06/16/2002 7:05 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
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I'll need to think about it.
I think I'm going to have some fun this evening.
thanks!
k
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#72360
06/16/2002 7:13 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
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Wofa wrote Some folk with no significant command of English do a well as any and better than most.
Very true. OTOH, those who do love the words set higher standards for themselves than those who don't. And while there are a lot who don't care about the words, I believe there are a great many (perhaps not most, but a great many) who do.
Regardless of how much a particular player enjoys or loves words, the games themselves are symbol manipulation, as you say.
k
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#72361
06/16/2002 7:16 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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tsuwm posted a link to the pro scrabble book.
Very interesting. I didn't realize there was such a thing as a professional scrabble player. Bare minimum I'm going to browse this book first time I can find a copy.
The second message in that thread, though, was great though. You just made me laugh till I had tears in my eyes (re the query concerning the hyphenation of anal retentive). Very, very cute.
k
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#72362
06/16/2002 7:16 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Many very bright people fail because they are unable to express themselve well.
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#72363
06/17/2002 11:38 PM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
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Posts: 833 |
I think you are referring to Cryptic CrosswordsThanks, I was. Thought "cryptograms" was another name for them - oops! That'll larn me to use my dictionary.  PS: ( senselessness) Got it in one! Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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#72364
06/18/2002 10:10 AM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
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Many very bright people fail because they are unable to express themselve well.
So very true, Dr Bill. I know a fellow who fancies himself an editor. He's an orthographic machine and a relentless, punctilious grammarian. Unfortunately, he is also miraculously devoid of creative instinct. One can barely make a point in person with him, because he's wired to instantaneously correct any spoken or written venial error before the transgressor is able to complete his thought. Understandably this results in tedious and generally painful conversation. He has an alchemical ability to transmute any beautiful prose into a tidy list of words.
I was somewhat irritated the first few times my own work came under his red pen, until I learned that he often practices on great works of literature. From vibrant, lovely, and universally revered writing he produces hideous verbal corpses. "Bwahaha! Now isn't that better!"
You take a stick and poke the tidy list of words. They do not move. They do not breath. They do not quiver in response. Better than what?
Call it sour grapes, but I think it's possible to know the words and how to spell them and the rules and how to implement them and still miss the point.
k
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#72365
06/18/2002 9:19 PM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 39
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 39 |
I'm as dumb as a post, I guess, but what is this "e (13 letters)" bit? The answer was "senselessness"? Why? I guess I need to learn a new word game.
Robert
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#72366
06/19/2002 2:08 AM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
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what is this "e (13 letters)" bit? The answer was "senselessness"? Why?sense, less ness, leaves only "e."   get it? get it?! (take letters from "ness" out of word "sense" and all that remains is an "e") Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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#72367
06/19/2002 9:36 AM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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e (13 letters)
Wow. I'm glad someone did this before I started on it.
I thought the cryptogram was "e (13 letters)"
k
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#72368
06/20/2002 3:28 AM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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I thought the cryptogram was "e (13 letters)"
Sorry, FF. I prolly dint explain it very well. Shoulda said something like, "clue: e. solution is 13 letters long."
Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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#72369
06/20/2002 2:25 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,070 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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what is this "e (13 letters)" bit? The answer was "senselessness"? Why?
sense, less ness, leaves only "e."
Good job, mg. I had it, ten or twelve posts above, and didn't recognize it.
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