The strange, the bizarre and the unexpected

[lalatan]

lalatan, I was just thinking of you.

First, let me say that PERSNICKETIEST is one of the best words I've ever heard found on this site. (Also, MARSHMALLOWIEST, which makes me happy every time I think of it...

Sad to say marshmallows don't make me happy. As a kid in the 60's I somewhat enjoyed the campfire charred ones but never gorged myself like others in my age group. I did enjoy the challenge of toasting them evenly w/o setting them ablaze. Had I known of the existence of s'mores it may have changed my perception of them since I like chocolate and graham crackers.

By reading through the best words played lists in 4x4 this month I discovered QUICKSILVERIEST is worth 33 pts. So that seems to be the kingliest of -iest words.

Pain woke me up at 5:00 a.m. so I'm stroaming more than usual today.

Enjoy the word hunt and your weekend stroaming.

[lalatan]

Oops, I looked up my screenshot of the first time I set records w DICHLORODIFLUOROMETHANES and the old pt value was 42, not 44 as I stated in my other post. So the new scoring increased the pt value by 4 and the singular pt value by 2. It was always a mystery to me why dropping the -s decreased the pt value of the singular so much, only 33 pts. (But there are plenty of such mysteries in WordTwist, as we know.) Also, I probably didn't explain it too well that I overtook your best word record in February. The screenshot I posted is that same game; it hasn't been recycled yet. I just played it again to boost my APPW this time.

[Spike1007]

lalatan, that is pretty interesting. I'm pretty sure I haven't beaten anyone's best word record with the same word. Maybe I'll have to watch for that before all boards using the old scoring are recycled. Then again, if Stephen does update rarity values (and especially if he makes them board-dependent) we could be in for another round of curiosities.

It occurred to me that you could have set the record even with the singular, adding to the curiosity.

[2cute]

Spike, I thought I'd post this curious anomaly for you. This is very likely the only time in WordTwist history when we are joint best/longest word record holders on a board. It happened not long after the new dictionary was added last February and came up for me again last week. I played 1 of your 44 pt record games and to my surprise I became the best word record holder after I submitted the game. I knew what happened though because BoggleOtaku had done it with 1 of my records before then. The new scoring increased the pt value of the same word by 2 pts.

JOINT RECORD HOLDER W SPIKE.jpg

Wow that's amazing lalatan! You both got the very same word! You're right its the only record with both of you having the very same word for longest & best. Great find!

[lalatan]

Spike, I thought I'd post this curious anomaly for you. This is very likely the only time in WordTwist history when we are joint best/longest word record holders on a board. It happened not long after the new dictionary was added last February and came up for me again last week. I played 1 of your 44 pt record games and to my surprise I became the best word record holder after I submitted the game. I knew what happened though because BoggleOtaku had done it with 1 of my records before then. The new scoring increased the pt value of the same word by 2 pts.

JOINT RECORD HOLDER W SPIKE.jpg

[2cute]

Ohhhhh ... ok, you're right! Thanks!

[bwt1213]

Start in the lower right corner and go up to make the longest word. Nothing is used twice.

[2cute]

So I played this board recently and the longest word recorded isn't possible because it uses the same 'I' twice.

image_608.jpg

Do you see what I mean? How is this possible? I usually use each letter only once.

[Naboka]

What a fascinating piece of technology. Never heard of it before. Using bubbles on the surface of submarines to make them move faster. Amongst other things.

Supercavitations.

Guess I should have given credit to the person who found it first, but...

Screen Shot 2021-09-30 at 5.58.49 PM.png

[ShirleyMarquez]

My most surprising word wasn't even a long one. It was ZIZZ on a 4x4. Three Zs! I also scored PIZAZZ on that board, but no fourth Z so the more common spelling PIZZAZZ was not available.

[lalatan]

First, let me say that PERSNICKETIEST is one of the best words I've ever heard found on this site. (Also, MARSHMALLOWIEST, which makes me happy every time I think of it... **ETA: it was onetimeonly, for 28 points (ahem), this month.**

Thanks. Also thanks for the info; I'll watch for some supreme fluffiness and the 28 pts it comes with.

Second, yay me! I do see my name come up every once in awhile -- I almost always replay those boards -- sometimes I can't even find my previous record word, and sometimes I surpass myself. I'm never sure if I should feel cocky when I do that -- it seems self-insulting.

lol, I was never gored by the horns of that particular dilemma before. You could at least take pleasure in your improvement w/o too much gloating and posturing about it.
Quite some time ago I quit playing any of the games where I'm the record holder. It seldom yielded anything better. Now, even when I know I messed up by not adding un- or de- etc. I just let it go at that. Someone else can get it. It's more productive for me to just go onto the next game. I came to accept that I seemed to have developed a nose for sniffing out the best word on a board. But of course I'm still wrong about that once in a while.

Third, I have occasionally been wandering into the 5x5 boards, as you mentioned I might try, and this evening I actually found a word longer than 8 letters!

The 5x5 boards take a lot of getting used to -- I am usually overwhelmed by all the letters and have a difficult time focusing. I guess that is why I will keep practicing/practising. I know many of the suffixes to look for, at least, although now I'm very likely to see at least two different ones in one board.

Congrats on your good find in 5x5; nice to see you thought of also playing the word w/o dis-. With the current scoring system, the shorter word is sometimes worth more, which is counterintuitive. Yup, keep playing; I'm nearing 80k games played. I've probably looked at least 10x as many game stats to analyze them to see if it's a suitable game for me to play.

I like it when long word players (i.e. those who play primarily only longer words at least part-time) develop gradually, like Spike, crazykate, snsmithaz, folkslinger, John 13:34, dadsbricks and you (to name a few that come to mind). When they play something difficult I trust that they have not read it from a piece of paper or a Boggle solver. Conversely, players who show up suddenly on the best words played list (especially those who recently signed up as members) and get high-scoring words I do not trust. To me many of the long words on this website are not to be found on any other Boggle websites so their skill at spotting them w/o a track record is inherently suspicious. I'm not a cop, there may be very few cheaters (knowing human nature there will always be some) and I could be wrong so I don't let it diminish my enjoyment of the game. I intend to outplay them regardless of what methods they choose.

Enjoy the games, amiga!

Yesterday while playing 5x5 I found PERSNICKETIEST for 27 pts/2 records (I actually found it after playing it a month after I posted about finding PERNICKETIEST in 4x4 but didn't bother writing about it). Now I have the complete collection. I think that's the highest scoring -iest word that's been played. Anyone get a higher score for a word ending in that suffix?

currerbell, I'm currently retooling my brain to collect 4x4 records next month (I'll see how long that will last.). At the end of the month I thought I'd try to play 51 games all in one day and see what APPW I can come up with. I got the gold before using my "speed trophy hunting" technique (not many competitors back then though) but it took me 2 days to get 51 games of a high enough pt value which I also knew. I played 3 games today where you were the best word record holder: 12, 14, 18 pts. I couldn't even find the lower scoring words but had no trouble w the 18 pt one. (Apparently there are too many 12-14 pt words for my brain to keep track of.) Congrats on locking down those boards.

lalatan, I was just thinking of you.

First, let me say that PERSNICKETIEST is one of the best words I've ever heard found on this site. (Also, MARSHMALLOWIEST, which makes me happy every time I think of it. [Unfortunately, I cannot remember who found that delightful word and I'm worried if I try to wander off to find out, I might break this post. Will try to find after I do post. I hope I can find it.]). **ETA: it was onetimeonly, for 28 points (ahem), this month.**

Second, yay me! I do see my name come up every once in awhile -- I almost always replay those boards -- sometimes I can't even find my previous record word, and sometimes I surpass myself. I'm never sure if I should feel cocky when I do that -- it seems self-insulting.

Third, I have occasionally been wandering into the 5x5 boards, as you mentioned I might try, and this evening I actually found a word longer than 8 letters! Okay, the board had only been played twice before, and this isn't exactly FRIGGATRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA (not even close!), but I think this fits this particular topic as "unexpected":

disint.png
And no, I do not believe there were any -NESSES for this one, at least I did try -- but it's so many letters I could easily have misspelled.

The 5x5 boards take a lot of getting used to -- I am usually overwhelmed by all the letters and have a difficult time focusing. I guess that is why I will keep practicing/practising. I know many of the suffixes to look for, at least, although now I'm very likely to see at least two different ones in one board.

[lalatan]

Amazing, great find Spike!

I always marveled that 3 of our days of the week are named after Norse deities. I attributed it to possibly the impact of the Viking invasions on England. However, I just found out that M-W says we have the Anglo-Saxons to thank for that.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/word...l-word-history

According to Wikipedia, Anglo-Saxons worshipped the same gods as all the Germanic peoples but called them by different names.
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_mythology#Beliefs

[Spike1007]

I just saw TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA (and -PHOBIC) for the first time in a long time. (Fear of the number 13.) For the hell of it, I tried FRIGGATRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA (just because it was there) and to my surprise it worked. Turns out that's a fear of Friday the 13th.

[2cute]

I became curious about words with no vowels some time ago and found this:
https://scrabble.merriam.com/words-without-vowels

This is a great find & really helpful, thanks!