Unique Words I've Learned

[2cute]

I remember a meal from when I was a kid of 12 to 15 years old (mom and dad were both working, so I cooked dinner and washed the dishes -- family of five -- so it was not at all fancy). Start with some hamburger meat, about a pound. Cook it in a frying pan, stir it up until it was all done. Then pour in cans of baked beans until the pan was really full. Keep heating until it was all hot. Use a suitable utensil (cup measure, ladle, whatever was handy) to put the result on plates. Dinner! I could eat a whole lot of that and similar dishes featuring pasta, rice, and potatoes in place of the beans. The meals were hot, had plenty of protein and lots of carbs, and were easy to make in large quantities. I loved them. We had steak maybe twice a year -- expensive. I loved feeling full, and before and during the time I was growing rapidly, I would eat between 5,000 and 6,000 calories a day. I was barely over 5 feet tall at the start and weighed less than 100 pounds and was NOT at all fat -- and even when I became well over six feet tall I weighed less than 160. We could not afford fancy food and I needed lots of calories, so that's where the "gourmand" part started. For you metric people, I was about 157 cm tall and 42 kg at the start and 189 cm/71 Kg at the end and still hungry for years afterward.

Wow 5-6,000 calories per day! You really have a fast metabolism. Your experience is the opposite of mine. I've been on a 'diet' since I was 8 years old. In the beginning it was due to my many allergies, so I was limited on the types of foods I could consume. When I was older it was about weighing less. So when I was 14 through my twenties I was trying to consume less than 200 calories per day. Most days I ate nothing and drank tons of water to fill up my stomach so it would 'feel full'. So every time I ate something it was a treat. Every morsel was absolutely delicious. Sometimes I would only consume 5 bites of food per day. Yes, I kept track of how many bites I took per meal. Even though I ate no where near the amount of food you consumed, I was still considered 'fat' and I never ate carbs, mostly I had undressed salads when I did eat. And when I had snacks, I ate so much celery, I can't stand the stuff now.

I can see your point of view though about being 'gourmand'. If you have limited funds and lots of mouths to feed, those were good choices for your family.

[2cute]

Sometimes I play games just to see if I can find the best/longest word that someone else has already gotten.

Then, usually, I just dump the game because the low scores mess up averages.

So, I'm working through the board, looking for a 16 letter word worth 30 points. Find -ally, then -ically, notice a morph- so try morphically half a dozen times, carefully typing in each letter. Nothing.

Time's running out.

Notice hyper-

hmmmm.

you need a drive to get hyperdrive, so could it be possible to have hypermorphically without morphically?

Apparently so.

Guess next time I'll look for hypermorph.

How do you know what is the best or longest word that someone else's already gotten before you play the game?

Normally a game will list the High Score, Most Words, Best Word & Longest Word & by whom reached those records, but it doesn't say what were those words until AFTER you play the game.

[bwt1213]

Wow 5-6,000 calories per day! You really have a fast metabolism.

I can see your point of view though about being 'gourmand'. If you have limited funds and lots of mouths to feed, those were good choices for your family.

In biology class in HS we took our temperatures and pulse rates. My pulse rate was 38 and my temperature was 97. Granted, I practically lived in the arctic, but that was extreme. I don't know where all the calories went. I used to eat a family-sized box of Wheaties or Corn Flakes for breakfast, with about a half gallon of milk, in a mixing bowl. For school lunch there was no charge for seconds or afterward, as long as everyone else had eaten. I often had sevenths. We'd go to pancake breakfasts and my father would make me stop going back because I was embarrassing him -- twenty pancakes, 40 strips of bacon, probably at least a pint of maple syrup, and ten glasses of orange juice. It was ridiculous. And I was small until I wasn't. That was also ridiculous. I was 5' 2" tall and 93 pounds and then I started growing, the August before school started. I grew six inches in one month, and two in a week, and all the school clothes my parents had purchased no longer fit. Not even the shoes. By the end of September, I was a whole foot taller and about sixty pounds heavier. One of my relatives just kept growing from there and topped out at 6' 10", but I stopped before 6' 3". I maintained that kind of metabolism until I was about 25 or so. Then everything I ate turned to fat and I had to watch myself. My body keeps changing gears and becoming more efficient. Now, if I eat much more than 2,000 calories a day I gain weight. My resting pulse rate is still low 60s and my normal temperature is still about a half-degree lower than population average, but neither are nearly as odd as they were.

During the summers, I often made dinners with my own catches. I hunted small game with rocks, and caught fish when I wanted to relax. Where I lived, game was nearly as plentiful as when America was first settled, so hunting was actually pretty easy. So, the family might have dinner with the fish I caught, or with rabbit or grouse. In berry season, I'd bring back gallons of blueberries, serviceberries, thimbleberries, raspberries, strawberries, or various others. Some made jam, some made jelly, most were just eaten. Money was tight, so whatever I could bring back was welcome. To say it was a different time was perhaps an understatement. I was a really good hunter. I surprised a wolf, once.

[Naboka]

How do you know what is the best or longest word that someone else's already gotten before you play the game?

Normally a game will list the High Score, Most Words, Best Word & Longest Word & by whom reached those records, but it doesn't say what were those words until AFTER you play the game.

Before starting any game, all the things you listed are available.

In the case of the game pictured, the longest word was 16 letters and the best word was credited for 30 points. Sometimes those two are the same word, sometimes not. That information alerts you to the availability of a long word and one with high points. Someone actually had found a 16 letter word probably worth 30 points. And if the 16 letter word wasn't worth 30 points another word existed worth that much.

Usually, I'm just racing through boards and don't have the time or attention to parse out elements to form longer words. My attention span's too short. When I know there's a particularly long or high scoring word, I put on the brakes and simply search for that single word.

Here's another example I got yesterday.

As for having to wait until the results are posted, it really isn't necessary. When you hit a word that's the amount you want (in this case "descendabilities") you can see it listed with its points. Then you can end the game. But, because I like to send these to my wife, I take a screen shot and text her the image.

Showing her the long words I've gotten is like a peacock spreading its feathers.

Sometimes, she's so impressed she makes me pancakes.

[Naboka]

Yente: (also yenta) Yiddish for a vulgar shrew, a shallow coarse termagant. A woman who's regarded as quarrelsome and scolding.

Not that I'd ever have use for such a word.

[Naboka]

In biology class in HS we took our temperatures and pulse rates. My pulse rate was 38 and my temperature was 97. Granted, I practically lived in the arctic, but that was extreme. I don't know where all the calories went. I used to eat a family-sized box of Wheaties or Corn Flakes for breakfast, with about a half gallon of milk, in a mixing bowl. For school lunch there was no charge for seconds or afterward, as long as everyone else had eaten. I often had sevenths. We'd go to pancake breakfasts and my father would make me stop going back because I was embarrassing him -- twenty pancakes, 40 strips of bacon, probably at least a pint of maple syrup, and ten glasses of orange juice. It was ridiculous. And I was small until I wasn't. That was also ridiculous. I was 5' 2" tall and 93 pounds and then I started growing, the August before school started. I grew six inches in one month, and two in a week, and all the school clothes my parents had purchased no longer fit. Not even the shoes. By the end of September, I was a whole foot taller and about sixty pounds heavier. One of my relatives just kept growing from there and topped out at 6' 10", but I stopped before 6' 3". I maintained that kind of metabolism until I was about 25 or so. Then everything I ate turned to fat and I had to watch myself. My body keeps changing gears and becoming more efficient. Now, if I eat much more than 2,000 calories a day I gain weight. My resting pulse rate is still low 60s and my normal temperature is still about a half-degree lower than population average, but neither are nearly as odd as they were.

During the summers, I often made dinners with my own catches. I hunted small game with rocks, and caught fish when I wanted to relax. Where I lived, game was nearly as plentiful as when America was first settled, so hunting was actually pretty easy. So, the family might have dinner with the fish I caught, or with rabbit or grouse. In berry season, I'd bring back gallons of blueberries, serviceberries, thimbleberries, raspberries, strawberries, or various others. Some made jam, some made jelly, most were just eaten. Money was tight, so whatever I could bring back was welcome. To say it was a different time was perhaps an understatement. I was a really good hunter. I surprised a wolf, once.

So, when you have a "normal" temperature reading of 98.6 are you running a fever?

I've got the same situation. Resting pulse in the 50's, normal temperature of 97.2. When the gym was checking everyone's temperature, I always thought that a person like me could have a raging fever and it would read as slightly above normal by their standards.

[2cute]

So, when you have a "normal" temperature reading of 98.6 are you running a fever?

I've got the same situation. Resting pulse in the 50's, normal temperature of 97.2. When the gym was checking everyone's temperature, I always thought that a person like me could have a raging fever and it would read as slightly above normal by their standards.

Wow, there's someone else like me?! Yes, my normal temperature is 97.6. So if its the 'standard normal' temp for most other humans @ 98.8, I have a fever. I FEEL like a fever as well. I'm not pleasant to be around since I feel ill.

[2cute]

Before starting any game, all the things you listed are available.

In the case of the game pictured, the longest word was 16 letters and the best word was credited for 30 points. Sometimes those two are the same word, sometimes not. That information alerts you to the availability of a long word and one with high points. Someone actually had found a 16 letter word probably worth 30 points. And if the 16 letter word wasn't worth 30 points another word existed worth that much.

Usually, I'm just racing through boards and don't have the time or attention to parse out elements to form longer words. My attention span's too short. When I know there's a particularly long or high scoring word, I put on the brakes and simply search for that single word.

Here's another example I got yesterday.

As for having to wait until the results are posted, it really isn't necessary. When you hit a word that's the amount you want (in this case "descendabilities") you can see it listed with its points. Then you can end the game. But, because I like to send these to my wife, I take a screen shot and text her the image.

Showing her the long words I've gotten is like a peacock spreading its feathers.

Sometimes, she's so impressed she makes me pancakes.

lalatan does that. He searches the puzzle for his superlong word & when he finds it he ends the game, even if he has more time available. He says that technique allows him to keep a certain average as that is the most important part of playing for him.

So its not the exact word that you know in advance, its the length & score which you're right is given before play begins. Ah, ha.

Aww, that's so sweet you share your accomplishments w/your wife.

[Spike1007]

Using 98.6 F as the average body temperature gives it a seeming exactness that it doesn't deserve, like they know what it should be to the nearest tenth of a degree. It was originally calculated in Centigrade as 37 C (rounded off to the nearest degree, I assume), and that converts to 98.6 F. That means that anything between 97.7 F & 99.5 F (36.5 C & 37.5 C) should be considered normal, and that doesn't even take into account the spread actually found in the original measurements (whatever that may have been).

Another example that struck me as funny is the daily aspirin dosage of 81 mg used to help prevent heart attacks. Was 80 mg too little & 82 mg too much? Anyway, when you realize that the standard aspirin tablet is 325 mg, it becomes kind of obvious that, in the studies, they decided that a quarter of a tablet was about right. It cut the unwanted side effects while still providing protection. I guess they decided not to go overboard and choose 81.25 mg.

[lalatan]

Lalatan, I am shocked, truly shocked, that you did not remember how to spell that word. ...

There is another book I enjoyed on English, the language: The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, by Bill Bryson. A little zippier, and funnier... That one was originally published in 1990

Yes, those type of things can happen occasionally. I recall one game where I had about a minute to go, typed the word or its singular and hit enter 4x and it was rejected every time. Afterward, I goggled it and found that I had misspelled the word 4x.

Thanks for the book recommendation but I gave up reading books a few years ago. Instead, I read the internet and watch streaming videos. Books cost money and I was sick to death of packing and carrying the heavy brutes every time we moved.

When all the good 5x5 games dried up in mid-July I went over to 4x4 and collected a few hundred best/longest words there. There were lots of new and interesting words there. I too found SEPULCHRING on that board but dumped the game when it was only worth 10 pts. I thought it should've been worth more. I suppose anyone who wants to set high pt records should do it before the new scoring system is implemented next year. I suspect it will downgrade the pt value of many currently high scoring words since the usage stats won't be a factor anymore.

Congrats on the English MA! That's an achievement. Strangely enough (I suppose), I disliked English classes. It's the only class I fell asleep in, probably aided by the teacher droning on endlessly in a monotone. However, I've enjoyed word games all my life, even then.

As for chocolate, I went over to the dark side 20 years ago and have remained there since. Now milk chocolate tastes detestable to me. I'm not that fond of chocolate ice cream and always debate if I should have some when offered.

[Naboka]

[QUOTE=Spike1007;n27114]Using 98.6 F as the average body temperature gives it a seeming exactness that it doesn't deserve, like they know what it should be to the nearest tenth of a degree. It was originally calculated in Centigrade as 37 C (rounded off to the nearest degree, I assume), and that converts to 98.6 F. That means that anything between 97.7 F & 99.5 F (36.5 C & 37.5 C) should be considered normal, and that doesn't even take into account the spread actually found in the original measurements (whatever that may have been).

Another example that struck me as funny is the daily aspirin dosage of 81 mg used to help prevent heart attacks. Was 80 mg too little & 82 mg too much? Anyway, when you realize that the standard aspirin tablet is 325 mg, it becomes kind of obvious that, in the studies, they decided that a quarter of a tablet was about right. It cut the unwanted side effects while still providing protection. I guess they decided not to go overboard and choose 81.25 mg.[/QUOTE

I was doing the baby aspirin dose religiously for years. Then got complacent and stopped doing all the things that were keeping me healthier.

In July and August I woke up just before 1 am with a racing heart (130-140 bpm when it would normally be 52) and atrial fibrillation.

Apple watch lets you do ECG's and tracks heart rate. No p wave.

The first time the symptoms lasted for 14 hours until I took a bunch of aspirin. Scary. The second time, it lasted an hour because I had the remedy: aspirin.

I'm back to the baby aspirin routine. I read studies a couple of years ago that once you start you have to continue because people who stop can develop heart complications.

I also stopped taking red rice yeast tablets that help with cholesterol after my cholesterol went over 200 ten years ago. After several years, the cholesterol steadily dropped to 138 on last year's physical. So, complacency set in. Results from this year's physical: cholesterol 238. Back to the red rice yeast tablets.

[Naboka]

Yes, those type of things can happen occasionally. I recall one game where I had about a minute to go, typed the word or its singular and hit enter 4x and it was rejected every time. Afterward, I goggled it and found that I had misspelled the word 4x.

Thanks for the book recommendation but I gave up reading books a few years ago. Instead, I read the internet and watch streaming videos. Books cost money and I was sick to death of packing and carrying the heavy brutes every time we moved.

When all the good 5x5 games dried up in mid-July I went over to 4x4 and collected a few hundred best/longest words there. There were lots of new and interesting words there. I too found SEPULCHRING on that board but dumped the game when it was only worth 10 pts. I thought it should've been worth more. I suppose anyone who wants to set high pt records should do it before the new scoring system is implemented next year. I suspect it will downgrade the pt value of many currently high scoring words since the usage stats won't be a factor anymore.

Congrats on the English MA! That's an achievement. Strangely enough (I suppose), I disliked English classes. It's the only class I fell asleep in, probably aided by the teacher droning on endlessly in a monotone. However, I've enjoyed word games all my life, even then.

As for chocolate, I went over to the dark side 20 years ago and have remained there since. Now milk chocolate tastes detestable to me. I'm not that fond of chocolate ice cream and always debate if I should have some when offered.

NEW SCORING SYSTEM!????

Hmmm. Hadn't heard that one. The curve balls life throws at you.

Why can't people just leave things alone?

Like the intrusion of running water and flushing toilets on our lives.

Electric lights.

Sitting in an outhouse in winter at negative 5 Fahrenheit. Using a hand pump for water. Reading by candlelight. Those were the days.

As for chocolate, I can abide with stupid politics and insane religions, but not loving chocolate?!!! Unimaginable. If this were Facebook, the unfriend button would beckon.

[lalatan]

Sometimes I play games just to see if I can find the best/longest word that someone else has already gotten.

Then, usually, I just dump the game because the low scores mess up averages.

So, I'm working through the board, looking for a 16 letter word worth 30 points. Find -ally, then -ically, notice a morph- so try morphically half a dozen times, carefully typing in each letter. Nothing.

Time's running out.

Notice hyper-

hmmmm.

you need a drive to get hyperdrive, so could it be possible to have hypermorphically without morphically?

Apparently so.

Guess next time I'll look for hypermorph.

Good find, Naboka! Hyper- is always worthwhile for something to pair with it. It's a cha-ching prefix that puts larger coin in the pt bank. Hyper- words used to be fairly rare before the new games/words release in February. Now there are plenty. Here's a sampling of some of the more exotic ones I set records with since then:
HYPERFASTIDIOUSNESSES, HYPERLIPOPROTEINEMIAS, HYPERDEIFICATIONS, HYPERBARBAROUSNESSES, HYPERGENETICALNESSES(?!)

Congrats on your wife's reaction to your word finds. My wife sometimes chuckles (depending on the seeming absurdity of the word), rolls her eyes or gives me a look that says, "Not another one." But she does occasionally says she's proud of my accomplishments and tells others at work. But never once pancakes! lol

[Naboka]

Good find, Naboka! Hyper- is always worthwhile for something to pair with it. It's a cha-ching prefix that puts larger coin in the pt bank. Hyper- words used to be fairly rare before the new games/words release in February. Now there are plenty. Here's a sampling of some of the more exotic ones I set records with since then:
HYPERFASTIDIOUSNESSES, HYPERLIPOPROTEINEMIAS, HYPERDEIFICATIONS, HYPERBARBAROUSNESSES, HYPERGENETICALNESSES(?!)

Congrats on your wife's reaction to your word finds. My wife sometimes chuckles (depending on the seeming absurdity of the word), rolls her eyes or gives me a look that says, "Not another one." But she does occasionally says she's proud of my accomplishments and tells others at work. But never once pancakes! lol

Certainly would like to have your command of word elements.

I'll put hyper- in my word element bank for future use.

Another one that's hit the market recently is: -izations. It dominates the top 9 best words currently.

[Naboka]

Screen Shot 2021-09-08 at 4.24.58 PM.png

Just played this to failure. Another one that gets a lot of play is -nesses and -ingnesses.

Didn't finish this one, tried distributingnesses as a guess, fumbled, then realized too late it was probably disturbingnesses, and the time was down to a few seconds so I jumped off.