Unique Words I've Learned

[DrPlacebo]

GAITA (and GAITAS) is one that I learned outside of WordTwist recently, tried in-game, and scored points for.

It's both an indigenous flute from Colombia's Caribbean coast, and a genre of music that uses that instrument extensively.

[Naboka]

Yeah, sometimes looking up definitions is a hamster's wheel of nonsense going nowhere. That's why I often just remember them as letter patterns rather than vocabulary.

Saves on the migraines.

[Naboka]

I think I've heard of this word before.

Didn't Barbra Streisand have a film 'Yentel', I wonder if its related?

Had to look it up. Her character was named Yentl Mentel. A girl acting like a boy to receive the rights of boymanship.

Saw the word kuta on a board. Kuta: a male dog; a man or a boy regarded as unpleasant or contempible.

Might as well even the male/female playing field with derogatory terms for both.

Also had kula: a tower, turret or a steeple on the Balkans erected during the period of Ottoman domination on the area.

Being cooped up in a kula might turn even the most pleasant fellow into a kuta.

[2cute]

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.

I think I've heard of this word before.

Didn't Barbra Streisand have a film 'Yentel', I wonder if its related?

[2cute]

Just found another new one:

Lym = n. A dog held in a leam; a bloodhound; a limehound.

Now what is a leam? Apparently its a Scottish or British term.

So Scottish version is a gleam of light, radiance, or shine forth - so a dog held in a gleam of light or shining forth.

and British (completely different) version is to take husks from nuts. Not sure how that would work w/the dog?

Or a drain in a fen (again British) ... Fen? Golly, now I have to research fen ...

Fen = Fens are a type of wetland. Wetlands are ecosystems where the water table is at or near the ground surface for most of the growing season on most years, and as a consequence, the substrate is poorly aerated, and inundation or saturation last long enough that the dominant plants are those that can exist in wet and reducing conditions. The long duration anaerobic conditions limit the decomposition of plant roots, leaves, and stems and over time this organic matter accumulates to form peat soil. Wetlands include the margins of streams and rivers, and the shores of lakes. There are several types of wetlands: swamps, marshes, bogs, and fens.

Again, I don't know how this would work with the dog?

I found a really complicated short word.

[lalatan]

I guess you could say that not finding DISTURBINGNESSES was disturbing in many ways.

Don't get upset about missing it. (I used to heap reproach on myself if I missed the word then saw it after time was up.) If nobody else gets it you'll see it again today, 3 days from now, 2-3 weeks from now or 6 months from now. I know the distribution is supposedly random but I have seen this time and time again over the years. It holds true after the new games/new dict addition as well, although it took a while to go back to that pattern. Also, you may well see a different board with the same word in a slightly different orientation after you've seen this one. Stay

When I played 4x4 last month I did see a lot of -izations words. But that's old hat in 5x5. I've been playing those words for years. Nice to see they're promoted to 4x4 now.

Edit: (if it's not flagged as spam) I just found ABSORPTIOMETERS for 28 pts & 2 records. I first tried BASOMETERS, then ABSORPTOMETERS. I love this crazy game!!

[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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.