Words to add to the dictionary

[bwt1213]

Maybe I'm overthinking it all, but at a quick glance there will likely be something on the order of 500 or so more 3 letter words (an increase of 37%), and 2500 more 4 letter words (an increase of 44%) added if we are adhere to the most liberal boundaries (i.e. everything that isn't an abbreviation, initialization, or proper name). And, by definition, almost all of these new terms would have to be scored as "ultra rare". I'm just concerned that this could potentially change the feel and experience of the game by flooding it with thousands of high-scoring short words that will puff up the total words/score available in each board by quite a bit.

Some examples of potential new words, just out of interest:

AAD: Tyneside dialect for "old"
AAM: Historical measure of liquids (Dutch and German)
ABE: Uncommon archaic British usage of "to be"
ARO: Shortened term for someone who is aromantic, coined in 2014

If a word is an abbreviation, it shouldn't be added. I'm tempted to agree with that except for radar, sonar, jato, rato, and similar words that have passed into common use though they were once just acronyms. I doubt lol is a word, and if it is only because of cell phones and the internet I'd be irritated because I'm a curmudgeon. And there are probably thousands of other internet-generated acronyms that I have no idea whatever what they mean and perhaps everyone under the age of 25 uses every day. But I will say forever that if it doesn't look like a word and you can't pronounce it from the spelling, then IT ISN'T A WORD, DAMMIT.

So, here's the rule I'd propose: If you could see yourself using the word because it perfectly captured something that English never had, then accept it every time. Oont, for example. Though if you look it up you find several other uses for "oont" in English dialects. I could never see myself using "aro", or even "aromantic" and I don't think it describes anyone better than the term "cold fish". Nor can I see myself or anyone else using "AAD" or "AAM" or "ABE". Toss them all out.

There is something to be said for allowing dialectical words in. Sometimes they enrich English in unexpected ways. But there is a difference between a "Welsh" or "Cornish" or "Scottish" or "Irish" dialect and a "Tyneside" dialect, whatever that is. I wouldn't allow the latter, nor would I allow Cockney slang in. If something is "New Zealand South Island slang for --" then toss it. And in my home town there were words borrowed from Chippewa ("waaah" with more and more of the "a" to amplify the meaning of "big") and terms like "panky" to describe snow that, when struck with the flat of a shovel made a "pank" sound. And corn snow and rice snow and sand snow and dust snow -- and you get the idea. There were dozens of words to describe snow, because snow was constant and you could see it every month of the year. But just because Yuppers made a word for it doesn't mean it's really a word. Water vapor condensed out of an intensely cold clear blue-black sky and falling at noon in cupcake-sized clumps is beautiful and you'll probably never see it, but any word for it doesn't deserve a place in an English language dictionary. And you wouldn't want to live somewhere where the day's high temperature was -20 F anyway. Yes, the Northern Lights do really sing and you really can hear them, like sleigh bells far away. But if we created a word for that, it would have no meaning for almost anyone. That word doesn't deserve a dictionary entry. The experience is something else.

I want a completely regularized English language. If there is a verb, then an "er", "r", or "or" ending should always be allowed. NO exceptions. If there is a gerund, it's a NOUN and there must ALWAYS be plurals. Arguments to the contrary are stupidly wrong. Exceptions to rules make for an unwieldy and awkward language. Get rid of the exceptions. I stand on that hill and have planted my flag.

[BoredInTheCar]

I want a completely regularized English language.

Hah hah, good luck with that. English doesn't work that way.

If there is a verb, then an "er", "r", or "or" ending should always be allowed. NO exceptions. If there is a gerund, it's a NOUN and there must ALWAYS be plurals. Arguments to the contrary are stupidly wrong. Exceptions to rules make for an unwieldy and awkward language. Get rid of the exceptions. I stand on that hill and have planted my flag.

But what if the plural of a gerund is just irregular, as it were? Take the verb "think," for example. If we say, "what is his thinking on the matter?" no one will find that weird. But if we say "what are his thinkings on the matter?" people will think (hah) it's a misuse of language - the proper phrase is "what are his thoughts on the matter?"

English is full of exceptions, otherwise you'd say, "Yesterday I goed to the store after I eated because I amed out of onions." Or something like that.

So, here's the rule I'd propose: If you could see yourself using the word because it perfectly captured something that English never had, then accept it every time. Oont, for example. Though if you look it up you find several other uses for "oont" in English dialects. I could never see myself using "aro", or even "aromantic" and I don't think it describes anyone better than the term "cold fish". Nor can I see myself or anyone else using "AAD" or "AAM" or "ABE". Toss them all out.

Isn't that rather arbitrary, though? What if "AAD" makes perfect sense to me because my parents are from Tynesdale and I heard the word at home all the time growing up? You can't imagine yourself ever needing the word; I can. Which one of us is the correct arbiter of what's allowable and what isn't?

If this sounds antagonizing or argumentative, I assure you I don't mean it to be. It's an interesting discussion and the English language is full of fascinating curiosities.

[bwt1213]

The thing is, you'd wind up with a dictionary that included AAD and PANKY when only a very few people used them, knew what they meant, or cared. Would WAAAAAH with anywhere from one to a dozen As be in the dictionary? There is a point where the word is so isolated and so insular that it's not needed and really adds nothing to the language.

It is a characteristic of "new" languages that they have really complicated rules with lots of exceptions, many tenses and declensions, and a lot of just plain arbitrariness. The older the language, the more likely that everything becomes regularized.

And no, I don't think you're being antagonizing or argumentative. I don't have the energy to work myself up into a state of high dudgeon; I've at last contracted COVID. Yup, vaccinated. It's probably Omicron, though, and the shots don't protect as well against that version.

[BoredInTheCar]

Yikes on the Covid! Best wishes for a complete and easy recovery.

I always figured the really exceptional players use lots of words they don't know the meaning of, as is the case in Scrabble. If that's the expectation, then whether a word is commonly understood or not is less important. As for me, I tend to know the definitions of most of the words I play, because I have a good vocabulary and I'm not competitive enough to spend time on pages and pages of word lists.

There are a few words I play all the time that I don't know the meaning of, but they are mostly ones I stumbled across through typos or desperation.

[bwt1213]

About Covid: there was an Easter Sunday dinner for the family. No one had any exposure, so far as we know. Several had been tested before the event and were negative. I won't use names. Let's just use capital letters for females and lower case for males, listed from oldest to youngest. So the males were abcde and the Females were ABCD. abcd tested positive after the event and several had tested negative before it (bd). D tested positive and C's results were inconclusive. D is 8 years old and attends school in person (Republican demand here in Wisconsin) and without a mask (another Republican demand). Since Republicans rule Wisconsin despite taking less than 50% of the vote year after year, their demands are usually met. I suspect, though I do not know, that D is responsible for all those cases. That's what kids do, year after year -- they pick up something at school and bring it home. So, 5 of the 9 people caught Covid from the event, and one other (C) may have. "A" is my wife and today she has a sore throat. She has congestive heart failure and asthma. She doesn't need Covid.

[BoredInTheCar]

"A" is my wife and today she has a sore throat. She has congestive heart failure and asthma. She doesn't need Covid.

That's awful! Let's just say that the word that came out of my mouth when I read the above is ... never found on a Boggle board. Here's hoping your wife doesn't have Covid, but ... that doesn't sound good.

[quyxyz]

Common words for me when I was growing up that aren't in the dictionary are outen, as in "outen the light" and snipples, which were snips of paper or cloth. Both were influenced by Pennsylvania Dutch, which both my parents could speak to some degree, although both were less fluent than their parents, and I know only a few words and phrases.

[2cute]

I've at last contracted COVID. Yup, vaccinated. It's probably Omicron, though, and the shots don't protect as well against that version.


About Covid: there was an Easter Sunday dinner for the family. No one had any exposure, so far as we know. Several had been tested before the event and were negative. I won't use names. Let's just use capital letters for females and lower case for males, listed from oldest to youngest. So the males were abcde and the Females were ABCD. abcd tested positive after the event and several had tested negative before it (bd). D tested positive and C's results were inconclusive. D is 8 years old and attends school in person (Republican demand here in Wisconsin) and without a mask (another Republican demand). Since Republicans rule Wisconsin despite taking less than 50% of the vote year after year, their demands are usually met. I suspect, though I do not know, that D is responsible for all those cases. That's what kids do, year after year -- they pick up something at school and bring it home. So, 5 of the 9 people caught Covid from the event, and one other (C) may have. "A" is my wife and today she has a sore throat. She has congestive heart failure and asthma. She doesn't need Covid.

I'm sorry you & your wife are suffering. I hope a speedy recovery.

I was speaking with my neighbor who said he had contracted (& recovered from) COVID as well (he wasn't big on wearing a mask & he's probably in his 30's). He told me the advantage of having no sense of taste or smell was 'he could drink an entire bottle of whiskey & not taste a thing'. I said but you still got the effects right? He said yep! So that's something cheerful to think about. I'm not suggesting you drink 'the entire bottle' as he considered, yet that's one plus to think about.

[bwt1213]

I have to say that the last time I was this sick was when I had sepsis. And that was two weeks in the ICU until they found the right antibiotic. It's very painful -- sore throat, the worst ever, runny nose, spiky fever, acute muscle and joint aches, breathing troubles. At least my O2 concentrations are up there, because I have an oxygen generator at home. I'm actually running five points higher than usual, from 93 to 100. Pulse is about 54 to 64. This doesn't feel good, guys, not three days in. This feels downhill.

[Naboka]

I have to say that the last time I was this sick was when I had sepsis. And that was two weeks in the ICU until they found the right antibiotic. It's very painful -- sore throat, the worst ever, runny nose, spiky fever, acute muscle and joint aches, breathing troubles. At least my O2 concentrations are up there, because I have an oxygen generator at home. I'm actually running five points higher than usual, from 93 to 100. Pulse is about 54 to 64. This doesn't feel good, guys, not three days in. This feels downhill.

Prayers are with you.

[BoredInTheCar]

Prayers are with you.

Yes indeed. I hope bwt1213 can derive at least a moment of comfort from knowing that like-minded strangers on the internet are rooting for him and his wife.

[BaronTopor]

I find a number of obvious plurals are not in the dictionary, yet some proper nouns are. Puzzling.

[Naboka]

ecmnesia.

Doesn't seem to be currently accepted, but coming to a theater near you soon.

A form of amnesia where a patient can remember older events but not recent ones.

Now...

where was I?

[floppers]

ecmnesia.

Doesn't seem to be currently accepted, but coming to a theater near you soon.

A form of amnesia where a patient can remember older events but not recent ones.

Now...

where was I?

now that made me laugh at an inappropriate time of day

[lalatan]

Stephen, as you prepare to tweak the dictionaries, I wonder if you would reclassify SQUAMOSENESSES. I played it this morning, it was only worth 20 pts and categorized as a "wide" word. I have never seen it in my lifetime and I surmise very few have. (It's an alternate spelling of SQUAMOUS.) Contrastingly SQUEAMISHNESSES is worth 32 pts and most people have probably used SQUEAMISH. Thanks for all your efforts to improve the website.

Naboka, thanks for the chuckle. I somehow missed your last post til now.