Fun stuff -- word related or not, ramblings, junk, whatever.

[bwt1213]

The Flush: Repairs plumbing emergencies at a glance.
Fatman: Look at him and the pounds will pile on.

[dannyb]

How about dropping a letter? Dare Devil becomes Dare Evil. You dare the character to do something for you. The character does it, but it ends up like the wishes in "The Monkey's Paw".

[floppers]

two letters, maybe? Sup'man? (goes around asking whats going on).

[Naboka]

Since Wordtwist seems to offer different approaches to different people, thought sharing this variation might be interesting.

Try turning the word-score column a specific color. There are only 4. Green, yellow, orange and red.

Here are two examples of red, one successful, one a near miss.

Screen Shot 2022-09-29 at 10.08.06 AM.png Screen Shot 2022-09-29 at 10.12.39 AM.png

40 seconds is a comfortable time limit. (takes time to screen shot.)

Since there are only 13 available lines, if you get a wrong color you can try to march it down the column to make it disappear.

Green is pretty easy. Yellow and orange are the hardest.

Thinking of trying patterns: red/yellow/green for example. Though 13 is a prime number so you'd have to cut the column short. To 12 lines.

[2cute]

it's not quite right (adding a letter, rather than changing it), but I like the concept of "Irony Man", teaching everyone, including my offspring, what irony is.It wouldn't hurt them to know what ironing is either....

LOL ... good one!


Ooo, how about Fat Woman (instead of Cat Woman) ... she sucks all the fats out of foods, yet they retain all the yummy flavor.

[bwt1213]

Superbuy shows up, then everything is on sale!

[bwt1213]

So, now is the season (at least in Wisconsin) and the furnaces are being turned on for the first time in maybe five months or so. MY furnace has a defective flame sensor. It's a good name for a thermocouple. Sometimes, it "knows" that there is a flame and turns the burner on full blast and we get heat. More often, it decides that there is no flame and it ought to strangle everything (and I use the poetic imagery because that's how it sounds). It's a safety feature and a good one, except that I can SEE there is a flame. I can watch it. And I can see when the flame sensor fails. So, here's the question: I know perfectly well now, having seen the repairman do the job before (except the last time he just cleaned the old flame sensor, not replaced it), that I could do the repair and do it correctly. But I'm not 50 years old any more, that being the oldest I think I could have been and done the repair. I couldn't bend myself that much, couldn't have sat down that far and gotten back up without help, just couldn't have done any of it. It's annoying, to use a mild word.

So I have two questions: For all of us there comes a time when we know what we can't do any more. We have to hire people to do it, or have relatives do it for us. First question: If you haven't reached that age yet, have you made plans for when you do? I know I didn't. I never thought I would not be able to do routine maintenance. Second question: If you've reached that age, what strategies have you used to cope?

[floppers]

I haven't reached that age, but I have taught the offspring all the stuff I know, and when I teach it's on the practical side...they can change tyres, brake pads, fan belts, spark plugs and (sadly) know how to change a head gasket, they can revive a deceased lawn mower, they understand the mechanics of washing machines, basic plumbing, grow vegetables and fruit, can cook, do their tax returns (it's pretty easy here), and all the basic stuff.... they have put themselves on a roster, and fight over who gets to do it, helping out their grandparents who are 92 (Granny), 85 (Nanna) and 81 (Pa)....they have Nanna and Pa (my parents) on a group chat called "NaPa", and have shared all of their streaming accounts with them (I was very entertained to see that NaPa had changed Netflix so that they can watch "R" rated shows now. Contingency planning....I figure it's good for them to have a solid set of life skills, and they understand that they will be called upon in the future (I've been working on them noticing what needs to be done, before it's pointed out....stay tuned...)

[bwt1213]

Let me (hopefully not the first) point out that you have done an excellent job. In fact, you have taught your children to do things I've never learned to do.

[2cute]

I haven't reached that age, but I have taught the offspring all the stuff I know, and when I teach it's on the practical side...they can change tyres, brake pads, fan belts, spark plugs and (sadly) know how to change a head gasket, they can revive a deceased lawn mower, they understand the mechanics of washing machines, basic plumbing, grow vegetables and fruit, can cook, do their tax returns (it's pretty easy here), and all the basic stuff.... they have put themselves on a roster, and fight over who gets to do it, helping out their grandparents who are 92 (Granny), 85 (Nanna) and 81 (Pa)....they have Nanna and Pa (my parents) on a group chat called "NaPa", and have shared all of their streaming accounts with them (I was very entertained to see that NaPa had changed Netflix so that they can watch "R" rated shows now. Contingency planning....I figure it's good for them to have a solid set of life skills, and they understand that they will be called upon in the future (I've been working on them noticing what needs to be done, before it's pointed out....stay tuned...)

If only these were the kinds of knowledge we learned in school. You know useful stuff. My father taught me a couple things but mostly I have to hire someone to do it for me. My mother taught me a few family recipes & that's about it, well, she also taught me not to trust anyone but I don't count that in this discussion. My grandmother didn't teach me much except how to hold in my emotions as not to bother other people with mine. She'd always say, you attract more bees w/honey than vinegar. Yep, that's very true. So I don't express my emotions to other people, that they taught me well. I never knew my grandfather (as he died when I was very young) & I barely knew my grandparents on my mother's side as I only met them once. So mostly what I've learned I taught myself, learned from books or the internet (that's not counting what I learned in school).

So, now is the season (at least in Wisconsin) and the furnaces are being turned on for the first time in maybe five months or so. MY furnace has a defective flame sensor. It's a good name for a thermocouple. Sometimes, it "knows" that there is a flame and turns the burner on full blast and we get heat. More often, it decides that there is no flame and it ought to strangle everything (and I use the poetic imagery because that's how it sounds). It's a safety feature and a good one, except that I can SEE there is a flame. I can watch it. And I can see when the flame sensor fails. So, here's the question: I know perfectly well now, having seen the repairman do the job before (except the last time he just cleaned the old flame sensor, not replaced it), that I could do the repair and do it correctly. But I'm not 50 years old any more, that being the oldest I think I could have been and done the repair. I couldn't bend myself that much, couldn't have sat down that far and gotten back up without help, just couldn't have done any of it. It's annoying, to use a mild word.

So I have two questions: For all of us there comes a time when we know what we can't do any more. We have to hire people to do it, or have relatives do it for us. First question: If you haven't reached that age yet, have you made plans for when you do? I know I didn't. I never thought I would not be able to do routine maintenance. Second question: If you've reached that age, what strategies have you used to cope?

I too am younger but I am disabled due to a car accident about 15 years ago so I can sit on the floor but I can't easily rise. I'm a saver, so I have $ in case of needs that arise, like hospital visits (had one recently) & for hiring others to do the work I no longer can or never could.

[Naboka]

Since Wordtwist seems to offer different approaches to different people, thought sharing this variation might be interesting.

Try turning the word-score column a specific color. There are only 4. Green, yellow, orange and red.

Here are two examples of red, one successful, one a near miss.

Screen Shot 2022-09-29 at 10.08.06 AM.png Screen Shot 2022-09-29 at 10.12.39 AM.png

40 seconds is a comfortable time limit. (takes time to screen shot.)

Since there are only 13 available lines, if you get a wrong color you can try to march it down the column to make it disappear.

Green is pretty easy. Yellow and orange are the hardest.

Thinking of trying patterns: red/yellow/green for example. Though 13 is a prime number so you'd have to cut the column short. To 12 lines.

After spending ungodly hours practising short boards to concentrate on ultra rare words and turn the word display completely red, finally was able to hit 100 ultra rare words in a game.

Screen Shot 2022-11-02 at 8.47.41 AM.png

Here's the list. Nothing fancy. Mistyped nete and got net, so ended up with a common word, but...

Lots of useful high point words for beginners to add to their arsenal. And just to demonstrate it's not magic.

160-29-49-44-26-12 b2.png

[lalatan]

That is an amazing achievement, Naboka! Congrats! I knew you had it in you.

[Naboka]

That is an amazing achievement, Naboka! Congrats! I knew you had it in you.

Thanks lalatan.

Was going to post this other bit on another thread, but here will kill two possoms with one tequila.

and you'll probably find it interesting.

Been helping the wife with her kindergarten class. It's always fascinating how they spell. Like evey year several will spell "tree" "chree". When you watch what we do with our mouths, we really often kinda sorta say chree with the "t" performing some lazy acrobatics. Forgot the exact terms for the phenomena, but a lot of people say chrain instead of train. The "t" softens into the "r."

Anyways, the schwa sound can often be a pain in the butt playing this game.

Just tried to play incrassative. It's a thickening agent in medicine. But I kept spelling it incrass-i-tive.

Sigh.

It's one thing to know a word well enough to use, but not well enough to differentiate the sounds for proper spelling.

Exercise for the brain.

PS: asked the wife when she got home and she told the the transformation of the t sound to ch before an r results from...

allophonic variation of phonemes.

hope I spelled it correctly, but too lazy to look it up.

[lalatan]

Yes, interesting. I recall a niece of mine who was 10 years old writing berfect instead of perfect. We don't always get the sounds right. I'm using CC more often on videos and shows now, especially Australian or British ones, so I know what on earth they are saying at times. If it's something like "per dinkum" I'll pause the show and look it up. Communication can be hard to achieve sometimes.

[Naboka]

Yes, interesting. I recall a niece of mine who was 10 years old writing berfect instead of perfect. We don't always get the sounds right. I'm using CC more often on videos and shows now, especially Australian or British ones, so I know what on earth they are saying at times. If it's something like "per dinkum" I'll pause the show and look it up. Communication can be hard to achieve sometimes.

Sometimes CC can be as hilarious as spellchecked texts.

Bad ears demand CC. Wife hates it. When she tells the remote "closed caption off!' there's a bit of snarl.

If you have Netflix, try Midnight Diner and The Extraordinary Lawyer Woo. The first in Japanese with subtitles, the second Korean.

Don't know if you caught the ps added to the previous comment.

The phenomenon is called allophonic variations of phonemes.

Must be fun teaching kindergarten in Boston and having the write about "Cuba."