Scoring

[cosmicsweety]

I'm confused about scoring. I just played a board and I found cryoplankton which was considered ultra-rare and worth 23 points. But then I typed cryoplanktons which was only considered a wide word and worth 16 pts. How is the same word, but pluralized, worth less and considered less rare?

[Spike1007]

That's one of the mysteries of the universe. I assume that rarity values come from some database (maybe the result of word counts in a variety of texts). Most of the time, the values kind of make sense, but often enough things like this happen. About all you can do is wonder.

[JedMedGrey]

. . . and that one is particularly interesting. In decades of reading in zoology, marine sciences, cryptozoology, etc., I have seen cryptoplankton, but never the plural.

[lalatan]

That's one of the mysteries of the universe. I assume that rarity values come from some database (maybe the result of word counts in a variety of texts). Most of the time, the values kind of make sense, but often enough things like this happen. About all you can do is wonder.

Yes, there some OTHERWORLDLINESSES as far as scoring goes on this website. But I find it hard to badmouth it when I can find a word like BICUSPIDIZATIONS (33/16). WordTwist is just too good to pass up. btw, I didn't play the singular, just in case.

[cosmicsweety]

. . . and that one is particularly interesting. In decades of reading in zoology, marine sciences, cryptozoology, etc., I have seen cryptoplankton, but never the plural.

I think when using it in the plural sense it refers to different types of cryoplankton? I feel like I read that somewhere a while back (same idea as fish vs. fishes). I haven't read a lot on zoology though, so I could be totally out of left field there.

[JedMedGrey]

I think when using it in the plural sense it refers to different types of cryoplankton? I feel like I read that somewhere a while back (same idea as fish vs. fishes). I haven't read a lot on zoology though, so I could be totally out of left field there.

Seems to be used as a collective noun, as is plankton. We talk about 1 species of goose or 10 species of geese, 1 breed of dog or horse or many breeds of dogs or horses, but generally use plankton (& varieties of types of plankton) to mean one or many species, depending on the context.