Comments on: The curious incident of the missing letter http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/ One man's struggle in a foreign land Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:14:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Paul Sheffrin http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3057 Paul Sheffrin Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:36:54 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3057 Sorry Alasdair, my Official Scrabble Word list does not have faetal, but does have both fetal and foetal. Faetal does appear in Wikipedia as the name of a band (not one that I've heard of) so I wonder if you are not alone in your spelling error Sorry Alasdair, my Official Scrabble Word list does not have faetal, but does have both fetal and foetal. Faetal does appear in Wikipedia as the name of a band (not one that I’ve heard of) so I wonder if you are not alone in your spelling error

]]> By: Alasdair http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3048 Alasdair Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:32:57 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3048 Dylan - we don't use the Official Scrabble Dictionary cuz it has such absurdities as having "li" but not "ri" (or is it the other way round?) ... one is a Chinese measure of distance and the other is the Japanese equivalent ... instead, we use the Webster's Third (this is the US, after all) unabridged coffee-table-sized tome ... Well, we did, until the very competitive friend who plays Scrabble realised that there are a LOT of "chiefly Scots variant" legitimate words in there ... (innocent smile) ... he had memorised all the "official" 2-letter combos, yet kept getting creamed by simple Scots primary school words like "usufruct" and "syzygy" ... Oh - and the British version of the US word "fetal" should not have any "o" in it ... the US "e" replaces the diphthong "ae" (I can't get the ASCII code to work for it, here) ... Dylan – we don’t use the Official Scrabble Dictionary cuz it has such absurdities as having “li” but not “ri” (or is it the other way round?) … one is a Chinese measure of distance and the other is the Japanese equivalent … instead, we use the Webster’s Third (this is the US, after all) unabridged coffee-table-sized tome …

Well, we did, until the very competitive friend who plays Scrabble realised that there are a LOT of “chiefly Scots variant” legitimate words in there … (innocent smile) … he had memorised all the “official” 2-letter combos, yet kept getting creamed by simple Scots primary school words like “usufruct” and “syzygy” …

Oh – and the British version of the US word “fetal” should not have any “o” in it … the US “e” replaces the diphthong “ae” (I can’t get the ASCII code to work for it, here) …

]]> By: Expat Mum http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3037 Expat Mum Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:53:26 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3037 I gave up playing Scrabble here a long time ago as all the long words I used like "erudite" and "practicable" were challenged as being non-existent. I spent more time opening the bloody dictionary than collecting my points! I gave up playing Scrabble here a long time ago as all the long words I used like “erudite” and “practicable” were challenged as being non-existent. I spent more time opening the bloody dictionary than collecting my points!

]]> By: Dylan http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3036 Dylan Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:18:40 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3036 *stands and applauds Brooklyn for the quick witted response* *stands and applauds Brooklyn for the quick witted response*

]]> By: Brooklyn http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3035 Brooklyn Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:11:40 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3035 Paul: Your cronspect is ablurud. Paul:

Your cronspect is ablurud.

]]> By: Paul Sheffrin http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3034 Paul Sheffrin Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:00:56 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3034 My son and I play a version of Scrabble where the ONLY words you can play are ones that might plausibly exist (ie they sound and look like English) but in fact do not. If one of us plays a word thinking it doesn't exist but is challenged and recourse to a dictionary proves it does, then the word score reverts to the challenger. I can recommend it as a game that manfully rises above the pettiness of orthology My son and I play a version of Scrabble where the ONLY words you can play are ones that might plausibly exist (ie they sound and look like English) but in fact do not. If one of us plays a word thinking it doesn’t exist but is challenged and recourse to a dictionary proves it does, then the word score reverts to the challenger. I can recommend it as a game that manfully rises above the pettiness of orthology

]]> By: Dylan http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3024 Dylan Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:31:17 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3024 Sorry EiNY, I meant 'xi'. Although I was always told that 'zo' was a word too, but I can't make that stick... Sorry EiNY, I meant ‘xi’. Although I was always told that ‘zo’ was a word too, but I can’t make that stick…

]]> By: EiNY http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3023 EiNY Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:15:35 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3023 Dylan, I'm afraid XO is not a word. XI? Yes. XU? Yes. But XO? Our survey <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2AWKfMvDtw" rel="nofollow">said</a>. Dylan, I’m afraid XO is not a word. XI? Yes. XU? Yes. But XO? Our survey said.

]]> By: Lisa http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3022 Lisa Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:47:59 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3022 I like to say that we like to eliminate that which seems blatantly unnecessary. This is where "sure" comes in when we are really saying, "Thank you. I'd LOVE a cup of tea, if it's not too much trouble." And the excessive "u" in "colour". It's an art, really. :) I like to say that we like to eliminate that which seems blatantly unnecessary.

This is where “sure” comes in when we are really saying, “Thank you. I’d LOVE a cup of tea, if it’s not too much trouble.”

And the excessive “u” in “colour”.

It’s an art, really. :)

]]> By: Dylan http://www.britoutofwater.com/2008/11/17/the-curious-incident-of-the-missing-letter/comment-page-1/#comment-3021 Dylan Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:52:06 +0000 http://www.britoutofwater.com/?p=401#comment-3021 EiNY - The Special One was infuriated by my use of QI and XO. A little bit of knowledge can go a long way towards getting you the cold shoulder, I can tell you. EiNY – The Special One was infuriated by my use of QI and XO. A little bit of knowledge can go a long way towards getting you the cold shoulder, I can tell you.

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