Re: [Dixonary] Acceptable dictionaries

[Judy Madnick]

From: "Dodi Schultz" <DodiSchultz (AT) nasw (DOT) org>

<< I agree with Chuck on Hawaiian (it's another language, which I
<< don't
<< think is acceptable unless the word's been adopted into
<< English and can
<< therefore be found in some English-language dictionary, like
<< chaise longue).

I agree.

<< I'm not sure that I agree with what Johnny reports (I don't recall
<< that
<< discussion). Seems to me that a word found in an English-
<< language
<< dictionary of gardening (or law or medicine or shipbuilding or
<< metalworking; whatever) ought to be okay.

And...I agree with that also! A word is a word is a word.... That said, I like to check a second location if I use a word from a "questionable" source.

Judy

[Dodi Schultz]

DS>> Seems to me that a word found in an English-language dictionary of
gardening (or law or medicine or shipbuilding or metalworking; whatever)
ought to be okay.

JM>> I agree with that also! A word is a word is a word. That said, I
like to check a second location if I use a word from a "questionable"
source.

I always check other dictionaries anyway, to look for other ways they
might phrase the definition.

—Dodi

[Chris Carson]

As I recall the historic custom, a word from any recognized English (or English dialect) dictionary was acceptable whether it be a dictionary of sailing, gardening, slang, jargon, or whatever. The players did grant a language exception to Hugo but in practice I'm not sure it worked all that well and personally I would be disinclined to repeat the experiment.

Chris

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 6, 2011, at 2:47 PM, Dodi Schultz <DodiSchultz (AT) nasw (DOT) org> wrote:

>
> DS>> Seems to me that a word found in an English-language dictionary of gardening (or law or medicine or shipbuilding or metalworking; whatever) ought to be okay.
>
> JM>> I agree with that also! A word is a word is a word. That said, I like to check a second location if I use a word from a "questionable" source.
>
> I always check other dictionaries anyway, to look for other ways they might phrase the definition.
>
> —Dodi
>
>

[—Keith Hale—]

I'm also a relative n00bie here, and i agree with what's been said in this
thread. I think a second source is key.

The nature of the game is such that a "commonly understood" word will be
DQed to death quickly. We have to dig for "deep cuts", but i agree it needs
to be an American or English dictionary. Wiktionary is a good source, but
it is a multi-lingual site... each entry has the name of the language above
it, and i'd only trust the ones that say English.

THE 'dictionary' i use at least 12 times a day is onelook.com. It is a
metacrawler of on-line dictionaries. I play scrabble, and i would NOT
consider any word from that dictionary valid UNLESS it was backed up by at
least one other dictionary. It includes the currencies of just about every
nation and culture on the planet, many foreign alphabets and other odd-ball
words that even Scrabble tournament pros consider "Scrabble-only" words. It
would be a bad source anyway, because the definitions it provides are so
limited (never multiple meanings) and brief they wouldn't be good.

So if\when i ever have to deal: my own litmus test would be finding it in
multiple "hits" on OneLook (excluding the slang-only sources like Urban
Dictionary). Surely slang that hasn't made it into the regular dictionary
is off-limits, right?

*We need the Oxford English Dictionary [OED] to sponsor the Dixonary game
with a member-access deal. *That would be niiiiice. (As a self-coined
"verbivore" - i've always read dictionaries and thesauri. The easy joke
about "the plot is terrible" doesn't take into acount the word origins.....)

[—Keith Hale—]

Open question(s):

Would a short multiple-word phrase be allowed? Like "status quo" (DQ-bait
of course, i hate to waste a possible game word). "Deja vu"?

What about "deja" - for example? We use that word all the time, but the
Scrabble word lists leave it out, and "vu" as well.

[France International]

Keith,

We've had several occasions where multiple word or hypenated defs have been used. For example:

BAD-I-SAD-O-BIST-ROZ
BOBBIN AND JOAN
JINGLING JOHNNY
MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS

--Mike

----- Original Message -----
From: -Keith Hale-
To: dixonary (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com
Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2011 8:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixonary] Acceptable dictionaries


Open question(s):

Would a short multiple-word phrase be allowed? Like "status quo" (DQ-bait of course, i hate to waste a possible game word). "Deja vu"?

What about "deja" - for example? We use that word all the time, but the Scrabble word lists leave it out, and "vu" as well.

[John Barrs]

Back into the fray

I think that the word "dictionary" is the issue here and I think that it
should be a source that defines words.

When I asked some years ago about the RHS Dictionary of gardening it was in
the context of GUYOT === Now that book does not define words it defines
methods - GUYOT is a method of training vines and the RHS-DG has about 3
pages of words and diagrams for that subject - Personally, I do not think it
should be used as a source for thuis game.

My point being that there are dictionaries and dictionaries and some of them
that are called dictionaries aren't!

There obviously is a fine line becasue a medical dictionary may well be
useable although I doubt anyone could use Greys.

The issue to me is whether the book in question has the word in alphabetical
order in the body of the book - GUYOT for instance in the RHS-DG occurs in a
longer treatise on vines which in turn occurs under fruit so its order in
the book is given by fruit->vines->pruning->guyot -- only in the index does
the word occur in alphabetical order

hence I stand by my conclusion that some dictionaries are not useable in the
context of the game

JohnnyB

PS my point about the Hawian word was more one of amusement - a slight grin
about what constitutes English - we have enough problems with Americans
claiming that their language is English - it isn't even the most widely used
version (nor is ours) - although of course the fact that English is the
lingua franca is in itself amusing and a source of despair
(before you attack me for intolerance just think about the actual words
"english is the lingua franca")



On 7 March 2011 02:46, France International <stamps (AT) salsgiver (DOT) com> wrote:

> Keith,
>
> We've had several occasions where multiple word or hypenated defs have been
> used. For example:
>
> BAD-I-SAD-O-BIST-ROZ
> BOBBIN AND JOAN
> JINGLING JOHNNY
> MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS
>
> --Mike
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* —Keith Hale— <thoughtstorms (AT) gmail (DOT) com>
> *To:* dixonary (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com
> *Sent:* Sunday, March 06, 2011 8:38 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Dixonary] Acceptable dictionaries
>
> Open question(s):
>
> Would a short multiple-word phrase be allowed? Like "status quo" (DQ-bait
> of course, i hate to waste a possible game word). "Deja vu"?
>
> What about "deja" - for example? We use that word all the time, but the
> Scrabble word lists leave it out, and "vu" as well.
>
>

[Chuck]

Although I would have been DQ for the trigger fish I agree with the
consensus that it's name isn't English.

- Chuck