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Countdown - so much better these days! |
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#1526 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 156
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Quote:
If the dictionary says you can't order "two beers" then Countdown shouldn't allow "beers".
Simple it certainly ain't. |
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#1527 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hull
Posts: 3,516
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Quote:
You go by what the dictionary says it's quite simple. The people wring the dictionary decide whether a term is in common enough usage to qualify. Once you introduce subjective decisions you end up with controversy and why only restaurant items? Why not DIY store items?
Yes we would all disagree about certain words, my example of "pooter" which is very common compared to some of the obscure literary definitions used by a tiny number of scholars (the ODoE has a definite bias towards literary terms surprise surprise) but for the game of Countdown the dictionary should be king. If the dictionary says you can't order "two beers" then Countdown shouldn't allow "beers" the same way it doesn't allow "pooter". |
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#1528 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hull
Posts: 3,516
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Not filmed as far in advance as I thought. Michael Vaughan is filming his stint in DC today for episodes to be shown week beginning 27th June
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#1529 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 18,441
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How awful is the challenger today?!
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#1530 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hull
Posts: 3,516
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Worst player I've ever seen on today. Had to feel sorry for him though
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#1531 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 18,441
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125-19. Ouch.
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#1532 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 3,329
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Worst player I've ever seen on today. Had to feel sorry for him though
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#1533 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,506
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I bet the bloke who nicked Rachel's bikes ony wanted the saddles.
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#1534 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hull
Posts: 3,516
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I bet the bloke who nicked Rachel's bikes ony wanted the saddles.
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#1535 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Perthshire
Posts: 4,188
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Oh God help us all , damn my eyes, that could the worst outfit EVER, even counting Carol's 1980s abominations.
Like a bloody extra from The Famous Five Go To Primark. Please Rachel, for pity's sake, wear the Black PVC Catsuit tomorrow. |
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#1536 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hull
Posts: 3,516
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Oh God help us all , damn my eyes, that could the worst outfit EVER, even counting Carol's 1980s abominations.
Like a bloody extra from The Famous Five Go To Primark. Please Rachel, for pity's sake, wear the Black PVC Catsuit tomorrow. |
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#1537 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,526
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Quote:
If the dictionary says you can't order "two beers" then Countdown shouldn't allow "beers" the same way it doesn't allow "pooter". 'pooter' (all lower case) is in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary both as a noun and as a verb so I cannot imagine why it would not be in the Oxford dictionary that Countdown uses. If it's not, then that's a bad advertisement for the reference book.. |
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#1538 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 14,718
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Quote:
I don't know anything about a restaurant rule but to disallow 'beers' (if that's what was done) would be stupid by any standards. There are thousands of brands of beer on the market. If you have a bottle each of two different brands you have two different BEERS and you can't substitute the mass noun in that context.
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'pooter' (all lower case) is in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary both as a noun and as a verb so I cannot imagine why it would not be in the Oxford dictionary that Countdown uses. If it's not, then that's a bad advertisement for the reference book..
I remember Suzy disallowing this before and I've just checked my ODoE and it definitely isn't in - mine is the previous issue so it could be in the latest but it's not a new term so I don't know why it would have been added this time around (it probably hasn't). Since it's not in it can't be allowed, "beers" should be the same. (Both words should really be in the dictionary but they aren't).
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#1539 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 14,718
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Quote:
What the hell is a 'pooter'?
It's a very common and well known device, much more so than many of the words in the dictionary. |
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#1540 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hull
Posts: 3,516
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It's a device used by people (often entomologists but not exclusively) to collect insects. It's basically a couple of tubes going into a jar, you place one tube near the insect suck on the other one and the insect is sucked into the jar.
It's a very common and well known device, much more so than many of the words in the dictionary. |
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#1541 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,526
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Quote:
I agree it should be in the dictionary but it's not, "beer" is clearly marked as a mass noun. You need clear rules and the obvious thing is to follow the dictionary as they do with everything else other than this "restaurant rule". Sometimes Suzy allows mass noun plurals and sometimes she doesn't, it's very arbitrary and unfair on the contestants - it has changed the result in the past.
I remember Suzy disallowing this before and I've just checked my ODoE and it definitely isn't in - mine is the previous issue so it could be in the latest but it's not a new term so I don't know why it would have been added this time around (it probably hasn't). Since it's not in it can't be allowed, "beers" should be the same. (Both words should really be in the dictionary but they aren't). A far wider range of words and meanings is available in Chambers or Collins (for example ) and they are not so stuffy. P.S. I had two beer in the pub this evening. Does that make any sense? |
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#1542 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 985
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P.S. I had two beer in the pub this evening. Does that make any sense? |
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#1543 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,486
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No, but would you say that? Wouldn't you be more likely to say "Two pints"?
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#1544 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,526
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No, but would you say that? Wouldn't you be more likely to say "Two pints"?
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#1545 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 14,718
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i have a 10 year old Chambers dictionary and it is in there
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#1546 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 14,718
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We need to be told what is the tie-in with Oxford Dictionaries and why one of their publications (apparently with connections to the Dark Ages) is used as the sole source of reference. Do they subsidise the programme? Or is it to do with Suzie working for them?
A far wider range of words and meanings is available in Chambers or Collins (for example ) and they are not so stuffy. Quote:
P.S. I had two beer in the pub this evening. Does that make any sense?
That makes no sense but that doesn't mean "beers" should be allowed by Countdown. My own thought is that the Oxford dictionaries in one way seem behind the times in not allowing common terms such as "two beers" but at the same time allowing all sorts of new "twitter babble" that most of us have never heard of.
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#1547 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hull
Posts: 3,516
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Greg Scott is one of today's contestants!
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#1548 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hull
Posts: 3,516
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Greg Scott is one of today's contestants!
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#1549 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 11,837
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'Can I have a kiss....er consonant, Rachel. Ha ha. The man is a genius!
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#1550 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: East Sussex
Posts: 646
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Being somewhat of a pedant I expect you would have two glasses of beer or two bottles of beer - the same with vodka or whisky. It is the container that would be plural not the beer. Personally I'd rather have a Margarita.
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