Wiktionary talk:Christmas Competition 2012

Pedantry

"You have to find the longest word that uses any of these letters." This is misleading because they don't have to find the actual longest word, but the longest that they can think of. And a nine-letter word with "any of these letters" might use only one of them — hard to think how to rephrase this though. Equinox ◑ 20:06, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

What about “any, but only, these letters”? — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 20:42, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

What about just "only these letters"? --WikiTiki89 20:48, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Even better. By the way, can a letter be used more than once in a word? — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 20:58, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

From what I understand, no. --WikiTiki89 21:01, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

I don't see why it couldn't. SB's example (now on the page) has two Is. Equinox ◑ 22:21, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

You can use the same letter twice if it occurs twice (see example). SemperBlotto (talk) 22:24, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

OK, but can you use letters not listed. The way it's currently worded, one might. Some of us (Americans) have never heard of the UK show before now. For me, Countdown is a 30-minute multiple-choice trivia game played in bars and restaurants across the US and Canada via Buzztime. --EncycloPetey (talk) 04:34, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

I wonder if you can watch it online via Channel 4's catchup system? (It may only work from the UK) (If so, try to fast-forward through all the mindless chat) SemperBlotto (talk) 09:30, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Wait, the UK has four channels now? Sorry, but the catchup system does not work in my area. --EncycloPetey (talk) 15:51, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Don't be silly we've got five terrestrial channels now - so much television we don't know what to watch, so we wiki instead. SemperBlotto (talk) 15:57, 7 December 2012 (UTC) (tempted to put a LOL in there, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself)

The rules (of the TV show) may be better explained at the Wikipedia entry. SemperBlotto (talk) 09:32, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

And there are few clips on YouTube. SemperBlotto (talk) 17:39, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

"At the end of each day's game"

When does the end of a day's game occur, and in what time zone? Equinox ◑ 22:21, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Normally when I get up in the morning, but after I have finished dealing with the previous night's vandalism. Some time after 8 am (UK time). SemperBlotto (talk) 22:24, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Eligible words

Are only English words eligible? Can words contain hyphens? Equinox ◑ 22:24, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

No. Yes. — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 22:28, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

"Any language that uses the Latin alphabet"

I forgot about hyphens and then someone submitted a word with a hyphen - so I retrospectively allowed it (unlike on the TV). SemperBlotto (talk) 22:32, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

French version allows hyphens, non-moi was allowed once while I was watching the show in France. Mglovesfun (talk) 17:42, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Must not start with a capital letter

So, all German nouns are ineligible, right? --EncycloPetey (talk) 04:49, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

• So it would seem (but if most people agree, we could allow capital letters). SemperBlotto (talk) 09:26, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Maybe you can use the attributive form of the noun. — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 15:01, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

I don't understand your comment. All German nouns are capitalized: (deprecated template usage) Käse, (deprecated template usage) Brot, (deprecated template usage) Buch, etc. So, if capitalized words are out, then all nouns in German are disallowed. --EncycloPetey (talk) 15:34, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

What about attributive use of the noun (noun used as an adjective)? — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 17:30, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

... huh? I'm not sure what you mean. German forms noun + noun compounds which are analogous to English attributive noun + noun compounds, but those are written solid and capitalised according to the uniform rule that every noun begins with a capital letter: (deprecated template usage) Käse, (deprecated template usage) Brot = (deprecated template usage) Käsebrot. Uneducated, English-influenced people sometimes don't write such compounds solid (Deppen Leerzeichen), but then they don't drop the capitalisation of the parts, either. When adjectives are formed from nouns, it's by adding a suffix, not uncapitalisation. German doesn't really have "attributive nouns", except insofar as the nouns in compounds (Käsebrot) or genitive phrases (Freund des Menschen) are called "attributive nouns" by some authorities. Are you thinking of the Morgen → morgen phenomenon? It's rather limited. - -sche (discuss) 08:52, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

EXECUTIVE DECISION. Initial capital letters are now allowed (as with hyphens, but not spaces or other punctuation) SemperBlotto (talk) 15:36, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

Latin alphabet restriction

So: Yiddish and Sanskrit have extended, serious texts written in the Latin script, but at Wiktionary we try to keep entries in the Hebrew and Devanagari scripts, respectively. However, there is a standard transliteration system used here, and previous competitions have allowed use of foreign script words if such exists. How are these any less apt than Mandarin or Japanese, which by my interpretation of the rules are already acceptable? —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 05:43, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

Last time I checked we did have some Sanscrit entries in Latin script, but yeah, I’d support the allowing of transliterations. — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 06:07, 9 December 2012 (UTC)

No intermediate fractions

Does "no intermediate fractions" mean that intermediate fractions get rounded down or that it is illegal for division not to result in a whole number? --WikiTiki89 09:17, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

• It means that all arithmetic should be based on integers. You can't say 10/3 - 1/3 (but you can say (10-1)/3. SemperBlotto (talk) 09:22, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

  But can I say 10/3 = 3? --WikiTiki89 10:08, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

  Nope. SemperBlotto (talk) 10:26, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

  10/3 ≠ 3, that's why! Mglovesfun (talk) 10:28, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

  In other words the answer to my original question is "it is illegal for division not to result in a whole number" rather than "intermediate fractions get rounded down". Thanks! --WikiTiki89 10:50, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

End

When does the game finish? --Wikt Twitterer (talk) 17:36, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

• Last numbers game is 23 Dec, last word game is 25 Dec. This will be followed by the yet-to-be-announced finale (based on a different UK TV gameshow). SemperBlotto (talk) 17:39, 22 December 2012 (UTC)
  • I'm hoping the "different UK TV gameshow" is either Blind Date or Robot Wars. --Wikt Twitterer (talk) 18:51, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

haha, "here's our Graham with a quick etymology". Sorry I couldn´t compete consistently but I went on holiday and am even now struggling with a foreign keyboard and a big glass of glo"gi. That's an umlaut I think. Happy nouvelle Jahren. Equinox ◑ 21:21, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

Please never say that again... in no language, not even in Europanto, is trying to make a feminine singular adjective agree with a neuter plural noun a good idea. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 03:11, 27 December 2012 (UTC)