Which language is the dictionary that is used in Golem's Word Game?

I went to use the word "Annum" before in a game and it was refused saying it wasn't an English word. We use it all the time here when talking about how much we earn per annum. This isn't the first time this has happenned to me either. I am from Australia and we speak and read English so tell me why Annum was not allowed.

annum is a latin word to me...

little golem uses enable wordlist, this is a list of about 170.000 words. there have been topics about this before, some of them have links to download the list.

I have not played the word game here. I do however play tangleword at Playsite. They claim it is a game of english words, but boy!, when was the last time you used gaen?

Dictionaries should help someone figure out what is being said. I think dictionarians (?) like to think they control the language. But reboot is not a good word yet. Anyone out there NOT know what a reboot is?

I always thought it was $/anum. in my case a negative number.....

> I think dictionarians (?) like to think they control the language

They certainly don't. Well, in France they may, but in English-speaking countries they don't. I was a lexicographer myself once, and we hated the way that people regarded our work as official, and as giving authority to words. All we did, and all we could hope to do, was record how words are used. And if people in Scotland used a word like "gaen", we couldn't just say "you're Scottish, you don't count"; we had to record it.

i too want to know im good in outher word games on tehis net and a select few!!!!!! win allthe time none has a chance i win some but notenough and i have beenrefused on many words im in th usa and yes alot of words of mine are rejexted that our english words and in teh dictionary too!

HOT_SYNC_KAREN KAREN 50 west virginia!

hey dj i play tangleword at playsite too im kinkytangle! and i know how to spell!

and MY WORDS ARE ACCEPTED THERE AND AT GAMES.COM TOO MY WORDS ARE ACCEPTED!! all over the place!! nothere and i play in teh 6 letter room in tangleword and the master boggle in games.com some players win to much and to slick!! whois with me!! who beloves little gollem is riggged?and who can understand the bidding!! and bidding for what?CHEATING!!! i wish teyd get a regular english word game here! and on twixt i lpve it but never get the last move no matter waht i do someoene else always gets that last move! and i know how to move too!!!!!!!!i lveo dvonn too!thanks god no on cheats on it (YET!!

KAREN 50 west virgnia USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i dont cheat !! in no game do i cheat !! see told you there was cheating in golems word game download a list!

:o((((((( CHEATERS!

What's wrong with downloading a word list? GWG shouldn't be a game of guessing which words are allowed and which aren't. Perhaps searching through a word list can be called cheating, but that can be done with similar effectiveness with any word list, such as the one(s) that come standard with Linux.

Nick, as a lexicograher, tell me something...

Regarding the word ain't, which is a contraction ?. Contraction of what ?????

Aint is how it is pronounced, and how it is used. What ever is is contracted from, it is doubtful any but the most highbrow would use the uncontracted form.

So, my question is.... in the evolution of a language, at what point does the new, actively used form of a word actually stand on its own.

It is lexicographers who are controlling the language, not explaining it.

English may need some control. I have no clue what rap is about, but it might be english. But a grand word like aint should stand on its own, without an apostrophy.

Why aint it so?

yep dudes, aint a better word than aint !

dj wrote:

Nick, as a lexicograher, tell me something...

Regarding the word ain't, which is a contraction ?. >Contraction of what ?????

"Am not", "Are not".

What we now regard as a single verb "to be" with forms

"am", "are", "is", "was", has a complicated history. It is derived from what were once three different verbs. Over the last 1500 years, these three verbs have been merging into one, with, for instance, the "be" form now always used in the infinitive, the "am" form used in the first person singular indicative, the "be" form sometimes used in the first person singular subjunctive, and the "is" (related to "was") form usually used in the third person singular indicative. This merging process is not complete, and has not taken the same route in all dialects - for instance, in Devon, "they be" is heard rather than "they are".

Thus, "he ain't hungry" is a contraction of "he are not hungry", from a south-eastern English dialect in which "he are" rather than "he is" was normal. The negative contraction "ain't" has survived and spread, while the form "he are" has become (so far as I know) obsolete.

Aint is how it is pronounced, and how it is used. What >ever is is contracted from, it is doubtful any but the >most highbrow would use the uncontracted form.

Highbrow? It is more likely that the uncontracted form was last normally used by an Essex peasant.

So, my question is.... in the evolution of a language, at

what point does the new, actively used form of a word

actually stand on its own.

"Ain't" ain't a new word - it is an ancient survival.

It is lexicographers who are controlling the language, not

explaining it.

As I said before - lexicographers have no control over language, they aim merely to record it. Some misguided users of dictionaries attribute authority to them. Actually explaining language is remakably difficult, as you will realise from my ettempt above.

English may need some control.

I don't think that any organisation will ever be able to exert any control over English. L'Académie Française, with the backing of the French government, does have some control over French, at least, as used in France.

I have no clue what rap is about, but it might be english.

Rap is undoubtedly English. Some lexicographers ignore it becasue they suspect it may turn out to be transient.

But a grand word like aint should stand on its own,

without an apostrophy.

Google hit counts:

aint 635,000

ain't 2,200,000

apostrophy 2,340

apostrophe 192,000

You aren't wrong, but you are in a minority :-)

I generaly agree with Nick Wedd except for the Academie Francaise having control over the French. I feel that no Academie can ever have a control over language.

And another thing. Is the gwg_robot a lexicographer too ?

> And another thing. Is the gwg_robot a lexicographer too ?

It has swallowed a dictionary, but it is not a lexicographer itself :-)

I should have posted that under my own name. I had forgotten that I was logged in as gwg_robot (which I operate) when I posted.

Nick

bump