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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: That's Not a Word
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
The University of Ghent are doing some kind of study on word recognition. They're asking participants to separate out real and made up words. It's kind of fun if anyone wants to try it out. Here's the link.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
I scored 93%, and I'm on the top level! Yay!
![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
At a certain point, you start wanting the nonwords to be real.
Also, "foof" is a word. Maybe not a Standard Word, but most of those weren't either.
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariston:
At a certain point, you start wanting the nonwords to be real.
And the words to be false. When I marked "gormandizer" as false, I was thinking that it's probably a word, it's obvious what it means, but it's just too ugly to say yes to. Is there really a shade of meaning between gourmand and gourmandizer? Apart from the latter just sounding ugly?
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
87% so in the top level
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"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I make up words all the time. (My newest: "Agapal", a descriptor for a way-out-there cult.) It is a natural human activity; we do it continually. Shakespeare I believe holds the record for words invented that make it into the language.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
86%, didn't mark any non-words as words which is pleasing.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291
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Posted
Also 96%. Jostlement? Well, I can see where it comes from!
M.
Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
93%. There were no nonwords that fooled me.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
I scored 86% with no non-words.
There were a couple of words, though, that I recognised the second I pressed 'no', towards the end as I was getting used to the test and speeding up. Daft as it didn't really matter how long the test took.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
86% for me too. No false positives from me, though one I clicked 'no' on before I'd read it properly and knew half a second later what it was.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
94%
I did wonder if a couple were old English words no longer much in usage...and yes, they were. Not sure that knowing obsolete words should count towards anything in a vocab test. Might as well be old Norse or ancient Flemish.
Glad I didn't choose any that were non-words though.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
I haven't been following this thread - but is it a "hautbois" or (in modern English) an oboe?
FYI there is a place in Norfolk named Hautbois, however it's pronounced "Hobbis"!
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Salicional
Shipmate
# 16461
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Posted
That would be my guess too. In the 18th century it was frequently spelled 'hautboy'.
My score was 86%.
Posts: 68 | From: near Lake Erie | Registered: Jun 2011
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