Mind Melt - Content Issues

The previous thread was toasted due to topic drift. Perhaps we can keep this on topic.

jeopardise is related to exist

jeopardise means "pose a threat to"
exist means "have an existence, be extant"

I don't see the relation here. Can anyone explain this?

Happy Mind Melt Trivia!

Thanks for posting this new thread JMelston. I had this word a few days ago, am not sure how "objectionable" a term it is but thought it might be considered inappropriate.

"Procurer" - defined as "pimp: someone who procures customers for whores (in England they call a pimp a ponce)"

I've been saving up for a couple of days, waiting for this to come back around!

------
copper-bottom is related to provide

copper-bottom means "provide with a copper bottom"
provide means "provide or furnish with"

------

This is just nonsensical. I think this definition falls within the class of matches that are made purely on the rationale that the database definition of each given term contains the same word, which doesn't necessarily make the original terms a match. I could go on, but I think my argument is familiar.

------
tangle with is related to change state

tangle with means "get involved in or with"
change state means "undergo a transformation or a change of position or action"

------

I think this match is just plain wrong. Tangling with something doesn't necessarily involve a change in state, position, or action.

Two very similar words in my set today...in the 3rd part of the game...

melanosis is related to skin problem

You said: skin condition

melanosis means "a condition characterized by abnormal deposits of melanin (especially in the skin)"
skin problem means "a disease affecting the skin"



vitiligo is related to skin condition

You said: skin problem

vitiligo means "an acquired skin disease characterized by patches of unpigmented skin (often surrounded by a heavily pigmented border)"
skin condition means "a disease affecting the skin"


Now if melanosis is defined, at least in part, as "a condition," that would seem to be the correct answer.

I don't get offended or upset very easily, but I thought the following was a shade insensitive:

The opposite of miscarry is succeed

miscarry means "be unsuccessful"
succeed means "attain success or reach a desired goal"

I'd agree with you on that.

For what it's worth, here are the two listed definitions for "miscarriage" on wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn:

•fail: be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
•suffer a miscarriage

For what it's worth, only 3 people in my question set got a perfect 30/30 so far today. This leads me to believe that most people stumbled on this same question.

spirituality is property or income owned by a church

Really?

Yes! See:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spirituality

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/spirituality

Or various other online dictionaries. Amazing what you learn on FT, isn't it.

Happy Mind Melt Trivia!

I just learned that a shilallah is a type of cludger. Now that is something that won't stick in my mind, I'm afraid.

I stand illuminated.

These are the sort of matches that shouldn't be in the same set:

------

glutethimide is related to sedative drug

You said: depressant

glutethimide means "sedative (trade name Doriden) used to treat some sleep disorders"
sedative drug means "a drug that reduces excitability and calms a person"


benzodiazepine is related to depressant

You said: sedative drug

benzodiazepine means "any of several similar lipophilic amines used as tranquilizers or sedatives or hypnotics or muscle relaxants"
depressant means "a drug that reduces excitability and calms a person"

------

Perhaps a pharmacist could explain some nuanced shade of meaning between these two choices, but from my meager understanding, every sedative is a depressant. The given definition of "benzodiazepine" even includes the term "sedative". I would say that these two matches are interchangeable.

This match suffers from the same infirmity regarding my comment about "copper-bottom" above:

------

wharf is related to provide

wharf means "provide with a wharf"
provide means "provide or furnish with"

------

Again, just because the verbal form of "wharf" includes the word "provide" doesn't necessarily mean that "wharf" and "provide" are a match in meaning. It looks like "provide" is coming up as a general match for just about everything.

In my set two opposites are quite interchangeable.

The opposite of usually is remarkably

You said: rarely

usually means "under normal conditions"
remarkably means "to a remarkably degree or extent"

The opposite of ofttimes is rarely

You said: remarkably

ofttimes means "many times at short intervals"
rarely means "not often"

Maybe a professor in English language can distinguish these pairs, but I'm afraid that this is too hard for most foreign players.

I would say (as an English speaker) that 'rarely' is a distinctly better choice as opposite for 'ofttimes' than 'remarkably' since rare/oft implicitly and exclusively consider the specific number of occurences of an event in retrospect.

'Remarkably' seems to me to refer more to the speaker's perception of the nature of the occurence, though clearly there is SOME dependence on how often an such an event occurs.

Thanks for your clarification.

I can't see any way to disginguish between these two - of course, I guessed them wrong.

stemmer is related to worker

You said: labourer

stemmer means "a worker who strips the stems from moistened tobacco leaves and binds the leaves together into books"
worker means "a person who works at a specific occupation"
________________________

dock-walloper is related to labourer

You said: worker

dock-walloper means "a laborer who loads and unloads vessels in a port"
labourer means "someone who works with their hands"
________________________

To me, it sounds like they both work with their hands, and they both have a specific occupation.

Hmmm.

This one was fun.

schtickl is related to shtick

schtickl means "a really little shtik"
shtick means "(Yiddish) a little"

So a shtickl is a really little little?

Let's ask David Daniel Komanski, Komonski, Kaminsky, Komansky. He knows all the Schticks.

Today I got these pairs:

The opposite of stuff is loosen up

You said: unblock

stuff means "obstruct"
loosen up means "cause to become unblocked"

--------
The opposite of freeze is unblock

You said: loosen up

freeze means "prohibit the conversion or use of (assets)"
unblock means "make (assets) available"

I'd think they're more or less interchangeable; note the word "unblock" is also in the definition for "loosen up", confusing the matter further. Of course I got them wrong :P This was set 19; also, no one has a perfect score today, so this may be why. (EDIT: someone does indeed have a 30, but were so far down the list, I didn't notice immediately.)

To my post above: Note that freeze and loosen up only go together because of the definition used for "freeze", but if it's defined as "locking up with cold" or something, then it's a bit too vague; the match would be fine if the stuff/loosen up one wasn't in the same set!

This one seems rather tenuous (I didn't get it right) -

Clam is related to pull together: clam means 'gather clams by digging in the sand by the ocean' pull together means 'assemble or get together'.

Am I missing something?

It seems that clam can be used as both a noun (what you eat) and a verb (the act of gathering clams). It is the verb definition of gathering that is being used here.

If you're wondering: oyster can be a verb too. I can't remember what the definition was, I saw it several weeks ago.

I can see how the connection was derived, but I'm not convinced that you could arrive at it without the definitions. Clam, to me, meant either the thing you eat or to be quiet, as in 'clam up'.

Another aspect to clam is when it's so humid, everything gets 'clammy' or sticks together on your body due to perspiration and in that scenario your skin tends to gather together.

__+FORRECEMENT__
__-FORRECEMENT__






Positive and negative reinforcement

I think that one's a bit of a stretch...

So it's probably in the database somewhere!

In the "Opposite" section, one of the pairs was

The opposite of forte is piano

forte means "used as a direction in music"
piano means "used as a direction in music"


This is correct; however, the definitions used are the same when they should have opposite definitions. Forte should include louder; piano should include softer.

OK, I think I finally found an unequivocal, unarguable error in the database, which we can all agree upon...

------

The opposite of observably is perceptibly

observably means "in an imperceptible manner or to an imperceptible degree"
perceptibly means "in a noticeable manner"

------

These two words are clearly not opposites; if one can observe something it is able to be perceived or noticed. This erroneous definition seems to come from this online dictionary: http://lookwayup.com/lwu.exe/lwu/d?s=f&w=observably#r/360026

I can't find any other dictionary which has this definition. So, can we all agree that the Mind Melt database needs to correct the definition of "observably" to something like "in a noticeable manner"?

The definition of observably cited is absolutely and clearly wrong. (I speak as one who usually defends the quirks as being part of the fun - but the definition is almost exactly the opposite of the word being defined.)

The "wrong" definition can also be found in

http://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?Word=observably

but I think RhymeZone and LookWayUp are related.

Happy Word Wizard Trivia!

Just because somebody put it online doesn't make it right.

Oh I dunno if it's "clearly" wrong, as that would just be how someone "perceives" the definition. For instance, scientific observation vs. average human perception rarely mean the same thing, nor are they frequently talked about in the same context.

In the definitions section "an accounting procedure or system designed to promote efficiency orassure the implementation of a policy or safeguard assets or avoid fraud and error etc." should have a space between "or" and "assure".

Jakeroo, I might buy that observation and perception might not always be synonyms, but I just can't see how they can ever be antonyms. If you can observe something (through scientific study or just through ordinary means), it is, by definition, able to be perceived.

On set 8 for today, the antonyms section included 2 choices: defense and defence. I don't know how anybody could tell the difference between the two, so in essence it's just a flip of the coin.

I got that too, illiman. Got them wrong, too. You're right, it was a flip of the coin. Either answer worked. :-)

Actually, the system got them WRONG. One of the two options clearly suggests one of the two spellings of "defen*e", but the one marked as correct is the exact other one.

plural is related to signifier



You said: alignment

plural means "the form of a word that is used to denote more than one"
signifier means "the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something"

" sodomise is related to copulate



You said: penetration

sodomise means "copulate with an animal"
copulate means "make love" "

Just questioning the content of this question for inclusion in Mind Melt, although it fits within the frame of the game, it wasn't really something I wanted to ponder over my coco pops, or try to explain to my, (Made up), young children before they went to school.

These two are about as interchangeable as it gets:

morning is related to time period
You said: period of time

morning means "the time period between dawn and noon"
time period means "an amount of time"



decennary is related to period of time
You said: time period

decennary means "a period of 10 years"
period of time means "an amount of time"

Okay, I've taken my hits for this game, and not complained to this point, but when "words" start appearing that aren't even words in the English language (or any?), I bring it here:

STUNNG is aroused to impatience or anger; "made an irritated gesture"; "feeling nettled from the constant teasing"; "peeved about being left out"; "felt really [censored] at her snootiness"; "riled no end by his lies"; "roiled by the delay"

Say what?

The word must be 'stung'... clearly typed by someone who had just been stunnnnnnnng!

And another, although I got right by process of elimination:

clue is roll into a ball

This is the definition of "CLEW". Sheesh...

While I definitely agree that there is an error with "stunng", it seems that "clue" is an accepted variant of "clew".

http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=clue (1913 Webster's)

http://www.freedictionary.org/?Query=clue

By the way, there are two online dictionaries that have the obvious typo in "stunng"; the Mind Melt dictionary must have drawn from them. This should be the sort of error that's easy to correct.

umlaut vs. diaeresis

Definition of UMLAUT
1a : the change of a vowel (as \ü\ to \ē\ in goose, geese) that is caused by partial assimilation to a succeeding sound or that occurs as a reflex of the former presence of a succeeding sound which has been lost or altered b : a vowel resulting from such partial assimilation
2: a diacritical mark ¨ placed over a vowel to indicate a more central or front articulation — compare diaeresis

Definition of DIAERESIS
1: a mark ¨ placed over a vowel to indicate that the vowel is pronounced in a separate syllable (as in naïve or Brontë) — compare umlaut
2: the break in a verse caused by the coincidence of the end of a foot with the end of a word


The definition given for today is for umlaut, not diaeresis. Although they are both two small dots over a letter, they perform a different function.

Here's another for abechstein's list of odd 'provide' matches:


Terrace is related to provide. 'Terrace' means 'provide (a house) with a terrace'. 'Provide' means 'provide or furnish with'.

I did get it right, as it was the only option left, but it isn't really a match.

running away is related to feat



You said: rate

running away means "leaving (without permission) the place you are expected to be"
feat means "a notable achievement"

I don't see how "leaving without permission" could be considered "a notable achievement".

A reluctant bridegroom, perhaps?

I cannot see a link, either.

ozzz, I think you've seen the movie "Runaway Bride" a few times too many.

I've had the time period one. The two clues were "Time period" and "Period of time" and the answers were "Week" and "Century". I made a lucky choice but I really can't see any difference between the two.

I just had those choices in my set. But I guessed wrong. That's life.

Since I haven't gotten very many questionable entries, I guess it was time... In retrospect, I should have relied on the process of elimination, but just because I can eliminate all other possibilities doesn't make this a proper match.

------

scrounge is related to hunt down



You said: collection

scrounge means "collect or look around for (food)"
hunt down means "pursue for food or sport (as of wild animals)"

------

I don't really see how "collection" isn't the best answer here; "collect" even is used in the definition for "scrounge".

Opposites (Antonyms)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The opposite of tie in is decouple

You said: disjuncture

tie in means "make a logical or causal connection"
decouple means "regard as unconnected"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The opposite of connection is disjuncture

You said: decouple

connection means "the state of being connected"
disjuncture means "state of being disconnected"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

These words are certainly similar, but if you consider parts of speech, the two nouns are matched, as are the two verbs. The stated pairing is clearly, although slightly, better than the reverse.

bobble is related to miscarry



You said: trait

bobble means "make a mess of, destroy or ruin"
miscarry means "be unsuccessful"


This one might be offensive to pregnant people.

JanIQ, I'd posted about that on the previous page. I'm not pregnant and both my pregnancies were 'successful', but I still think it's insensitive.

The problem is that, however painful the one meaning is, it's not the only definition of the word. Have you never heard of a 'miscarriage of justice', for example?

I agree with skunkee. Also, the words are not supposed to equal each other's definition; they are just related. It'd be unfortunate if someone became upset by it, but I'm sure there are plenty of entries that could potentially upset different people.

"Escape from Alcatraz"?

Just got a set with both 'Unfairness' and 'Unjust' as answers in the Antoym section today. The word to match up was 'fair'

Fairly interchangeable I would think but I was particularly surprised when I got:

The opposite of fair is unjust

You said: unfairness

Pretty sure that when you put 'un' in front of a world that they are exact antonyms of each other.

Think the two answers should be in different sets!

You should consider the type of word. A name can be an antonym of other name, but not of an adjective.

This reasoning also applies to the synonym part, but not necessarily to the relations part. That's why many people find the relation part more difficult.

This is one of those that I should've gotten through elimination, but I really can't see the connection (maybe my brain just hasn't woken up yet?). It was in the Relationships section:

equivalent is related to knowledge

...

equivalent means "a person or thing equal to another in value or measure or force or effect or significance etc"
knowledge means "the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning"

I took it that to make things equivalent, you needed knowledge of the items, without the knowledge, you cannot relate things. But that relation was forced because I haven't any knowledge (He He He)

akvavit
sambuca

One was defined as liquor. The other was defined as liqueur.

What is the difference?

According to eHow.com:

"Liquor is a distilled alcoholic beverage sometimes used as a base ingredient for the production of liqueur. Liqueur infuses flavoring agents and has added sugar syrup. Liqueur has a weaker alcoholic proof than liquor. Both fall under the category of spirits."

My dictionary also lists them separately without referring to the other. "Liqueur" is a sweet alcoholic drink, while "liquor" is a distilled alcoholic drink - not much difference there, but still, I'd expect them to be cross-referenced if they meant the same thing. I'm quite surprised as I always thought the spellings were interchangeable.

Thanks, reeshy. I always thought them interchangeable myself. And in fact my reference states that liqueur is distilled from fruits but now some liquors also are fruit-flavored so any difference there might have been has become pretty minor. With that in mind it doesn't seem right that liqueur and liquor should both appear in the same set of questions.
No one should read this as a gripe about my score. There are bigger concerns in the world than a score on some FT game or quiz.

I agree that the answers should probably not be together in a set!

As a former bartender, I can't see ever mixing these up - they are as different as, say, lager and ale.

Actually, the way I put that was a little misleading. Liqueurs are a kind of liquor, but not all liquors are liqueurs.

An analogous entry would be "Finnegans Wake" = book while "Superman" = comic book. If all you had was "Superman" and "book", you could put the two together, but once the much more precise subcategory that it clearly belongs in appears, and when there is another word that fits the larger category so well, there's no doubt what the right answer is.

I've always considered them two different entities. Liqueurs are usually drunk at the end of the meal, and have a specific meaning. You also get them in chocolates, especially at this time of year - it's the present you buy for your great aunt when you can't think of anything else (she either gets tipsy or gives them to the charity shop, but it's the thought that counts, isn't it?).

I guess being a young teetotaller partly explains why I had no idea! I actually thought one might be UK spelling while the other was US. Even here on the forum FT does its job of teaching new things!

Excuse me but... I have been a great-aunt since I was 21 years old! If any of my (many) great-nieces and -nephews even think about giving me liqueur chocolates, they know where I shall deposit them - and it won't be the charity shop!

I'm a great aunt too (although not since I was 21). If I was given liqueur chocolates, they'd be joining yours somewhere dark and not sunny, flopsy. Mind you, I don't mind a drop of Baileys - Salami can have the chocolate for his vault.

My teetotalness (is that the word? I have no idea! :P) does not actually extend to liqueur chocolates - they're too lovely! ^_^ It's round about this time of year one of my local shops puts down the prices on their Baileys truffles...sooo....goooooood.

clear is related to alter

clear means "rid of obstructions"
alter means "cause to change"

Apparently, I can use any verb whatsoever in combination with the word "alter".

From the first section:

bureaucratism is nonelective government officials

Bureaucrats are nonelected government officials.
Bureaucratism, an 'ism', is a philosophy not the people involved in the application of that philosophy.

Normally I don't bother sending corrections as so many definitions dubious in the extreme, but this definition broke the camel's back.

The opposite of fold is spread

You said: unbend

fold means "bend or lay so that one part covers the other"
spread means "spread out or open from a closed or folded state"

If fold means bend then the natural antonym is unbend, not spread.

whereas the other incorrect answer was: -

The opposite of deform is unbend

You said: spread

deform means "cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form"
unbend means "free from flexure"

In geology the opposite of deformation is spread.

Those two should certainly not have been in the same game together.

Another day, another pair of synonyms turn up, this time the words are dysphoric and unpleasantly and as usual I got them wrong.

from part III

disambiguate is related to clarify

You said: take shape

disambiguate means "state unambiguously or remove ambiguities from"
clarify means "make clear and (more) comprehensible"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

bead is related to take shape

You said: clarify

bead means "form into beads, as of water or sweat, for example"
take shape means "develop into a distinctive entity"

I had these in Part 3 of set 17 today:

cable railway is related to railroad

cable railway means "a railway up the side of a mountain pulled by a moving cable and having counterbalancing ascending and descending cars"
railroad means "line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a railway system"

metro is related to railway line

metro means "electric underground railway"
railway line means "line that is the commercial organization responsible for operating a railway system"

I got them right, and I can see why they are the way they are, but I think perhaps they should not be in the same set.

Today I had shlemiel, muggins, simpleton and clown to match up. Naturally, I got them the wrong way round. The definitions given are interchangeable. *sigh*

More synonyms:

race car is related to auto
You said: automotive vehicle


go-kart is related to automotive vehicle
You said: auto

I had resolved not to post the questionable relationships I've been getting in the third section, but this one from the antonyms section is just ridiculous:

------

The opposite of noble is Lady

noble means "a titled peer of the realm"
Lady means "a woman of the peerage in Britain"

------

Um, what? This was the obvious choice based on the process of elimination, but "noble" and "Lady" are not antonyms, even by the definitions in the database.

Indeed, but I've had husband and wife as antonyms. Wait and see if pepper is (according to Mind Melt) the antonym of salt...

This from the antonyms:

The opposite of observably is perceptibly

observably means "in an imperceptible manner or to an imperceptible degree"
perceptibly means "in a noticeable manner"


I think "unobservably" means in an imperceptible manner, and "observably" would be a synonym of "perceptibly".

I got it right by process of elimination, but it should probably be fixed.

Thanks!

Sue

I raised this back in October on page 2. Even looney_tunes agreed with me, which I thought would merit a correction...

pemphigus is related to skin condition
You said: disease of the skin

pemphigus means "a skin disease characterized by large thin-walled blisters (bullae) arising from normal skin or mucous membrane"
skin condition means "a disease affecting the skin"



acne is related to disease of the skin
You said: skin condition

acne means "an inflammatory disease involving the sebaceous glands of the skin"
disease of the skin means "a disease affecting the skin"

Definite interchangeability problem today in the Relationships section:

battlefield is related to parcel of land

You said: piece of ground

battlefield means "a region where a battle is being (or has been) fought"
parcel of land means "an extended area of land"

_______

short is related to piece of ground

You said: parcel of land

short means "the location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed"
piece of ground means "an extended area of land"

The opposite of leanness is fat

You said: fatty

leanness means "the property of having little body fat"
fat means "excess bodily weight"

-------------------------------------
The opposite of fatless is fatty
You said: fat

fatless means "without fat or fat solids"
fatty means "containing or composed of fat"

-------------------------------------

It goes without saying that I pulled the wrong rein.

I'm no electrician but these two seem iffy to me:

delay line is related to electrical circuit
You said: wiring

delay line means "a circuit designed to introduce a calculated delay into the transmission of a signal"
electrical circuit means "an electrical device that provides a path for electrical current to flow"
______

light circuit is related to wiring
You said: electrical circuit

light circuit means "wiring that provides power to electric lights"
wiring means "a circuit of wires for the distribution of electricity"

I got that one as well this set and I wasn't a happy camper to see I got them wrong

A delay line is a part of an ELECTRONIC circuit, not an ELECTRICAL circuit. Big difference and does create the confusion you've experienced when they get swapped in usage.

I got these two right, but they are still too close together, and it was lucky I got them right to begin with.

anorchidism is related to abnormality

anorchidism means "absence of one of both testes"
abnormality means "an abnormal condition"
--------------------------------------------------------
erethism is related to abnormal condition

erethism means "an abnormally high degree of irritability or sensitivity or excitability"
abnormal condition means "an abnormal condition"

-------------------------------------------------------
Also, isn't "an abnormal condition" a very poor definition of abnormal condition?

I got the same ones, and I chose wrong (of course). I do think that abnormality and abnormal condition shouldn't come up as options in the same list. To make things totally circular, we could define "abnormal condition" as "abnormality".

Hm, today I matched "put up" with "put up" in the Definitions section:

put up is put up; "post a sign"; "post a warning at the dump"

I've just had blinker and photoflash to match up with light source and lamp. Why do I always get these wrong? All the definitions referred to 'source of light' in one way or another.

As Rossian just mentioned, I got it (wrong) too:

blinker is related to light source

You said: lamp

blinker means "a light that flashes on and off"
light source means "any device serving as a source of illumination"

photoflash is related to lamp

You said: light source

photoflash means "a lamp for providing momentary light to take a photograph"
lamp means "an artificial source of visible illumination"


Mark

Just lucky!

Here are two very close matches in my set (15) today:

yobbo is related to aggressor

yobbo means "a cruel and brutal fellow"
aggressor means "someone who attacks"


brawler is related to scrapper

brawler means "a fighter (especially one who participates in brawls)"
scrapper means "someone who fights (or is fighting)"

Luckily, I got them right, but there really was no better match in my opinion.

Just getting a little teed off with this game another pair of synonyms screwed me again in set 11. I'm not even going to bother mentioning them as it is pointless.

I think the point of the thread is to put these problems to people's attention - if you don't mention them, they will never get fixed. I don't know if anyone actually directly fixes all the problems brought up in this thread, but certainly if you don't mention them, nothing will be done about them.

I second reeshy's opinion. If you want something altered, please say so.

I've found an entry that has become stale very recently.

Estonian currency unit is linked to sent.

This was adequate until January 1, 2011, when Estonia joined the eurozone. The Kroon and its divisions have circulated only until January 14, 2011.

There's a typo is today's Set 13 Relationships section ...

The word given is 'decentalisation' although what's meant is clearly 'decentralisation'.

Guess who pulled the wrong rein...

Just wondering about this one.

jogging is running at a jog trot as a form of cardiopulmonary exercise

Should a form of the correct word be in the definition?

definition of "phrenic" = adjective: of or relating to the diaphragm ("Phrenic nerve")

We have alot of veins in our body. But the superior and inferior vena cavae specifically refer to the heart.

The "operative" word(part) here that would differentiate the two possibilities is "phrenic".

If the defintion the game gave you for Phrenic Vein said that the correct answer was related to vena (assuming there were other choices), then that would indeed appear to be wrong.

However, in THIS example, the "correct" answer given is valid (in that it was answered incorrectly):
musculophrenic vein is related to venous blood vessel
You said: vena
musculophrenic vein means "veins that drain the upper abdominal wall and the lower intercostal spaces and the abdomen"
venous blood vessel means "a blood vessel that carries blood from the capillaries toward the heart"

amalgamate is related to alter

You said: change

amalgamate means "to bring or combine together or with something else"
alter means "cause to change"




mellow out is related to change

You said: alter

mellow out means "become more relaxed, easygoing, or genial"
change means "undergo a change"

Jakeroo, "vena" simply means "vein", and there are many other veins in the body that use the word "vena" - in fact, all the technical terms for veins would use vena, e.g. "vena phrenica" for "phrenic vein". It's not at all incorrect to use "vena" for any vein - it is not just for the venae cavae.

This one is quite stale.

Tical is related to Thai monetary unit.

The Thai monetary unit is the baht, and was called tical only up to 1925.
The word "former" Thai monetary unit would be appropriate.

Reeshy: you might note that I stated the "operative" part of the question was the word part "phrenic". I did NOT say that the word "vena" might not be confused for many other things lol.

Jan et al: Actually, there is nothing wrong with any of the questions that refer to "former" uses of whatever words, including currency. After all, they do NOT state "the CURRENT monetary unit of x country", the definition is "RELATED TO". This is entirely correct.

I don't see anyone demanding that for the word "centurion" for instance, that the definition should read "FORMER military unit of Rome". Words in the dictionary are valid, whatever their historical context.

In the specific case of "tical", the ONLY other possible answers that could have been listed are "historical site in South America, alternative spelling" or "debut album released by an American rapper". I presume neither was an alternative choice regarding this particular question. If so, then THAT would be an unfair question, but only if the alternative choice appeared in the same question as the definition "related to Thai monetary unit".

But the two options that contained the word "phrenic" were on the left hand side, and the two on the right hand side both meant "vein". Each of the two choices were directly equivalent, no matter if they had "phrenic" in them or not. Also, I was confused as to why you mentioned the venae cavae. If the definition for phrenic vein mentioned it was related to vena, that's correct.

Richard

If you got the question wrong, reeshy, I am sorry. It happens to all of us : )

I didn't get the question wrong; I've never even had the question. I was just confused as to why you were saying what I quoted in my last post. But I'll leave it just now and allow the thread to get back on track!

Reeshy: My original post cannot be construed as being off-track, as it was in reply to another post (not yours, sorry). I'm also sorry to have confused you. My fault.

General public:

While I think it's certainly okay to laugh at oneself (and comment here) when we get a q marked wrong (oh, the horror!), it's not okay to blame the game. I'd say approximately 5% of the complaints about "very similar" questions/answers are completely valid. And yes, they should be mentioned.

In almost every other "case" posted to date, there is rarely an EQUALLY likely answer given amongst the list of choices. Certain words can have 15 or so different meanings. Are they ALL listed in the choices? Nope. So no need to mention them.

Approximately another 10 - 15% are obvious typos. Yes, these ARE errors. But again, you can't blame the funtrivia game for this, nor do I think those instances can be fixed easily. I suspect that the words/definitions used are taken from other online databases. The owners of THOSE links are to be blamed for not being diligent. Despite the fact that Terry is indeed "god-like", he doesn't have control over what other site owners do. Nor does he have the time to write an entire "funtrivia" dictionary, despite how wonderful a concept that might be. He has a hard enough time getting people to sign up for a measly $35 per YEAR and you want him to write a book of 500,000+ words for FREE?

But personal "opinion" about words (especially when it is obvious the person didn't bother researching first) are a waste of keyboard effort. I'll go along with someone's personal OPINION about a definition at exactly the same time they produce a dictionary under their own name that sells at least 200,000 copies lol. In the meantime, I'll rely on already published/accepted sources.

The remaining percentage appear to be people trying to turn a single snowflake into a polar ice cap.

No game is perfect and the very slight imperfections in this one don't seem to be "fixable", other than how the program selects the definition.

I love this game as it shows me new ways to look at things. I don't always score well, but that's MY problem lol.
________________________________________________

When I was 18 I thought I knew everything. By the time I finished University, I realised I knew many irrelevant things about very little. I'm 55 now and I humbly realise that I know next to nothing. In another 10 years I can only hope to have the mental capacity I had at age 8 (when independent thought and common sense outweighed "political correctness" and "reinforcement of personal ego/opinion/preferences despite being completely wrong").

Apparently the word "husband" can have several meanings beside the obvious one. But I never dreamt the word "husband" was related somehow to the word "waste"...

Before the hubbies get angry: the word "husband" is the opposite of "waste". Now where does this leave the wives?

Wasted?

LOL Ren, good one!

The verb "to husband" (as in animal/farm husbandry) is to manage resources/belongings in an efficient manner. So yes, wasting those resources through mismanagement would be the antonym, archaic as it may sound to some.

Where does that leave the wives? As "non-persons", historically/etymologically-wise. Until very recently in "the big picture", wives were considered as "belongings" (chattel, really), which is probably why there is no "wifery" word that correlates with the word "husbandry".

These days, women are of course allowed to get degrees in Animal Husbandry (in some locations it is also offered as part of veterinary courses). I'm sure that eventually a group of "PC" advocates will get this changed to Non-Humanoid Personry instead LOL

Today's Mind Melt (Set 11):

______________________________________________________
short is related to tract

short means "the location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed"
tract means "an extended area of land"
______________________________________________________

Mmmm! A bit tenuous (put mildly).



(Apologies if someone reading this hasn't done Mind Melt yet and comes across this set.)

I had this - and got it wrong!

I got a classic one today:

The opposite of front is rear

You said: back

front means "the side that is seen or that goes first"
rear means "the side that goes last or is not normally seen"

The opposite of frontward is back

You said: rear

frontward means "at or to or toward the front"
back means "at or to or toward the back or rear"

This trio should not be in the same set.

***
real is related to complex quantity

You said: divisor

real means "any rational or irrational number"
complex quantity means "a number of the form a+bi where a and b are real numbers and i is the square root of -1"

equivalent-binary-digit factor is related to divisor

You said: reckoning

equivalent-binary-digit factor means "the average number of binary digits needed to express one radix digit in a non-binary numeration system"
divisor means "one of two or more integers that can be exactly divided into another integer"

integral is related to reckoning

You said: complex quantity

integral means "the result of a mathematical integration"
reckoning means "problem solving that involves numbers or quantities"

***

Mathematicians can perhaps distinguish finely between these three options, but most of our players are no professional mathematicians.

I don't usually complain about Mind Melt. In fact, I love those ambiguities that make me really stop and think if I can find a way to make one pairing fit better than another. But this one is very frustrating! Neurohormone and adrenaline had to be matched to endocrine and internal secretion. Having decided that adrenaline, which is produced by the adrenal gland, a part of the endocrine system, would match best with endocrine , leaving heurohormone to be matched with internal secretion. Not much difference, but I thought I had picked it. Wrong. Okay. let's look at the definitions to see if there's a clue there that might have helped me look at it the right way. Here's what we get:

neurohormone means "a hormone that is released by nerve impulses (e.g., norepinephrine or vasopressin)"

endocrine means "the secretion of an endocrine gland that is transmitted by the blood to the tissue on which it has a specific effect"

adrenaline means "a catecholamine secreted by the adrenal medulla in response to stress (trade name Adrenalin)"

internal secretion means "the secretion of an endocrine gland that is transmitted by the blood to the tissue on which it has a specific effect"

Since the two right-hand terms have identical definitions in the dictionary being used, I never really had a chance! Now I feel better.

Sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and accept the system has defeated you. I have learned some interesting uses of words by playing the game - American English is certainly a different language at times from English as I know it!

How the hell did these two words get into the same mind melt game, remove and removal. Not surprisingly I chose the wrong answers. This is the second time this week that I've had a quiz with synonyms in.

I had that set, Starlord. I realized that the matches made sense, because "remove" is a verb, and went with a verb: "wipe away", I think it was. "Removal" being a noun went with another noun. Sometimes finding the correct answer is as subtle as that. However, it'd be nice if they weren't in the same set!

[quote=reSometimes finding the correct answer is as subtle as that. However, it'd be nice if they weren't in the same set! [/quote]

I don't think basic parts of speech is all that subtle! But seeing my post at the top of the page reminds me that THAT one is too subtle for me to work out. And I'd almost recovered from the trauma

I personally don't think it's that subtle either, but can get you when you're rushing in a timed set! I would say if the parts of speech match up o.k., then it's o.k. for the pairs to stay in.

Hmm, I object! From the definitions section:

holdup man is an armed thief
You said: a holdup man who stops a vehicle and steals from it

highwayman is a holdup man who stops a vehicle and steals from it
You said: an armed thief

Not sure I can agree on the "unfairness" of that one.

I've always thought that a "Highwayman" is pretty much specific to a thief whose "modus operandi" is to rob passengers on a ROAD of some sort (be they walking travellers, horse-drawn carriages, or steam/gas-powered modes of transportation such as cars, Brinks trucks and trains), whereas a "holdup man" is a "non specialised" robber, but who quite often focuses on locations like banks or convenience stores.

If given the two options in the same set, I'd have picked highwayman to equal any answer with "vehicle" in it (besides if you've ever read "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes, or Dick Turpin and "Black Bess", you'd probably never think of such a rogue in any other way LOL)

Lol, Jakeroo, that's what I had first, but the temptation to match "holdup man" to "holdup man" won out. But by those definitions, if a holdup man is an armed thief, and a highwayman is a holdup man, then a highwayman *should* be an armed thief as well. And that's why I'm still confused. But I do see your point, thanks for the reply.

This is probably the most helpful definition-to-clue I've ever seen in the Mind Melt. (Set 10)

pay out is pay out

Yeah, that's it.

Just a minor suggestion, can we have a different definition?

Darthrevan: but it could be the case that a dashing highwayman doesn't necessarily need a traditional weapon. Such charm would be called "DISarming", no? (giggles - and yes I DO see your point as well) : )

George: okay, I think you might be the first person in this thread to actually complain that something was TOO easy LOL!

This would have been so much easier to get with the correct spelling - pasta rather than paste:

fettuccini is related to alimentary paste

You said: product

fettuccini means "pasta in flat strips wider than linguine"
alimentary paste means "shaped and dried dough made from flour and water and sometimes egg"

alimentary paste, a shaped and dried dough prepared from semolina, farina, wheat flour, or a mixture of these with water or milk and with or without egg or egg yolk. see pasta

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1347585/alimentary-paste

It's not wrong, just different.

You live and learn. Alimentary paste sounds like something that's halfway through being digested!

Another close relationship.

-------------------------------------------------
fluency is related to expressive style



You said: speech act

fluency means "powerful and effective language"
expressive style means "a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period"
--------------------------------------------------
dictation is related to speech act



You said: expressive style

dictation means "an authoritative direction or instruction to do something"
speech act means "the use of language to perform some act"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Only after having submitted the wrong choice, I see why this is the desired pairing.

Hmmm...

overfly is related to travel

You said: locomote

overfly means "fly over"
travel means "change location"
----------------------------------------
sift is related to locomote

You said: travel

sift means "move as if through a sieve"
locomote means "change location"

If you take the time to pore through all the definitions you can find for the four words involved, you will find some link! The two words that have the same definition given in the game are not identical, and the relationship is being found from another part of the fuller definition.

How could anyone not get this right? From the first section:

use up

matches with

use up (resources or materials); "this car consumes a lot of gas"; "We exhausted our savings"; "They run through 20 bottles of wine a week"


Edit: Where do they do that wine thing?

They visit my house, or drop into the Quiz Author Lounge when the chocolate has run out.

The opposite of activity is inertia
You said: non-engagement
activity means "the trait of being active"
inertia means "a disposition to remain inactive or inert"

The opposite of involution is non-engagement
You said: inertia
involution means "the act of sharing in the activities of a group"
non-engagement means "withdrawing from the activities of a group"


The shades of meaning are awfully close here.

The two that match both describe an act of going in or going out; the other two dexcribe a tendency rather than a specific action. I would have no trouble deciding how to match them

jook house is related to spliff


jook house means "a small roadside establishment in the southeastern United States where you can eat and drink and dance to music provided by a jukebox"
spliff means "marijuana leaves rolled into a cigarette for smoking"

I guess I don't see the connection - is it being suggested that a marijuana "joint" (cigarette) is the same as a jook/juke joint (building)?

Makes me laugh...

that one has been "dealt with" several pages up.

The opposite of wiseness is folly

You said: shortsightedness

wiseness means "the trait of utilizing knowledge and experience with common sense and insight"
folly means "the trait of acting stupidly or rashly"

--------------------------------------------------
The opposite of providence is shortsightedness

You said: folly

providence means "the prudence and care exercised by someone in the management of resources"
shortsightedness means "a lack of prudence and care by someone in the management of resources"

I don't see your issue - both pairings seem to me to work much better as stated to be correct. Providence and shortsightedness would usually be applied in relation to a specific event or situation, while wiseness and folly are overall character traits.

Cautious is related to people


cautious means "people who are fearful and cautious"
people means "(plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively"

By itself that looks to be really stretching it, but this is a matching game - it may be that elimination makes it the 'best match' in the set. A lot of the relationships do seem to be set up from key words in the definitions, and can be more than a little tenuous.

I've never heard of a cautious telephone pole. The term only applies to sentient creatures of which most humans are considered part. I am halfway toward my membership in that group. (may I use this as a part of my final paper on humorous literature?)

These were perhaps obvious to others, but they seemed ambiguous to me:

piece of material is related to cloth

You said: textile

piece of material means "a piece of fabric"
cloth means "artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers"

shirting is related to textile

You said: cloth

shirting means "any of various fabrics used to make men''s shirts"
textile means "artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers"

Happy Mind Melting Trivia!

JM: textile could certainly apply to a vest or a sweater, but rarely a shirt (at least nowadays) : )

Mehaul: LOL! Only non-sentient telephone poles get hit by cars. The rest prudently jump out of the way.

The telephone poles part is what I would expect to see if I hit the road with a few glasses too many...

I just played a round, submitted and I got the screen that there was no record of me having started the game. Any ideas?

Oh, well. It let me back in and I played a completely different set. But, I think the second one was easier, so no worries!

Well I got two synonyms again, fortunately I didn't guess them wrong this time, but it slowed me right down. The pair this time were Geographic area and region.

It's the reason I no longer take trying to get the monthly Mind Melt badge seriously. If it happens, it happens, but I'm not actively trying for the badge. I'm playing the game for the megabadge.

Mind Melt has not reset for today (May 4) yet....55 minutes past the usual reset time, so posting here....

departure is related to deed


You said: alter

departure means "act of departing"
deed means "a notable achievement"

Must be particularly dense today, but I don't see the connection.

Sue

I thought this was reported before, but that was the awkward combination "running away" and "feat".

help oneself means "abstain from doing"
forbear means "not do something"


I am amazed that "help oneself" means "abstain from doing". I have never used that expression with that meaning.

Sue

"I just can't help myself -- I have to post!" Lol, I've had that one before, the preceding sentence is how I took the meaning. As Google says, the phrase "help oneself" in that meaning is always used with a negative.

I fully understand this is just venting, but this one's so perfect I had to post. Note the bolded definitions for the two terms.


sourness is related to gustatory sensation
You said: taste sensation

sourness means "the taste experience when vinegar or lemon juice is taken into the mouth"

gustatory sensation means "the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus"


tang is related to taste sensation
You said: gustatory sensation

tang means "the taste experience when a savoury condiment is taken into the mouth"
taste sensation means "the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus"

I usually don't agree with complaints posted here - to me there often is a real difference in connotation of the words, and that players are just being sore losers. I have to say though, that Arlington's, above, is a different matter entirely. No way those two words should come up in the same set. It's hilarious.

I won't spoil this for anyone playing my set today but two of the possible answers were "diseased person" and "sufferer".

And here are the definitions given in the answers:

diseased person means "a person suffering from an illness"

sufferer means "a person suffering from an illness"

Yikes, Arlington and GTC certainly have the right to gripe about those examples!

Mind Melt did not show up today (May 17th)for me.

It hasn't reset from yesterday for me either.

Two days in a row it hasn't reset for me

I don't think Terry reads this thread very often so I've taken the liberty of starting a new one. It hasn't reset for me either!

brachytactyly is related to abnormality

brachytactyly means "abnormal shortness of fingers and toes"
abnormality means "an abnormal condition"

Typo of "brachydactyly" in set 19 today.

I got this right but only because they were the only two answers left, but am a bit bemused at the connection. Can anyone enlighten me, please?

The only link I can make from that is that "bend" can also mean to yield to someone, and sometimes that would involve showing submission or fear to a stronger person. It is a rather tenuous link though.

Perhaps it's because another definition of the word 'bend' is to cause to submit or yield, to bend someone to one's will? There's sometimes a problem with words that have more than one meaning - the definition shown in the game isn't always the matching one.

Here is a twin that could be exactly the other way round, I presume.

***
lockkeeper is related to trained worker



lockkeeper means "a worker in charge of a lock (on a canal)"
trained worker means "a worker who has acquired special skills"

***

switchman is related to manipulator



switchman means "a man who operates railroad switches"
manipulator means "an agent that operates some apparatus or machine"



***

This set is quite close, too.

abaya is related to robe

abaya means "(Arabic) a loose black robe from head to toe"
robe means "any loose flowing garment"


peplus is related to garment

peplus means "a garment worn by women in ancient Greece"
garment means "an article of clothing"

What is the difference between "go away from a place" (leave) and "go away from a place" (go forth)?

humification is related to organic process
You said: senescence
humification means "the proces of the formation of humus"
organic process means "a process occurring in living organisms"

catabiosis is related to senescence
You said: organic process
catabiosis means "normal aging of cells"
senescence means "the organic process of growing older and showing the effects of increasing age"

OK, but humification and senescence are also both associated with decay and catabiosis is an organic process.

But when you're matching, you have to find the BEST fit. Catabiosis and senescence are both associated with aging. Humification is a process of breaking down of material, not of aging. Once you match catabiosis and senescence, then humification is left to match with the more general term that could go with either one.

walk-on is not capable of or especially not involving speech or spoken lines; "had a nonspeaking role in the play"
You said: a minor actor in crowd scenes


extra is a minor actor in crowd scenes
You said: not capable of or especially not involving speech or spoken lines; "had a nonspeaking role in the play"



Is there a difference between the definitions for the two words? If so, what is it?

A Walk-on is a butler delivering a drink on a tray. A poison drink which is a key player in the act but requires no lines to be spoken. An Extra is just background like set walls, acting to give a little life to the background of a scene and it'd matter not whether they speak. In fact, unheard lines being spoken makes extras seem even more alive.

Extra - also known as self-propelled scenery

Question 10 in the Relationships section of today's Mind Melt ...

The word 'hyperbolise' is misspelled throughout as 'hyerbolise'.

lol paper aero, love that aka : )

Should be 'furnish'.

Can you be sure of Stave's accuracy? What if it is supposed to be "Furnich with stoves"?

Stove is related to equipment.

I've just had blackguard and jeer to match up with mock and derision. Naturally, I got them the wrong way around, even though the definitions actually match better the way I had them.

I had the same experience, rossian, with the same reaction. The crazy ins and outs of the Mind Melt!

(quote) bingle is (baseball) the successful act of striking a baseball in such a way that the batter reaches base safely (end quote)

The word is single with an 's'. I couldn't find a dictionary entry for bingle with a 'b'.

From Q set 18 on 23 June

This site has two meanings for the word 'bingle'.

1- An Australian term for a car accident. There is also a car insurance company using the same name.

2- (baseball) the successful act of striking a baseball in such a way that the batter reaches base safely

I am not a follower of baseball, but I had never heard it used in that manner, either.

Call me old (if you dare), but I remember Early Wynn talking about a batter getting a "bingle" in the first days of Toronto Blue Jays radio broadcasts Don't hear it too much any more though.

The free dictionary first describes bingle as single, then gives the definition of single. They also say there is an entry at Wikipedia (whose search engine doesn't recognise it) and that path redirects to single. All are what seem to be indications of a typo that won't go away. The term is not recognized at the Major League Baseball web site engine. Here is a link to the official rules (well, where you can download the official rules) but they do not recognize the term bingle either.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/rules_regulations.jsp

And here is a link to the MLB official site's page for Baseball Lingo, a compendium of terms unique to the game, and Bingle is not there.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/baseball_basics/lingo.jsp

If the Masons tell us something is a term from the electrical code but the Electricians Union does not recognize the term in any way, do we accept an irrelevent term? Or, do we ask of this this platform (FT) to use its limited amount of influence to promulgate real things? And here the logic of 'because the Masons say it, it is real' fails. Just my opinion. I think that Terry has no real power to change what other websites claim so we will continue to face these quirks.

That list is nowhere near complete, though. As well as "bingle" it is missing "slurve", "flare" (similar to a Texas leaguer) and a number of other terms that you'll hear when listening to a game on the radio or TV. I contend that it is not an error

Citing the ommission of other words on the list does not logically mean that the ommission of Bingle is without meaning. It still means that it is not one of the key bits of jargon of the game. Some words missing from the list may one day be included (bloop is another more widely known term for a flare than even Texas Leaguer and bloop is not on the list, nor is delayed and double steals, but no one would deny they are lingo of the game.) Bingle does not fit those categories. It is nothing more than a persisting typo.

Mehaul, just because you have never heard the word used does not mean that it does not exist. As I stated before, Early Wynn (Hall of Fame Cleveland pitcher turned radio announcer) used it frequently when describing games played by the Toronto Blue Jays in the late 1970s. I heard him. The word exists as much more than a typo.

I don't know all that much about baseball, but the word "bingle" looks to me like a coined term used to describe a single achieved by a bunt.

I had thought that too, Jakeroo, but I think it is mostly just a colourful way of describing any single (including a bunt single), in the same way that "tater" is a colourful way to describe a home run. However it came about, I'd have recognised it as being baseball-related had I seen it in a Mind Melt set

It's quite a "delicious" word : ) And although I didn't have it in my set, I'd agree that I'd have picked baseball as well, if that was on the list of options.

What's a trouble then? A double that could have been a triple but the guy gets tagged out at third? Or, a tingle when the guy falls down on a ball to the corner, a possible triple, and he has to settle for first base? Or like I just saw in the Mariners/Marlins game in Seattle (but it's a Florida home game cause the U2 concert stage needs to be set up in Miami and Seattle became the host site but the away team, batted first) and the pitcher hit the batter in the hand producing a loud crack. The umpire initially called foul, then hit-by-pitch, is that to be a Fit-by-pitch where the managers take twenty minutes to stop arguing with the umpires who'd changed their call? Why do they call it a passed ball when the ball goes to the backstop. It was a batter catcher and ump that were passed so wouldn't passed catcher/ump/batter, a passed c/u/b be the right term to use? Or, an error that costs the team a game should officially be called a terror?
I got it right too, by the way. That's what 'the process' (Elimination) led me to. Also like I mentioned, it's been nice debating but the bingle will stay with us because it is defined by someone other than FT. "PLAY BAT!"

I have a friend who is a baseball guru and I asked him about this. His reply is-

"I haven't heard the term bingle in decades. Its just an old slang (really old) term for a base hit. That was used around the time that 'modern baseball' started (1920)."

Just because it is old and not many people have heard of it does not automatically mean it is not correct.

Thank you ozzz! That's what I have been trying to say! (Early Wynn was an old timer, no doubt that was why he used the term )

I still have images of mangled cars, though. By the way, if you used the term for a minor collision between cars, as we do around here, would you get your car insured with a company called Bingle?

I sent an email to the MLB site that is responsible for the lingo list and asked that they include Bingle on the list before the connection to its veracity is lost.

Oh good! Please let us know what they say.

Would be like using a health insurance company named 'Leprosy'.

Or hiring an accountant from the firm with my all-time favorite poorly-chosen corporate name, Nutt and Muddle.

Any reply yet? I would love to know what they say.

I have rec'v'd 3 robot replies saying that my posting is being reviewed. But bear in mind those robots aren't yet from the office that produced the list of jargon.

Was one of the robots named "Marvin"? ~~~~ (sorry, couldn't help myself, had a THHGTTG moment)

Let's play "Which of these was actually found in the game?" Any takers?

The opposite of free is blame

You said: convict

free means "let off the hook"
blame means "put or pin the blame on"


The opposite of exculpate is convict

You said: blame

exculpate means "pronounce not guilty of criminal charges"
convict means "find or declare guilty"


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The opposite of free is convict

You said: blame

free means "let off the hook"
convict means "find or declare guilty"


The opposite of exculpate is blame

You said: convict

exculpate means "pronounce not guilty of criminal charges"
blame means "put or pin the blame on"

I'm a bit confused as to how the opposite of one word can be the same definition for the opposite word.

The opposite of loud is piano

You said: precision

loud means "used chiefly as a direction or description in music"
piano means "used chiefly as a direction or description in music"

As far as opposite goes, that's like the pot calling a kettle a kettle.

Piano is the musical direction for 'soft' or 'quiet', which is why it is the opposite to 'loud' in this context.

Those partial definitions that you often find (in Internet dictionaries, and therefore in this game) are not particularly useful. It is a true about each term that it is used in music, but the fact that forte is the term meaning to play loudly and piano the term for playing softly has quite fallen through the cracks.

Someone changed the name of the thread. That's seriously not a good idea, please don't do it - it confuses elderly bunnies no end.

I'm changing it back...

Did this change it back? (I called for a reply on J Elston's first posting and edited the topic line to drop the "re:". Who got that changed anyway? Was it an ed merging two threads?)

Okay, I'm pegging it (the change in titles to Flopsymopsy's changing back of the postings above (GO READ TITLES oops someone just changed them to read RE: Another bad pair :0()There it read post #637924: "Another bad pair :0(" Then Rossian and Looneytunes posts simply read the same until a moment ago when someone made a change to have the subsequents read "Re: Another bad pair :0(.

As I wrote this post, the three suject titles above all read "Another bad pair :0(" and as I went to copy the posting numbers, the titles changed to include a RE:.

Interesting. I didn't realise you could change the topic title, as I've never tried it and can't imagine why someone would want to.

Then again, I still don't know how the new topics get all those different icons attached to them on the general list (but perhaps that might be partially due to the fact that I've never started a new topic either). ~

All good. I learn something new here every day lol.

And it also states in the FAQ somewhere not to do so as it will confuse people. Even though I've been an FT member for almost 10½ years and in the forums nearly 8, it'd have the chance of confusing me.

skeleton is related to lower limit



You said: complex body part

skeleton means "something reduced to its minimal form"
lower limit means "the smallest possible quantity"


I'm no expert on human biology, but a skeleton is a complex body part to me.

I agree, Anton, but in Mind Melt it always depends what the other option was that went with "complex body part". If it couldn't mean "lower limit" then you know that's what you must match skeleton with so that everything has a match.

Gyrus was the correct answer for complex body part. I had never heard of a gyrus before, and I didn't put gyrus for lower limit. I got three wrong. I wish I could remember what other word I missed right about now.

This combination is certainly correct, but interchangeable.

***

psychomotor development is related to ontogenesis

You said: growing

psychomotor development means "progressive acquisition of skills involving both mental and motor activities"
ontogenesis means "(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically"


***

cytogeny is related to growing

You said: ontogenesis

cytogeny means "the origin and development and variation of cells"
growing means "(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically"


***

As the definitions given for "growing" and for "ontogenesis" are exactly identical, I feel my choice is defendable, too.

I'd say you have a good argument there!

I also made the "mistake" re: ontogenesis and growing. Seems like it should be possible to program the game so it can't use two words in the same set where the definitions are exactly identical. (However, considering I'm far from a computer programmer, I'm very prepared to be wrong about that.)

Okay, I just saw what a furor I touched off by daring to put in my own subject. Who knew? I had no idea this was against some rule, and can't figure out why it's a big deal, anyway. The topic title wasn't changed, just the subject of my post. Well, needless to say, I won't do THAT again. Am I now a pariah, banned from the board? If not, I'd like some feedback on the pairs I posted. If so, let me know so I can slink away...

PS I scoured the topics and threads looking for aforementioned rules. I could not find anything about post subject titles. I am eager to find the rules so that I do not continue to commit heinous acts unwittingly. Thank you for any guidance on that.

The way messageboards work is that if you are replying to something in an existing thread, changing the name of your reply does alter the overall title of the thread - and if everyone did that, pretty soon no one would know which topic was what. That's why the thread title is automatically included in the subject line for replies and why changing thread titles isn't done - but it was easy enough to spot and change back. No one died so please save your pariah outfit for another time. And no one was holding you responsible for what happened next...

As for your original question... pass, lol.

Could you repost the query, twosleepy? I'm not saying I'll know how to answer, but it will make it easy for people to see the question without having to scroll back and search for the pairs.

I think this is most likely the one he/she meant...

Thanks for reproducing this, Jakeroo.

I'm stumped because it looks like you've drawn up two scenarios, only one of which is real. I can say that I've felt like things were wrongly matched in this game in the past, and often it is a matter of nuance. I personally prefer the second option:

---------------------------------------
The opposite of free is convict

You said: blame

free means "let off the hook"
convict means "find or declare guilty"


The opposite of exculpate is blame

You said: convict

exculpate means "pronounce not guilty of criminal charges"
blame means "put or pin the blame on"

---------------------------------------

I don't have any intelligent or elegant way of explaining why this feels more correct to me though...

Sue

I think I would have paired them the other way, as exculpate and convict feel like more formal terms than free and blame (which, by the way, has a dreadful definition provided!).

I agree with Looney - not only are "free" and "blame" less formal, but to me at least they seem much more general, whereas "exculpate" and "convict" are not (usually) used much outside talking about a criminal.

Well, you've convinced me reeshy and looney! Can twosleepy now clarify which one was really in the game?

"renegue on" appeared in the third section of my game today. That U does not belong there; the right spelling is "renege."

In today's set 22, I had

alarum means "an automatic signal (usually a sound) warning of danger"

It's supposed to be "alarm".

EDIT: Never mind - I've looked it up and my dictionary lists it as an archaic spelling! You learn something new every day, they say.

While "renegue" may also be an "archaic" spelling (in that you don't see it much anymore), it is indeed a valid word (although I'm certain it doesn't appear in an American dictionary). You will find it in Collins, as well as other non-U.S. (hardcopy) publications.

In any case, until FT compiles its OWN dictionary, I don't really see the point in reporting "errors" of this sort. As far as I can tell, FT is accessing one or more online dictionaries (which are FULL of typos). If FT ever DOES make one with no errors, Terry should seriously think about selling it to all those sites out there that refuse to correct their own mistakes LOL.

I managed to get this one right, but only because they were the only two left. Not sure how one relates to the other, though.

They are both, to some extent, related to promoting the sale of the item, I'd say.

There is usually some promotional blurb written on a dust wrapper - reviews from critics and other authors plus a brief plot outline, sort of thing. I agree though that it's a stretch the way it's explained.

Years ago the dust wrapper of a book used to promote other books by the same author or publisher on the back, where more recently you see a photo of the author. I'd guess that would be the tie-in with promotion.

On today's Mind Melt the definition for "utility" was given as something like "of beef; inferior quality". This definition does not seem to be in the OED, and I'm concerned that it is a bit too obscure, even for this type of quiz.

I seldom do the food shopping, but I've heard of utility cuts of beef, and would have made the connection, I think. Doesn't seem obscure at all to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef#USDA_beef_grades

It's not a term that I have ever heard used in the UK

I can believe that; "USDA" is the US Department of Agriculture. I'd be very surprised if the UK used the USDA grading system. I would say that "utility" used in this context is slightly obscure, but no more so than other usages in the game.

I think the inclusion of both "overuse" and "overstretch" in today's Mind Melt might be a bit confusing. The correct answers were:

overuse - exploitation to the point of diminishing returns
overstretch - strain abnormally; "I pulled a muscle in my leg when I jumped up"; "The athlete pulled a tendon in the competition"

Yet the OED has "to use too much or too frequently; to injure by excessive use" as the primary definition for "overuse", and "to place excessive demands upon (personnel, financial resources, etc.)" as an extended definition for "overstretch".

The use of less common definitions is a key parts of the challenge of the Mind Melt quizzes, but including both of these in the same quiz might be asking users to make overly fine distinctions among definitions that seem to overlap significantly in actual usage.

Just my two cents.

footwear is related to clothing

footwear means "clothing worn on a person's feet"
clothing means "a covering designed to be worn on a person''s body"


wrapper is related to garment

wrapper means "a loose dressing gown for women"
garment means "an article of clothing"


If all 4 are about clothing, and neither clothing nor garment relate to footwear, then could these two words be too closely related?

This match, although from the third section where relationships can be strained, is simply incorrect.

-----

food stamp is related to legal tender



You said: supplying

food stamp means "government-issued stamps used in exchange for food"
legal tender means "something used as an official medium of payment"

------

In fact (at least in the US), food stamps are non-transferable, and can only be used for obtaining certain eligible food items. A household receives a certain benefit amount, and the government reimburses the retailer for the cost of the foodstuffs obtained with food stamps. It is illegal to use these government benefits to "pay" for anything, making food stamps pretty much the opposite of "legal tender". "Supplying" is an infinitely better match, as the government is, in effect, supplying a benefit to a food stamp recipient. Food stamps are simply not legal tender, as they can not be used to pay a debt (a slight oversimplification of the definition of "legal tender", but close enough).

The other match option, by the way, was "issuing", which can fit without much of an issue with "legal tender". Legal tender is issued every day by governments in the form of currency.

helmsman is related to sea dog

helmsman means "the person who steers a ship"
sea dog means "a man who serves as a sailor"

bargee is related to old salt

bargee means "someone who operates a barge"
old salt means "a man who serves as a sailor"


Aren't sea dog and old salt the same thing?

Buddy, according to the definitions used they are indeed interchangeble.

I got those as well, Buddy. For once, I guessed right. It's odd how often these definitions come up in the same question sets.

Just been fooled by the link between 'sponger' and 'working person'. Sponger, to me, means exactly the opposite to worker not the same!

Rossian, was that pair on the third section of the game? In which case, they are still linked, though not the same. It's akin to, say, "smoking" and "health" being links, but not meaning the same. I do agree with you, though - sponger and worker are complete opposites! That third section can trip you up sometimes, can't it?

The actual definition given was 'a worker who collects sponges', which did make a suitable fit - just not in my mind.

That is too funny!

Sue

Haha, well, that wouldn't be the definition I'd expect :P

deep-six is related to cast aside

You said: cast off

deep-six means "toss out"
cast aside means "throw or cast away"
cast off means "get rid of"

Flip a coin.

I know that this thread is sometimes about venting as much as it is about corrections, but, for the sake of my sanity, can we please not have both "vena" and "venous blood vessel" as choices in the same group? Pretty please?

They were totally interchangeable. When I saw them I shrugged, crossed my fingers and (for once) got them the right way round. The definitions were identical.

Regardless of whether a word/definition seems ambiguous or not, the people playing in the same set have the exact same opportunity to get them wrong lol.

In those ??? instances (but not in the case of vena vs blood vessel lol), I often have an "AHA!" moment, as in "I never thought of it that way". It's good for your brain to deviate from linear thinking once in awhile : )

Yes, but the smoke coming from those brains will cause an increase in global warmth and Al Gore wouldn't like that. Please, no questions which cause our brains to spontaneously combust.

See Darwin lol.

My issue is not with the fairness of the set, my issue is with the correctness of the answer. There is absolutely no semantic difference between "vena" and "venous blood vessel". Like rossian said, it's a coin flip as to which options the set has matched. 99% of the time, I would agree with you about a seemingly counter-intuitive match prompting a different way of thinking, but there is just nothing like that in these matches.

If you re-read my (admittedly flippant) response, you will see that I completely agreed with you on the vena vs venous thing. Definitely not fair. And although we can't necessarily control the dictionary itself at this point (at least as far as I know), I'm sure some sort of written code might someday help with the duplication/similarity/too close for comfort instances : )

Sorry -- I should have been more obvious that I was agreeing with you, and just reiterating my frustration with that particular situation. I don't know how easy it would be to keep matches like that from popping up, but I'm all for it.

No worries sir (assuming you're male).

The results page I got in my Mind Melt game just now was NOT the same quiz that I took. Unfortunately, I can't go back and retrieve the orignal quiz I actually took. As a result, I got stuck with a 4/30 for my team. MM is a crock!

Someone started another thread with this same problem, so it looks like there might be a problem on FT's side?

"I do not recall that connection being offered. The closest I saw on my MM page was in the first section and it was "Mind Melt" matched with "Crook". I found that "Blue Jug" was closest to "Crock"", he said TiC (tongue in cheek). I imagine it's quite a jolt to scroll down the answer page and see all red x's. My heart truly bleeds which can be quite messy and explains why it is kept in a Canopic Jug which matches with reliquary better than crock. Huh? Get this man some Hurricane, Stat. 'been watching that soocker spin for a week coming straight at us in So. Florida. They said later that no, it won't hit us and took off all the tropical storm warnings. We now find ourselves 200 miles off center of a Cat 4 hurricane meaning we're in Cat 1 conditions and what did we get? a removed tropical storm watch! So seeing the page full of red x's must surely feel like seeing the red cone touch your homeland.

"abstracter is related to writer

You said: author

abstracter means "one who makes abstracts or summarizes information"
writer means "writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)"


ghostwrite is related to author

You said: writer

ghostwrite means "write for someone else"
author means "be the author of""

-----
It's funny - ghostwrite is "writes for someone else" and writer is "writes professionally", and yet for some reason author was "more correct". Especially since writer/ghostwriter both have writes/writer in their descriptions and author nor abstracter does.

Is it just me or do these two seem like they should be the opposite? The definitions seem to match up better. What do you guys think? :-)

I would probably have matched them up the "right" way because I always think of ghostwriters fronting for authors. I do think they shouldn't be in the same round, however. They are too close for comfort.

I wouldn't be inclined to call an abstracter an author so much as a writer, and I also agree with Sue's comparison for the other pair, so I would agree with the original pairings this time, but definitely think they should not appear in the same set!

I had one today where I cannot see any logical distinction between the two choices.

"Jeep" and "minicar" were the given words, and you had to pair them with either "automobile" or "motorcar."

The given definition for "automobile" was identical to the definition for "motorcar."

I had that pairing, too, and (once again) chose wrongly! Guesswork shouldn't really be part of this game, even though it's the same for everyone who plays the set.

dozens is related to large indefinite quantity



You said: large indefinite amount



shipload is related to large indefinite amount



You said: large indefinite quantity



Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Actually, there is a subtle difference here. A quantity refers to countable things (i.e., dozens, something that can be looked at as having units and uses an "s" plural), whereas an amount is usually non-countable, like a shipload, pile, etc....

Sue

I can count an amount.

From today:

service club is related to gild

You said: xxxxx

service club means "a club of professional or business people organized for their coordination and active in public services"
gild means "a formal association of people with similar interests"

Shouldn't that be "guild" instead of a word meaning to coat with gold or "to give a pleasing aspect to"?

From the dictionary on my word processor: "Note that the noun guild can also be spelled gild, but the verb gild cannot be spelled guild
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved."

Apparently it's a valid spelling too.

It's an alternate archaic spelling. "Guild" derives from the Old English "gild" or "gyld."

In the first set "Definitions" I had

throw off is get rid of
get rid of is dispose of

I got them both right, but since "get rid of" was on both sides, it could be said that they match up with each other. Shouldn't something be done so the same word or phrase doesn't appear on both sides?

Hmm, I'd be surprised if many got that one wrong. A definition, by definition (lol), is a word or words that express what something MEANS. It cannot be "the thing itself". I do admit I had a giggle at that particular set though : )

As well, if you match the two identical terms, the other two don't really fit together that well. Each of them is a possible use of 'get rid of', but they are used in distinctly different ways.

There goes the whole "If a=b and b=c, then a=c" idea.

If they were equal, transitivity would apply. But they are only similar. A is similar to B, B is ismilar to C. And it is true that A is similar to C, but they are not as closely related as either of them is to B. B is stuck in the middle with two partners.

a(throw off) =(is) b(get rid of)
b(get rid of) =(is) c(dispose of)
No similarities. just exactitudes.
Therefore, a must = c. If a only =
c in some subsets of c then b cannot = c entirely. and a possibly cannot = b.
But, throw off(a) can mean(=) dispose of(c) so the game had multiple possible answers.

Throw off would not be used in the same situation as dispose of. The issue seems to be the game's uise of the word 'is' as a shorthand when it really means something more like 'has a meaning related to'. So you cannot translate that sloppily-used word into an equal sign, which has a very precise meaning that is NOT in the words, even if it looks like it. Just consider the many matches it displays, many of which are not at all equal. Many terms have multiple definitions because they can be used in a number of ways, and those definitions do not necessarily match up with each other in a meaningful way.

A record of the points for each team in a game is a score.
A score is twenty of the same objects considered together.

But twenty of the same sort of objects is NOT a record of the points for each team in a game. Each of them can be sensibly matched to score, but if you match score to itself, you are left with a nonsense pairing.

Edited to fix typo.

I agree, Looney - they are not exact, only similar. You have to consider context and connotations among other things. It comes up as a problem in translating - just because one English word for example has two in German, it doesn't make the two German words exactly equivalent.

You can be thrown off a steer in rodeo riding. And I'm sure he'd be glad to be rid of you : )

But words are not numbers. There are no "exactitudes" within language. That's the nature of the beast (and what makes it so interesting). Simple logic does not apply.

Again, you cannot match "get rid of", with the definition "get rid of". If that were true, then looking up a word like "dog" in the dictionary would simply say "dog". Sheesh, I don't understand the splitting of hairs lol

... but speaking of hair of the dog........ ~~~

I thought women would join the battle against "what I said is not what I meant" and well, now I'm convinced it all depends on what your definition of the word 'is' is.

Ho hum. It isn't the definition of "is" that is the problem. It's the fact that there are shades of meaning expressed by separate definitions of the same word. Reeshy gave the best example so far, I think. And language isn't logic, as Jakeroo said, but a living evolving tool for communication.

Sue

With two on the left matching in possible ways to two on the right, there are four possible matches.
Left1(l1)
Left2(l2)
Right1(r1)
Right2(r2)
The match ups are: l1-r1; l1-r2; l2-r1; and, l2-r2.

I agree with Sue that definition does not equal definition. In this case that equates(oops) to l2=r1 (or, get rid of = get rid of) and thus we discount that possible match up as a viable response. We are then left with three possible equations to a puzzle which only accepts two.

Edit: that def=def situation means the the other option that exists when l2-r1, namely l1-r2, cannot exist either making the only possible answers as l1 matches r1 and l2 matches r2. So, if this never can exactly equal that, there never was any possibility of incorrect answers and everyone should have gotten those correct. I know I did.

I happened to get this one right but only because it was the only one left. Can someone explain why these two match?

disarmer is related to grownup

disarmer means "someone opposed to violence as a means of settling disputes"
grownup means "a fully developed person from maturity onward"

Same problem here.

overpopulate is related to shack

overpopulate means "cause to have too great a population"
shack means "make one''s home or live in"

Also an extra apostrophe.

The disarmer/grownup question came up in a team message board discussion, and my only suggestion for a possibility was that either could be a human being.

I did not play that set and do not know what the other choices were.

Possibly a little more of the developed human, like adult. I think it was addressed here a few pages back.

I searched for "disarmer" on the forums and only found the two recent usages of it on this thread.

The grownup side of the equation brings up a few hits, but from a year ago. Maybe Deja-vu hit me all over again? Perhaps it was from a single instance out of Word Wizard or, someone here posted in paragraph form and had qoute or apostrophe marks around the words so the search misreads them.

But scanning back I found the use of 'use up = 'use up' on March 12 here, so is is is again!

Follow up on 'Bingle': No word back from the MLB Departmant who generated the lingo list. That's from 6/24 so it's almost 3 months and the end of season with no reply other than they're looking into it/ forwarding it to the need to knows" I last got as input.

For "Definitions", I had

gaumless is British informal

Shouldn't there be an actual definition rather than just describing it as a British informal term?

From Wiktionary-
Gaumless: alternate spelling for gormless

From Wiktionary-
Gormless: 1.(chiefly UK, of a person) Lacking intelligence, sense or discernment, often implying lack of capacity of will to remedy the condition.

From mehaul-
Apropos

Come on!! Not in the same set.

probenecid is related to medicinal drug

You said: medicament

probenecid means "drug that reduces the level of uric acid in the blood"
medicinal drug means "(medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease"

anticonvulsant drug is related to medicament

You said: medicinal drug

anticonvulsant drug means "a drug used to treat or prevent convulsions (as in epilepsy)"
medicament means "(medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease"

medicinal drug and medicament are exactly the same. Why the crap shoot?

I didn't get that set, but I'd have picked medicament for the treatment that didn't specify a particular disease/ailment, as I see it as a "general" term. Herbal medicines/practices are often dubbed as medicaments, because most of them aren't accepted by the medical community as a valid/tested/FDA-approved medical DRUG. Things like poultices, plaster, tape, splints, epsom salt baths etc are also considered medicaments because they alleviate certain symptoms and are certainly related to medical practices, but are definitely not "drugs". "Probenecid" is a manufactured drug name (the generic one actually, for treating gout). I worked for a pharmaceutical company for a few years and in that business, I'm sorry, but medicinal drug and medicament are NOT exactly the same.

(edited to add the word "also")

What? Thanks for the health lesson but if you go back and read the definitions that were given, they are EXACTLY the same. So which one do you pick? Do you pick
"(medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease"
or
"(medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease"

I just happened to pick the WRONG "(medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease".

The definitions that are given are only a starting point in explaining the subtleties of the word's usage. Cat and dog could both be 'defined' as 'domesticated carnivorous mammal'; but if you were matching them with 'a spiteful woman' and 'a person regarded as contemptible', which one goes where is pretty clear. The medicine issue is exactly the same, but more subtle.

I agree - the difference is very subtle, but there nonetheless. It would be a different story perhaps if you were already given the exactly similar definitions in the game before matching, but you aren't. Sometimes, the wacky pairs like that are what makes the Mind Melt game frustrating, but, at the same time, fun and more challenging.

me·dic·a·ment n. An agent that promotes recovery from injury or ailment; a medicine. medicament. a medicinal agent - (a medicinal drug perhaps?)
medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com

I am with you 100 percent. And none of the explanations make sense to me. Maybe if it had said an anticonvulsant "poultice, plaster, tape, splint" the explanations make sense. But, it said an anticonvulsant DRUG, which is pretty specifically a medication.

Thanks, Alex.
It seems the two colleagues want every advantage of clarity in the Who Am I game, but want things as vague and subtle as can be in the MM? Seems inconsistent to me. This is worlds apart from the dog/cat analogy.

ssabreman: flattery will get you everywhere lol.

Actually, ssabreman, I don't think those things should be in the same set (in your context, there is a confusion), but I was pointing out that there is indeed a subtle difference between the two terms, though I don't know if that's something a layman would notice - Jakeroo has mentioned she has worked in a pharmaceutical company and I've studied pharmacology in my degree, so maybe we're just being pedantic.

But yes, the nationality issue in WAI is not quite the same. It's nothing to do with making it any easier, rather it avoids problems if the computer chooses many of the same options for the same question.

Isn't a medicant an Army ant trained to give battlefield injury treatment? Medicament? oops, sorry.

Oh Mike, you need some serious professional help. See your local bartender ASAP.

Here's another example:

surgical procedure means "a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments"

surgical process means "a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments"

Since the database definitions are the same, how on earth does the game decide what is the "wrong" match? These two probably shouldn't be in the same set.

The answer would depend on what these were being matched with. My cat and dog analogy above is a very extreme example of how looking at identical definitions doesn't mean the two terms are actually identical. Nobody would be bothered by that, and probably wouldn't even have looked up definitions to see that the two are the same. When the distinction is more subtle, it gets harder. And sometimes it does feel like blind guessing. The matches aren't made within the two lists (of words and definitions), they are clearly made on the basis of more complete definitions and explanations somewhere, with only a brief part of the definition supplied.

Do we know this for sure? If this is the case, don't you think it would be useful to display the entire definition, if for no other reason than to curtail discussions such as these? Also, I find it hard to believe there are two different terms, the definitions of which begin identically, but have some mysterious second phrase which provides the semantic key to the match. I looked (though not intensively) for an online dictionary definition matching the one from the database, just to see if there was a missing section, though without success.

The given terms, by the way, were "sterilization" (I don't remember if it was the British or US spelling) and "major surgery". I did correctly reason that "sterilization" matched the procedure, and "major surgery" matched the process, but when I saw the definitions displayed, it appeared to be much more random.

Edited to include my main point: Regardless, these shouldn't be in the same set.

It's not an issue with using the 'entire definition' in the sense of including another phrase; many words have so many alternative entries that picking any single one of them to define the word limits the amount of the meaning or implication that can be displayed. We can't expect these brief definitions to be exhaustive, and pretty much have to live with their (often unsatisfactory) incompleteness. Whenever I have searched for fuller definitions, I have always been able to satisfy myself that there is a difference between the two terms, however little it seemd apparent to me as I was answering the questions.

In the case of 'sterilization' and 'major surgery' (and here I am not looking back in the thread to see how they were matched in the game), I would clearly match 'sterilization' with 'procedure' and 'major surgery' with 'process' because that is matching the two more precise terms together, and the two less precise terms together. And that sense of precision is exactly the kind of thing that is not made clear by a brief definition.


From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/process I offer this definition that shows the two terms are not identical in use, although they are very similar in meaning and derivation.

A process is a set or series of actions directed to some end or a natural series of changes; a procedure is a series of actions conducted in a certain manner.

It remains a valid point that letting such similar terms be in the same set adds to the difficulty of making the matches. Ideally, the database should be set up so that they would not occur in the same batch, but I have no idea how hard that would be to program. Meanwhile, it's a game that presents a unique set of challenges and available strategies for the site.

If the game is matching words based on alternative definitions, why then are the alternative definitions not displayed? Again, I am not sure that the match process works this way. If only the first alternative definition of a given word or phrase is displayed even when a second (or third or fourth) alternative is used to make the match, then it seems to me that this sort of confusing situation would be way, way more common than it is. Furthermore, I cannot fathom that any dictionary would list the same exact definition, word-for-word, as the primary alternative for both "sterilization" and "major surgery".



Which, as I said, was exactly my reasoning in making the selection in the first place. However, when the definitions were displayed after submission, it is not clear that this was the rationale behind the match. I know there is a semantic difference between a "process" and a "procedure", but your quoted definitions are not the definitions used in making the match.

I, too, enjoy the unique quirks of Mind Melt. It is by far my favorite of the daily games. However, where I do think there is room for improvement is the elimination (or at least reduction) of situations where the "correct" answer is only determined by (seemingly) random choice.

I would suggest that the random choice element comes in the selection of what part of the definition is displayed, rather than in the two terms actually being identical. The definitions could do with a lot of improving, but as long as the game relies on whatever existing resource it uses, that's unlikely to happen. It's a bit like those annoying definitions in the Word game that say things like "found in the Great Lakes" - the fact that it was a fish is titally omitted, yet surely must have been there in the original complete definition.

The 'correct' answer is found by knowing the difference in meaning and usage of the terms in the game, and working with that; when the abbreviated definitions supplied do not adequately explain why there is a difference, then the problem is with the definitions, not with the matching.

To repeat what I posted above, in an analogy that is intentionally absurd because nobody would have been confused by the proper match,
{{The definitions that are given are only a starting point in explaining the subtleties of the word's usage. Cat and dog could both be 'defined' as 'domesticated carnivorous mammal'; but if you were matching them with 'a spiteful woman' and 'a person regarded as contemptible', which one goes where is pretty clear. The medicine issue is exactly the same, but more subtle.))

In whatever online dictionary I looked up to get the definitions for my example, the primary definitions of dog and cat are in fact identical. You and I know that dogs and cats are completely different, but the dictionary describes them both in identical terms. When the difference is far less obvious, the definitions supplied do not adequately explain to players how they could have reasoned the match. Then again, in some instances it would take a far more lengthy explanation that would be appropriate for this game to adequately explain the distinctions.

Often it has to do with connotations as well, and how the word is used in the language, as opposed to what a dictionary will say. This doesn't necessarily apply to the "surgery" question, but is something that can frustrate some people when the dictionary is not giving such information.

Here is another example where the connotations don't give any indication. On the one hand we have mud slinger and gossipmonger, on the other hand detractor and communicator. Why is the mud slinger related to the communicator and not to the detractor? Mud slinger and gossipmonger are exactly the same...

I would have matched gossipmonger with communicator, on the basis that gossip isn't necessarily passing on 'bad' information, whereas mud slinger would match with detractor to my mind. These will crop up sometimes and I have (mostly) learned to live with them.

I don't think they're both exactly the same, but I would have chosen the way Rossian would have above - and for the same reasons (even with the "bad" gossip, in some circles it is considered "good" because of the associated media attention) ... which means I'd have gotten it wrong I guess lol. Hope the game was good to you, JanIQ : )

Today's MM had two terms with identical definitions:

sense impression means "an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation"
sense datum means "an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation"


Naturally I picked the 'wrong' pair &_&

That kept me from winning the set. Luckily I have all the MM badges except for the Mastery (which I'm currently slogging away at) so the loss of 14 melting points won't hurt in the long run.

The matching process depends not just on the simple definition provided, but on the connotations of the term, and the way you would use it. Without knowing what you were matching with, I cannot offer any suggestion as to how to decide how they match. It is usually possible to explain why they match the way they do in the game. It sems that most players who make the correct pairings don't read the definitions carefully, or at least don't care that the two definitions appear identical - if they worked it out, they know that the terms are not in fact identical.

OK, here's the finer detail:

synesthesia is related to sense impression

You said: sense datum

synesthesia means "a sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality occurs when another modality is stimulated"
sense impression means "an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation"

=================================

taste is related to sense datum

You said: sense impression

taste means "the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus"
sense datum means "an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation"

================================

I know there are often cases where people quibble about terms that are *fairly* similar, but the nuance of the matching pairs provides some ability to distinguish between them. But word-for-word identical definitions?

Yes, often word for word identical definitions. Read through this lengthy thread to see! The definitions are often woefully inadequate in conveying the precise sense in which the word is being used. But it is not practical to offer all the possible definitions to provide enough evidence to justify a particular matching.

Synesthesia describes a condition, in which one sensory input produces the sensation of a different sensory input, so it matches rather nicely with sense impression; taste, on the other hand, is something more precisely categorisable and quantifiable (sweet, sour, salt, bitter) and so would match in my mind with the sense datum.

This game draws on an off-site source, so presumably cannot be adjusted to improve the definitions. But if you take the time to chase down alternative definitions and examples of usage, you can almost always work out why they match the way they do.

'up' is not the opposite of 'down' - nonsense
get up the stairs; get down the stairs
'raise' doesn't match either of the choices very well

The opposite of get down is raise
You said: get up

get down means "move something or somebody to a lower position"
raise means "raise from a lower to a higher position"

The opposite of crawl in is get up
You said: raise

crawl in means "go to bed in order to sleep"
get up means "get up and out of bed"

Sorry, but "get down" and "get up" are definitely not exact opposites of one another. That's not the same as saying that "down" and "up" are not opposites.

The explanations as given are what I would have chosen, given those four options to match.

Get down in that get up? Are you kidding? Get down, get down (brass riffs) Jungle Boogiie, (riff) Jungle Boogie (Thanks to Kool and the Gang).

I don't know if this has been reported yet, but today I got these relations:

visualiser is related to perceiver

You said: observer

visualiser means "one whose prevailing mental imagery is visual"
perceiver means "a person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses

hearer is related to observer

You said: perceiver

hearer means "someone who listens attentively"
observer means "a person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses"


"Perceiver" and "observer" share the identical definition so I picked the combination which seemed more logical to me, the wrong one ;), but then again English isn't my native language.

Actually, I would put them the other way around. To me, "observe" is more to do with seeing, while "perceive" can be of any sense. I don't think they should be in the same set though, as no pairing really stands out as correct over the others.

Reeshy, I think you would have paired them the same as Picard25, with observer going with visualizer (both being visual) and hearer with perceiver (other senses), at least if I've read Picard's post correctly. I know that's how I would have paired them as well. And I agree with you that they are mispaired and definitely too close to be in the same set.

Yes, Sue, I agree with Picard25. Bad wording on my part: I meant "actually I'd pair them the other way around from the game". Sorry about that!

Thanks Sue and reeshy, it was also more logical for me to pair the terms like you two did, but obviously the system doesn't share this opinion.

Not an actual issue, but a rather "lighthearted" observation:

Just how likely is it that, out of my ten choices for "opposites", four are "lighted", "lightly", "lighten" and "enlightening" ?

Set of the century

Yes, I was in 'your' set and surprisingly got all of those correct, but messed up royally in the 3rd section.

Another bad pair of definitions!

accessory vertebral vein means "a vein that accompanies the vertebral vein but passes through the foramen of the transverse process of the 7th cervical vertebra and empties into the brachiocephalic vein"
venous blood vessel means "a blood vessel that carries blood from the capillaries toward the heart"

umbilical vein means "a vein in the umbilical cord"
vena means "a blood vessel that carries blood from the capillaries toward the heart"

It is the reason I have given up on the monthly badge and why once I get 50,000 points this is a game I will be quitting.

Two possessives with double apostrophes.

lexicon means "a language [user''s] knowledge of words"
lese majesty means "a crime that undermines the [offender''s] government"

machinist is related to artisan

machinist means "a craftsman skilled in operating machine tools"
artisan means "a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft"


coachbuilder is related to journeyman
You said: artisan

coachbuilder means "a craftsman who makes the bodies of motor vehicles"
journeyman means "a skilled worker who practices some trade or handicraft"


Artisan and journeyman have the same definition, so I'm not sure how to (or if we can) distinguish between them.

Hit another absolutely interchangeable pair. I got lucky this time...

4. surgical operation
5. surgical procedure

chemosurgery best fits with #
electrosurgery best fits with #

Explanations given:

chemosurgery means "use of chemical to destroy diseased or malignant tissue"
surgical operation means "a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments"

electrosurgery means "surgery performed with electrical devices (as in electrocautery)"
surgical procedure means "a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments"

I just got the two surgeries one as well! And I guessed wrong. No big deal; kind of funny. Of course, if I was going for the badge and this was the last day of the month I might feel differently.

***

dado means "provide with a dado"


***

That's the explanation! Word is just a word.

It goes without saying: _________________!

a**-kisser is related to sycophant

I don't think a phrase that consists of an inappropriate word should be on the list of possible choices.

Yesterday's game had two answers which are both defined as "a particular complex anatomical structure". I guessed wrong on which to use. Can someone explain the distinction?

cytoskeleton is related to complex body part
cytoskeleton means "a microscopic network of actin filaments and microtubules in the cytoplasm of many living cells that gives the cell shape and coherence"
complex body part means "a particular complex anatomical structure"

infundibulum is related to anatomical structure
infundibulum means "any of various funnel-shaped parts of the body (but especially the hypophyseal stalk)"
anatomical structure means "a particular complex anatomical structure"

I think they should not be in the same set as technically they are interchangeable. The only possible distinction I would make is that the cytoskeleton is a system of fibers rather than an individual structure, thus agreeing with the matches the game used, but still, either descriptor works well enough for both items.

It seems to me that these pairs are equally correct the other way around (and I would argue a better match):
------

bell is related to attach

You said: artefact

bell means "attach a bell to"
attach means "cause to be attached"

electroplate is related to artefact

You said: attach

electroplate means "any artifact that has been plated with a thin coat of metal by electrolysis"
artefact means "a man-made object taken as a whole"

------

While "bell" as a verb can appear, I have never heard or seen "electroplate" as a noun. I'm not denying the possibility that this form exists, but, given its rarity, I would submit that "electroplate" is a much better match with "attach", as the process of electroplating involves attaching a metal to an object. "Bell" and "artefact" can easily be matched, as a bell certainly is "a man-made object taken as a whole". I guess I can see the match as given, but I think it's a much better match the other way around.

Another pair of interchangeable definitions:

-------------------
charcoal burner is related to worker

You said: working man

charcoal burner means "a worker whose job is to make charcoal"
worker means "a person who works at a specific occupation"

------

bagger is related to working man

You said: worker

bagger means "a workman employed to pack things into containers"
working man means "an employee who performs manual or industrial labor"

Got this today:

The opposite of plume is undercharge

You said: essential

plume means "rip off"
undercharge means "charge (someone) too little money"


That's all fine and dandy - except that neither of the definitions appeared as choices at all (and undercharge wasn't there as a word to define the opposite of) so I just had to pick from what was there. I've posted this example but there was another word with the same problem in the same set of 10 "opposites". I've noticed this before but always though it was just me - definitions definitely not there today!

Sorry if this was posted previously, but it totally screwed me up, and I don't know if it's a typo or what:

gambling hell is related to edifice



You said: place

gambling hell means "a public building in which a variety of games of chance can be played (operated as a business)"
edifice means "a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place"

The definition of "gambling HELL" does not fit the definition given. It would fit for "gambling HALL", however. Is this a typo or not? Either way, something needs to be fixed! :0(

"Gambling hell" may be an old-fashioned expression, but it's in the Oxford English Dictionary, and I'm sure I've come across it in Victorian writers.

western United States is related to geographic area

You said: geographic region

western United States means "the region of the United States lying to the west of the Mississippi River"
geographic area means "a demarcated area of the Earth"



zone is related to geographic region

You said: geographic area

zone means "a circumscribed geographical region characterized by some distinctive features"
geographic region means "a demarcated area of the Earth"



I thought there might be a subtle distinction between a geographic region and a geographic area, but the definitions are exactly the same.

Totally agree, Tabby. This was one where flipping a coin would have given you a 50-50 chance at being wrong! Those two options should never have been in the same set.

A pair of interchangeables, not to be in the same set.

street child is related to minor
You said: nipper

street child means "a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned"
minor means "a young person of either sex"

urchin is related to nipper
You said: minor

urchin means "poor and often mischievous city child"
nipper means "a young person of either sex"

On the first set of questions the answer provided for a specialist in child care was PODIATRIST. This would be a foot doctor. The correct answer should have been Pediatrician.

Thanks!

Does this smell fishy to anyone?


GET A WHIFF: is smell strongly and intensely

You said: perceive by inhaling through the nose; "sniff the perfume"


WHIFF: is perceive by inhaling through the nose; "sniff the perfume"

You said: smell strongly and intensely

Everybody knows to whiff means to strike out (3 strikes) in baseball. So, when a pitcher 'gets a whiff', it means he struck someone out and one more tally is added to his strike out total. Fishy indeed as in smell the ambergris rather than sniff the perfume!

Great "ambergris" analogy, Mehaul! Not to many opportunities to use that word.

I have reset the topic title to what it is supposed to be.

Type the problem as a reply, please do not alter topic title.

OK, I really don't get why these pairs were matched:

------

turnoff is related to stimulant

You said: take aback

turnoff means "something causing antagonism or loss of interest"
stimulant means "any stimulating information or event"

------

I always thought that something which causes "loss of interest" is the opposite of a "stimulant". Unless, I guess, a turnoff stimulates you to lose stimulation, which seems absurd to me.

And the other "proper" match:

------

startle is related to take aback

You said: stimulant

startle means "to stimulate to action "
take aback means "surprise greatly"

------

Something which stimulates to action isn't a stimulant? What? Now, I admit that the difference in the part of speech between "startle" and "stimulant" should have been a clue that the game wasn't matching that pair, but, it being the "relationships" section and all, I thought there could be some flexibility. Something that turns you off certainly takes you aback, and something that startles you certainly stimulates you. I think this needs some adjusting, which is odd, because it's always been my experience that if a a form of the word given as one of the choices is included in the definition, the game will match that word with that definition -- I know I've complained about it before as an overly simplistic way of creating matches. I guess my mind really is melting because of this game!

Another pair of interchangeable definitions in today's Set 19 (Relationships):

rotgut is related to inebriant

rotgut means "any alcoholic beverage of inferior quality"
inebriant means "a liquor or brew containing alcohol as the active agent"

proof spirit is related to intoxicant

proof spirit means "a mixture containing half alcohol by volume at 60 degrees Fahrenheit"
intoxicant means "a liquor or brew containing alcohol as the active agent"

I thought this pairing was quite strange today:

epicranium means "the muscle and aponeurosis and skin covering the cranium"
body covering means "any covering for the body or a body part"

The latter is referring to any outside body parts, isn't it?

From the Relationship section:

a**-kisser is related to toady

a**-kisser means "someone who humbles himself as a sign of respect"
toady means "a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage"


I think a word like that should be removed because of its vulgarity.

Quite a long bow being drawn, methinks!

^ hehe, I had the same today and thought exactly the same.

There are some words you can link to almost anything. "Change location", "Altering", "Person"... If I see one of those, I try and link the other ones first and then go back to these catch-all words.

That is a really smart tactic, Jan. Thanks!

I probably should have figured out uprise was a verb, not a noun, even though upgrade could be either.

Presumably just a typo in the set I just completed:

"prewpub" - combination brewery and restaurant; beer is brewed for consumption on the premises and served along with food.

Meant to be brewpub??

Could we have some checking to see that closely related words are not used on the same day?

On of today's antonyms was "enter" and another was "get in".

Thanks for the coin flip.

Here are the two I missed today...

surfer is related to bather



You said: water sport

surfer means "someone who engages in surfboarding"
bather means "a person who travels through the water by swimming"

swimming is related to water sport



You said: bather

swimming means "the act of swimming"
water sport means "sports that involve bodies of water"

The match the game gives is clearly the best way to match these, since surfer and bather oboth refer to a person who is engaged in an activity, while swimming and water sport both refer to the activity.

The opposite of nonconformity is conformation

You said: conformity

nonconformity means "failure to conform"
conformation means "acting according to certain accepted standards"

The opposite of noncompliance is conformity

You said: conformation

noncompliance means "the failure to obey"
conformity means "acting according to certain accepted standards"

Ayup, with two words given identical definitions, I was doomed. That's what I get for assuming that conformity was the oppostite of nonconformity.

I would have assumed the same as you, not-so-dumb_bunny!

"free is related to people

free means "people who are free"


Really? free is related to people?

Free means "people who are free"?

Does blue mean "cats that are blue"?

I managed to get this one right by process of elimination, but the method you're using to generate these relationships really needs serious examination.

(adjective) means (noun) [one of many] that has property of (adjective) does not in any way constitute a reasonable connection.

From our anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner":
"..,O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"
In this context the word is used as a noun. And it means in this case: "people who are free".

Adjectives can be used as substantive nouns: the brave, the noble, the strong, etc. Which section of the game was this in? Not all sections are about exact definitions, but things that can be linked together, whether obviously or more tenuously.

Dumb bunny,

I got that non-comformity one wrong too. I had to sigh and admit that it was part of the fun of the game eventually. But, you know, I think you and I got it right acksherlly. ;D


--------------------------

My query is:

frequent is related to back up



frequent means "do one''s shopping at"
back up means "give moral or psychological support, aid, or courage to"


--------------------------

Ok, if I was more brainy I could have got it right by elimination but I think the definitions given don't quite match each other.

Can anyone persuade me otherwise?


(I love Mind Melt, by the way, so this is why I care)

Chaves,

I love Mind Melt too, and I can't see any way that these two (especially with these definitions) are related!

Sue

Related, vaguely, perhaps because they both imply an association of support. If you frequent (accent on the second syllable) a place, you are often there - you could be said to be supporting an establishment by your regular visits; if you back someone up, you are supporting them in some discussion.

Yes, if you frequent a charity shop, you are supporting their cause.

But not backing them up exactly.

And frequenting only means "shopping at" in a very, very vague sense. I think it's the "shopping" definition that is a bit strange.

And given that "back up" is defined as a "moral/psychological" act, it's doubly strange to define "frequent" as "shopping!.

(Glad I'm not the only one, Sue).

man of means is related to have
You said: individual
man of means means "a man who is wealthy"
have means "a person who possesses great material wealth"

blond is related to individual
You said: people
blond means "a person with fair skin and hair"
individual means "a human being"

timid is related to people
You said: have
timid means "people who are fearful and cautious"
people means "(plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively"


Aren't these three pretty vague? Especially timid, whose definition is wrong -- it's an adjective, not a noun as currently suggested.

They're all vague and tenuous - that's part of the third section's charm and frustration. I matched means with have, but had the other two reversed, since it was not clear which should match with the singular term and which the plural. C'est la vie.

Timid can be used as a noun - only the timid fear the dark - 'the timid' stands for 'people who are timid', and functions as the subject of the sentence. Same for blond, which is usually an adjective - blonds have more fun is a phrase that uses blond as a noun substantive.

Vague and tenuous, yes, those are valid descriptors and to those I would add cumbersome. Kind of reminds me of when I broke my arm and it was itching really bad and I tried to scratch underneath the cast with a coat hanger.

I had "colorize" and "colourise" as choices in my mind melt pool today. I wasn't going to win anyway as I never do, but that didn't help.

Where do you get these words from!

I play this game because its a team game. Not that I do too well, so fortunately my team doesn't rely on me

If we were to name a game we hated on funtrivia, it's got to be to his one. I absolutely hate it, but will play it because it helps my team ..... sometimes

I think it's the best game here. I play the other games just to keep me going for the 23 hours and 56 minutes until I can get my next fix.


I don't want to spoil the fun for today but good luck to anyone trying to place these two:

geographical region means "a demarcated area of the Earth"

geographic area means "a demarcated area of the Earth"


;D ;D ;D

I think the fact by 11pm not one player has got them all right confirms the questionable status of this one:

going away is related to feat



You said: move

going away means "act of departing"
feat means "a notable achievement"

Can anyone explain why the two are connected, I can't.

They are both, vaguely, a type of action. I certainly would not connect them unless by elimination to optimise the fit for the other pairs in the set.

Just came to say the same.

going away is related to feat


You said: move

going away means "act of departing"
feat means "a notable achievement"


career is related to move


You said: feat

career means "move headlong at high speed"
move means "change location"

Meh.

Career & Move fit together, but Feat and Going Away are definitely mis-matched.



I wonder if the word "act" in the definition of Going Away has caused the mis-match? Act and Feat would normally match.

It isn't a mismatch, it is one of those very tenuous links that crop up in part 3 of Mind Melt - they aren't definitions, and the exact nature of the relationship can be as slight as a common word in a secondary or tertiary definition.

summer camp is related to site
You said: activity

Could this one be changed, as a summer camp can really be either a site or an activity?

If I remember correctly Bubbatom also claimed that the Crystal Ball was the "worst" game EVER, even though he/she managed to endure its "horridness" (despite the fact that it is not included in any required "team" game) and get the 25 Badge anyway lol (kudos for that, btw : )).

I am still bemused by the fact that people keep posting "this HAS to be fixed" type of complaints here. As far as has been construed so far, the dictionary/database used is not in the "control" of this website and thus cannot be "amended" by anyone here - so my only advice is to either work with it, or get over it, or sign a petition to opt for increased fees to pay for the rights to an actual "published in book form" dictionary (although I'm sure we would then have endless complaints about which PARTICULAR dictionary from WHICH part of the world is chosen as well as the fee lol), or don't play it at all and let the people who DO enjoy the game, DO so LOL.

That being said, there's absolutely nothing wrong with posting pure and simple "grumblings" (everyone is certainly entitled to their personal opinion even though opinions are definitely not facts) - but for those folks who continue to "demand" ACTUAL changes to be made in the database in the near future? ummm.... might want to choose a different game to "pick on" : )))))

I like this game. I'm not very good at it, but I certainly don't begrudge answers that don't correlate with mine.

Looney: thank you for your infinite patience in continuing to point out the related possibilities, however vague they may be. We all live in different parts of the world and slight differences in usage can mean a "world" of difference in results.

There IS no perfect, singularly, universally correct answer for lots of things (eSPECIALly when it comes to language). Surely, most people here have had similar experiences in multiple question tests in school/university where you were asked for the "best" answer amongst the choices, no matter what the subject? Nowhere in the instructions for this game does it say "pick the one and only answer that you are personally familiar with, either due to your education or demographics or personal opinion - and therefore whatever answer you choose should be given credit for as being correct" : )

In contrast to the game itself, there is MORE than a subtle difference between the two major types of comments/complaints in this thread lol

Jakeroo, this is perhaps the best summary of the reactions to this game that I've seen! We should frame it and place it on the game page.

Sue

This made me smile (wince?). They could definitely have done with being the other way round.

The opposite of odds is unlikelihood

You said: improbable

odds means "the probability of a specified outcome"
unlikelihood means "the improbability of a specified outcome"

The opposite of likely is improbable

You said: unlikelihood

likely means "likely but not certain to be or become true or real"
improbable means "not likely to be true or to occur or to have occurred"

I think a wince followed by a shrug of the shoulders and a weak grin is the only answer to some of the weird and wonderful combinations which come up. After all, tomorrow is another day (is that original? or did I hear it somewhere else?).

Fiddle dee dee... Now where have I heard that line before? Maybe a spot of sweet tea will help my pretty little head remember.

The answer is blowing in the wind.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, is always a day away.

Oh, I see. Bob Dylan wrote it.

Oh dear, that one is sung by a little redheaded girl, a poor little orphan waif, if my recollections are correct...

I must confess that I do prefer the dark brown hue of my own hair, it so sets off my green eyes, which have been known to dazzle the best of the young southern gentlemen at our neighborhood barbecues.

The opposite of exasperate is better

exasperate means "make worse"
better means "to make better"

Doesn't this confuse "exasperate" and "exacerbate"?

It does, but that's the definition in the reference dictionary - you will also encounter it in Word Wizard. As has been mentioned before, both of these games use an online dictionary that is not controlled from here, so we learn to live with its quirks.

Merriam Webster says:



exasperate

1
a : to excite the anger of : enrage
b : to cause irritation or annoyance to

2
obsolete : to make more grievous : aggravate




In which case, the opposite can be "to make better".






Oh my gosh, I've started to defend Mind Melt issues. I have crossed over to the dark side! Help!

It's times like these that I search for the "Like" button on this forum!

typo -
koan is a paradoxical [annecdote] or a riddle that has no solution - should be anecdote

and elsewhere is: used as an abbreviation of `et alibi'' when referring to other occurrences in a text

Technically, "and elsewhere" is the translation of "et alibi"; "et al." is the abbreviation. (I had previously only known of "et al." as an abbreviation of "et alii". I also learned about "et aliae" and "et alia".)

foursome is related to gathering

You said: grouping

foursome means "four people considered as a unit"
gathering means "a group of persons together in one place"

grouping means "any number of entities (members) considered as a unit"

Okay, while I have questioned quite a few answers on Mind Melt, this particular one necessitated putting it on the board:

eyesight is related to visual sense



You said: visual modality

eyesight means "normal use of the faculty of vision"
visual sense means "the ability to see"

photopic vision is related to visual modality



You said: visual sense

photopic vision means "normal vision in daylight"
visual modality means "the ability to see"

Since both answers I selected have the same exact definition "the ability to see" I sure can't understand how both are wrong answers!! LOL

Guess I should have said "I sure can't SEE how both are wrong answers" :-)

I had that set, and I got them the 'wrong' way around too. I think it's one of those times for shrugging your shoulders with a weak grin on your face.

I got them right... but only because the words "sense" and "sight" seem to go together as simple nouns whereas the other two seemed more technical - as though they'd been invented by an opthalmic surgeon whose grasp of adverbs might need some attention from a portentous mobilotome (aka a quick whack round the head with a dictionary).

For all the apathy on extremely similar (or in one case, exact) definitions, can't one of the two be removed from the game to prevent this sort of thing?


Here's another one, akin to the one I posted before:

pain pill is related to medicament
You said: cure

pain pill means "a medicine used to relieve pain"
medicament means "(medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease"

cure means "a medicine or therapy that cures disease or relieve pain"

Typos on the quotation marks in:

nigher is (comparative of `near'' or `close'') within a shorter distance; "come closer, my dear!"; "they drew nearer"; "getting nearer to the true explanation"

But the extra definitions had them correct. hmmm.

I just went through four minutes of doing MM, and after submitting my answers, it's says I didn't answer any of them and it gave me a 0/30! What's going on here?! I'm very angry.

I normally just take this game as it comes and shake my head in amusement at some of the definitions.
However, today was one I wanted to share:
The definition of 'Take the bull by the horns' was NOT 'taking the bull by the horns' (that was actually one of the options) but something else. The other option was reasonable, but still.... got to laugh :-)

I had that question too, Mike. Since they were the same, I decided it was wise not to choose "taking the bull by the horns" as the option for "take the bull by the horns". That was the right decision, apparently, but I didn't like those two appearing in the same set.

I saw this thread and thought of you:

http://www.funtrivia.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/809093/Mind_melt#Post809093

It just happened again. However, this time it was at my work IP, not my netbook IP. Obviously, there's bug that needs to be fixed here.

It doesn't look like an error on the server side - I'd rather suspect some network issue that prevents your form contents from being transmitted. You're calling the evaluation script through the submit but somewhere between your browser and the server, the actual form gets lost and it arrives as a blank request which is then (logically) interpreted as no questions having been answered.

Do you run some antivirus or other security software that could occasionally interfere with the sending? It can't be any of the site protection mechanisms since forms in MM can't transmit any content such a protection could dislike (and besides, if it were that, such a problem would hit all players of a specific question set).

Odd punctuation typos continue. It appears that the apostrophe or single quotation mark does not exist, but is replaced by an accent mark. Double quotation marks are used for possessive nouns and a quote is opened with an accent but closed with double quotations. Is this a system that is used somewhere in the literary world?
From today's MM game:
- tighten one''s belt
- recording a person''s behavior
hypozeuxis is use of a series of parallel clauses (as in `I came, I saw, I conquered'')

These are all typos in the online database (not here at FunTrivia) which is used as the source of the game - you'll also spot the same issues in Word Wizard.

clinical psychologist is related to therapist



You said: psychologist

clinical psychologist means "a therapist who deals with mental and emotional disorders"
therapist means "a person skilled in a particular type of therapy"
behaviorist is related to psychologist



You said: therapist

behaviorist means "a psychologist who subscribes to behaviorism"
psychologist means "a scientist trained in psychology"

------------------------------------------------

You can't be a clinical psychologist without being a psychologist, but can be a therapist.

A behaviorist is either a psychologist or a therapist using behavioural therapy so either would be correct, but the first is definitely wrong, it's even in the question itself.

I think I probably need one (or several) of those folks. Too expensive though, so will just carry on being comfortable in delusional mode.

Jan, where's the like button when I need it!

Sue

You need to ask a physiologist that question!

Sulk about to happen.

Can someone please commiserate and agree with me,

or explain to me why I was wrong.

I am trying to be a brave girl about this.

The original use of vandalize referred to the way the Vandals destroyed the Roman Empire, so ruin is a better match than damage. Corrode describes a degree of damage, but not necessarily as absolute as destruction or ruin.

I'll take that. Thanks Looney tunes.

It would be less confusing if these two relationships didn't appear in the same set of Mind Melt questions.

I work in municipal gov't (payroll) and there is quite a difference between the terms "labourer" and "trade/union", especially when it pertains to wages. To me, "working man" would be the "lower" waged/more general one of the two options. However, I do fully agree that it was unfortunate that those two fell in the same set!! (hugz)

A little issue in my set. There were two sets of the same opposites in my set today. Lucky for me, I got it right, but here it is.

The opposite of birth is death

birth means "the time when something begins (especially life)"
death means "the time when something ends"

The opposite of live is dead

live means "showing characteristics of life"
dead means "not showing characteristics of life especially the capacity to sustain life"

This was in Set 15 today.

But you correctly matched the two nouns and the two adjectives. They are not interchangeable at all, just relating to similar concepts.

Yeah, but they were just a little confusing because of how closely related they were.

If you play this game long enough, you will see them more confusing than these ones!

glade is related to parcel of land

You said: piece of ground

glade means "a tract of land with few or no trees in the middle of a wooded area"
parcel of land means "an extended area of land"

site is related to piece of ground

You said: parcel of land

site means "the piece of land on which something is located (or is to be located)"
piece of ground means "an extended area of land"

Any suggestions on why these are matched the way they are? (I was guessing because I didn't see the distinction, and got it wrong)

Piece of land in the definition of site matches nicely with piece of ground. Also, a glade is (in my mind) somewhat larger than a site, and a parcel of land would be larger than a pierce of ground. But it's really pretty much a guess. You get that sometimes.

Had to toss a coin today.








Is it too early to hit the gin?

It helps if you've seen both of those pairs before, and know which one goes with which.

It'd be the only way to know presumably, lol!

Although...Maybe a doctor would have got it right.

Only by chance! "Vena" and "venous blood vessel" are equivalents, the former simply the Latin term.

It's never too early to hit the gin. After all, the sun is always over the yard-arm SOMEwhere in the world LOL

Where's that physiologist when we need her?

That's comforting somehow.



That's the beauty of an international site.

dark comdey is related to comedy

dark comdey means "a comdey characterized by grim or satiric humor"

typo - 'comedy'

Today's Daily Set #27

Today's quiz had Surinamese monetary unit and basic monetary unit. The connections were guilder for the former and dollar for the latter. However, Suriname's current monetary unit is the dollar. It discontinued the guilder on December 31, 2003. Suggest adding "former" to the Surinamese clue.

I saw something wrong in the MM set I took yesterday.

The word given was "glipzide", but it should be glipizide, an an oral antidiabetic drug.

The following is the top result delivered for a Google search for Glipzide. The "...common misspelling of..." confirms the error in Mind Melt. But as we often see here, the dictionary that is used as a source, many times accepts the errors as fact.

Glipzide
This page also includes information on how it works, potential side effects, and general dosing guidelines. Glipzide is a common misspelling of glipizide.
http://diabetes.emedtv.com/glipizide/glipzide.html

neonatal mortality is related to deathrate

Should death rate be two words instead of one?

Birthrate is commonly one word, so I guess a point can be made for "deathrate".

yobo is related to assaulter

You said: assailant

yobo means "a cruel and brutal fellow"
assaulter means "someone who attacks"

lapidator is related to assailant

You said: assaulter

lapidator means "an attacker who pelts the victim with stones (especially with intent to kill)"
assailant means "someone who attacks"

When both left column words have the same meaning (according to the FT dictionary) there is not much one can do but take a wild guess. I guessed incorrectly, obviously.

seer is related to intellectual

You said: professional

seer means "a person with unusual powers of foresight"
intellectual means "a person who uses the mind creatively"

bibliothec is related to professional

You said: intellectual

bibliothec means "a professional person trained in library science and engaged in library services"
professional means "a person engaged in one of the learned professions"

Not one 30 so far in this set!

That one got me, too.

I object to "whittle away" being related to "damage". Whittle away has to do with cutting or carving something; in other words, it involves *creating* something, not *damaging* it.

One also talks about the sea whittling away at the coastline, which can be seen as causing erosional damage. These definitions are not by any means always the primary definitions for words.

Also, bear in mind that although you may be creating wonderful sculptures, you're technically damaging the wood to get those shapes!

Word of the Hour! Small world, eh?

I thought this was a difficult pairing today (I had it correct before, but changed back and forth.)

The opposite of lock is disengage

You said: disjoin

lock means "keep engaged"
disengage means "release from something that holds fast, connects, or entangles"
The opposite of bring together is disjoin

You said: disengage

bring together means "cause to become joined or linked"
disjoin means "make disjoint, separated, or disconnected"

In the same set, in the relationships section I had:

albizzia means "any of numerous trees of the genus Albizia"

supposed to match with

saman means "large ornamental tropical American tree with bipinnate leaves and globose clusters of flowers with crimson stamens and sweet-pulp seed pods eaten by cattle"

and

albizia means "any of numerous trees of the genus Albizia"

supposed to match with

siris tree means "large spreading Old World tree having large leaves and globose clusters of greenish-yellow flowers and long seed pods that clatter in the wind"

Note the extra z in the first example - I believe the spelling with one z is correct.
Was it just bad luck that I ended up with both in one set?!

It certainly was an unlucky cvoincidence. Since the selection program would have read the two variant spellings as being two different words in the source dictionary (which has a lot of misspellings!), it would not have noticed the problem. Each relationship works, but it was nasty having to guess how they matched.

When two pairs this similar are noted, is it possible to edit the dictionary and remove one of them?

The dictionary is not part of the site, so all that can be done is filter it. Terry has done this to remove whole classes of entries that are not appropriate for use, but it would be very time-consuming indeed to filter each word or entry that seemed less than ideal. The quirkiness of the dictionary is part of the charm, as well as part of the frustration, of Mind Melt.

Had to take a wild guess on this one:

trepidation is related to apprehension



You said: apprehensiveness

trepidation means "a feeling of alarm or dread"
apprehension means "fearful expectation or anticipation"

pall is related to apprehensiveness



You said: apprehension

pall means "a sudden numbing dread"
apprehensiveness means "fearful expectation or anticipation"

"face the music is accept the unpleasant consequences of one''s actions"

There's a double quote in "one's".

Been there...said that.
The source dictionary is full of them. You will never see an apostrophe where it should be; it's always double quotes. I've never seen this anywhere else.

Ohhhhh... Wait, why? Something wrong with the single quotes?

irridentist means "an advocate of irredentism"

No dictionary spells it with a third i, including online references, should be 'irredentist' as stated in its own definition.

While I'm here I'll paste in today's challenge

"•Score at least 30 questions correct in today's Mind Melt - using any mode"

Unless there's a special trick I don't know of I don't think you can score more than 30 in Mind Melt so possible a redundant 'at least' there.

There is little point in noting the errors in the dictionary, as it is not on FT, but is accessed for the game.

The wording for that Daily challenge has been discussed on the Daily challenges thread. The text is the same for everyone who gets the challenge, but the number varies depending on the past performance of that particular player. And on the difficulty level at which it is being issued. So if you usually score highly, you will occasionally be asked to score at least 30 correct - I just smile and go do it.

Ah, that makes sense about the 'at least' as only some get the 30. I have seen a good number of typos and misspells reported here though so not sure now what can and can't be fixed as the majority of mind melt is from the dictionary, unless the definitions are not, but won't mention any more in that case if I spot them (which is very rare).

These 3 all appeared in the right-hand column for Part 3 of set 25 today:
artistic production
fine art
work of art

to match up with diptych, magnum opus, and printmaking (although not necessarily in that order).

I would match artistic production with printmaking, as they both seemto refer to a process; fine art with magnum opus, as both imply an excellence of quality; work of art with diptych as they are left. But i might be wrong.

I had that set, and agree with L_T's learned analysis. I'm not sure my reasoning was quite as logical (apart from the printmaking) but I did get them right.

I left this part out of the original post so no one could read it before getting that set, but L_T went 0 for 3 (which is why they don't belong in the same set).

diptych = artistic production
magnum opus = work of art
printmaking = fine art

I do remember reading once that Terry did add logic to prevent more than one (vein/vena) from ever showing up in the same set. It just seems like (art/artistic) should get the same treatment.

I had agreed with both LT and Rossian...

But, if those were the correct answers, something is definitely wrong. That doesn't make a bit of sense whatsoever.

I don't think how many appeared is the issue; it's that they seem to be completely off. :P


But, Rossian says she got them right. Hmmm.

Once I've played, I don't really remember much about the answers, but I've looked and definitely scored 30/30 yesterday. I know I hesitated over the diptych and magnum opus options, but I can't actually remember the choices I made. I am pretty sure that artistic production did match with printmaking, though.

I agree, though, that it was difficult to match them and I also had some medicines to match up in a set earlier this week - my crystal ball didn't work on that occasion, though, and I got them the wrong way round.

predeterminaation means "a mental determination or resolve in advance"
conclusion means "a position or opinion or judgment reached after consideration"

Predeterminaation? There are two 'A's.

fingerprint is related to black and white

fingerprint means "biometric identification from a print made by an impression of the ridges in the skin of a finger"
black and white means "the result of the printing process"

I think that's a different type of printing process.

I had the same issue, Tim. I was going to post here, but I know there are all kinds of quirky definitions that are paired together in MM. I have resigned myself to the fact that you just have to guess wildly sometimes. (a lot)

It's tenuous, but it's the third section, the "related to" column, which doesn't have to be exact definitions. I don't think it's completely out of the ballpark to link fingerprinting with the printing process - they both use ink to create an image on paper. Like I say, it's a bit of a tenuous link, and the third section can be frustrating in this way, but I don't think it's completely wacky.

killer is related to individual
You said: adult
killer means "someone who causes the death of a person or animal"
individual means "a human being"

pacifist is related to adult
You said: individual
pacifist means "someone opposed to violence as a means of settling disputes"
adult means "a fully developed person from maturity onward"


Any suggestions on why these match up this way instead of the other way around?

retreated is related to people



You said: fall away

retreated means "people who have retreated"
people means "(plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively"


In this instance, Mind Melt used "retreated" as a noun, but did not specify the usage. Retreated as a verb means to draw back, make a retreat, withdraw. Maybe inserting a (v) or (n) after the word that is to be defined would give the player more information to interpret the proper definition. I'm not an English major, so I might be totally wrong about this. Am I totally off-base?

I've finally had enough of Mind Melt's shoddy definitions and am going to stop playing this game, unless forced to by the Challenges.

I agree that they are frustrating. Today's set for me had killer/slayer to match with regicide/executioner. The definitions for killer and slayer were identical, so it really was pot luck - for once, I did get lucky. Yesterday, I had something similar and guessed the wrong way around, but I have learned to shrug my shoulders. On balance, I enjoy the game, despite the anomalies, so would not want to give it up.

The imprecision or vagueness or occasional wild guess in the third section is, for me, part of the charm of the game. It is an entertaining blend of knowledge, logic, and having the Force be with you.

The two word words or phrases were setup and device and the answers were corrective and pendulum

setup means "equipment designed to serve a specific function"
device means "an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose"

Those definitions looks identical to me, just phrased differently. Maybe in future I should answer the same for both definitions when these dubious definitions come up, that way I'd only get one wrong.

Definitions of the answer options: -
corrective means "a device for treating injury or disease"
pendulum means "an apparatus consisting of an object mounted so that it swings freely under the influence of gravity"

Pendulum meets both criteria, but something that is corrective does not have to be a device.

Doesn't have to, but sometimes is.

And that's the way the game works mostly, I find - not on exclusive or narrow definitions, but on relations & connections between words, and usually I rely on the process of elimination. Sometimes frustrating, I agree, but more often than not when I find something difficult, I can see in hindsight how I could have (and should have) seen the connection.





Yes, that's exactly how I feel about it too. It's my favourite game here and I wish it would run more than once a day.

I swore I wouldn't post again here about the sometimes-insane matches, since it's about as effective as beating my head against the wall, but this one is beyond the pale:

-------

juke house is related to marijuana cigarette

You said: dancing

juke house means "a small roadside establishment in the southeastern United States where you can eat and drink and dance to music provided by a jukebox"

marijuana cigarette means "marijuana leaves rolled into a cigarette for smoking"

--------

Knowing that sometimes there might be more to a definition in the database than is displayed, I searched some online dictionaries (especially freedictionary.org, the usual source of these), but I could not find any definition of "juke house" which even mentions "marijuana cigarette". This match strains even the ill-defined boundaries of the third section.

I dug around, and found a reference to synonyms of juke house including juke joint - I reckon that's the connection with marijuana.

Meh. The game was obviously created to aggravate. 'Tis trivial. I'm sure at least none of us have dedicated the OED to memory. I have decided in the past few months that the computer thinks I know too much about "ordinary" words, so I get way too many medical terms.

I have learned a good deal, though: the best thing is that I'm not a hypochondriac. I think. Maybe.

Medical terms are usually good, as they stand out. I got three of them, two that were completely interchangeable, in a recent set, which was rather irritating. But it's the game. I actually really like the strangeness of some of the associations, and the chance to think laterally instead of producing reflex responses. And when I don't get the association in Part 3, it's really fun exploring around to see how it can link.

The worst thing is when you get the name of a drug you recognise because you're taking it - trust me, when the drug has a name long enough to get into Mind Melt you know you're not well.

That's like matching "The White House" with "diagnostics" because of the TV show "House, M.D.".

It would be one thing if the given phrase was "juke joint", but it wasn't. "Dancing" is clearly a better match with "juke house" than "marijuana cigarette".



That would probably put one at a disadvantage in this game...

And that works if 'joint' is used to mean a disreputable place, like 'I walked into the joint'. But this misrepresents the idea and uses a completely different meaning for 'joint' which doesn't work as a match. Neither juke house or juke joint have anything to do with marijuana.

And you know this because...? I have done some of my best dancing after exposure to juke something.

"Sultanate" and "renegade state" were in the third section of the Mind Melt game I played today, and choices to match them up included "country" and "res publica". It appears that either of the first two would fit with either of the last two. Am I missing something here?

Don't quite get it........or maybe I do? I have just scored 27/30.........fair enough, but.............

In definitions I got one wrong........now unless an answer accepts two different definitions given, surely it is impossible to get ONE wrong, because if one is then another must also be wrong?

You can have swapped definitions between three questions.
Or, as I have done on occasion, you may have selected the same answer twice.

Just checked, I've scored 27 twice in the last week.

I've done even worse - I reached a score of 29/30 on several occasions. As Jabberwok pointed out, it's quite easy to select the same answer twice (wittingly or inadvertently).

Yup, done that too.

What's annoying is when I want to change my answer to 1, and I change it to 10 instead.

That misclick giving 29 is especially galling when a Daily Challenge is to get at least 30 out of 30 - that will be the one day in the week when I don't do it.

Best time ever (118) in Mind Melt. 6th overall for the site. 93 melting points. That ain't right. I targeted this month to get a top ten finish. I think it should be an overall score (2764 X 30 for example) that counts toward a monthly badge. I know some people will say "not everybody has the same set of questions". So what? I don't know what group I am lumped into, but even a sub 200 second score will rarely get you into the 25th percentile in the sets I have been competing against. Thoughts?

I have been able to get 3 correct in a really quick time.

negativism is related to quality

negativism means "characterized by habitual skepticism and a tendency to deny or oppose or resist suggestions or commands"
quality means "an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone"

Aren't these opposite in meaning? Or do we say a person's qualities include their lying, cheating and slothfulness. Characteristics or traits, but not qualities.

Qualities need not be positive. The word is sometimes used in that sense, but it need not be at all.

I can't seem to find any websites that use 'quality' as a negative unless they say bad or negative qualities. All the others redirect to 'characteristics' or traits'. The connotation of 'quality' for most people is a positive feature, isn't it?

While saying something has quality, or meets quality standards, with the implication that this is a good thing, is certainly a very common contemporary usage, it is not strictly the meaning of the word. This wikipedia entry gives a bit of a discussion of the philosophical use of the word quality, which is a concept that can be good, bad or neutral. I have several books on my shelf, but no time to locate scholarly discussion online at the moment, since I am at work and taking a short coffee break.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_%28philosophy%29

Quality is merely a measure - good or bad - of conformance to some applicable set of definitions or specifications. It is Madison Avenue that has twisted the meaning to imply the idea of a high standard, one sided connotation. A thing may be a foot wide hunk of gold and covered with diamonds and rubies but it could be low quality if the item was to be a dog. In this case a dead dog would need some engineer's input as to whether it met the prescribed standard or not. If it was intended in final use to be a child's companion it would be poor quality. If it were meant to be a model in a life drawing class, the fact that it doesn't move would make it high quality. Same dog, different measures of quality.
When someone says they bought a quality set of ski boots, they mean that to them the fit, functionality and price were better than other available items of the same sort. Those are internal, personal sets of requirements that have been met to warrant the use of quality as an adjective.
Sloth then is indeed a quality, one that may be undesirable (as in the dog not moving), but a quality none-the-less.

Quality answer, Michael!

Ssabreman, you answered your own question in the very beginning when you acknowledged the concept of "negative quality"! :P

Not really. It needed the adjective to clearly differentiate 'negative' qualities from the other qualities, which are generally positive.

Ah, I have to disagree. I acknowledge that when one says 'quality', the presumption is that it is a positive one, but I don't think prefacing it with 'negative' or a similar term is necessary in order for it to mean a non-positive one.

coppersmith is related to
wigmaker is related to

with options "shaper" and "journeyman".

I'd have said that the coppersmith matches the shaper (after all, a wigmaker rather assembles than shapes), but the game thinks otherwise.

When I think of perukes, I think too much shaping has taken place.

Here's an idea. When two questions/answers are completely interchangeable, allow both answers to be correct.
Today's version of this maddening circumstance:

nabumetone is related to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug

You said: NSAID

nabumetone means "a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (trade name Relafen)"
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug means "an anti-inflammatory drug that does not contain steroids"

ibuprofen is related to NSAID

You said: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug

ibuprofen means "a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine (trade names Advil and Motrin and Nuprin) used to relieve the pain of arthritis and as an analgesic and antipyretic"
NSAID means "an anti-inflammatory drug that does not contain steroids"

Why are ties not given the same amount of melting points within a daily set? You never know what time you have to beat since you never know what set you will be placed into. Same time should equal same daily melting points.

Not really a big deal, just wondering...

Today (April 20, 2013) MM, Quiz 26

Opposites Part

Active and Activeness were both words in the list.

The opposite of antagonistic is active

antagonistic means "opposing or neutralizing or mitigating an effect by contrary action"
active means "producing activity or change"

The opposite of inactivity is activeness

inactivity means "a disposition to remain inactive or inert"
activeness means "the trait of being active"

I answered both with active...I went for the 29 instead of risking getting both wrong.

You would have been safe matching the two adjectives with each other, and the two nouns together.

I've been thinking about this one and can only suggest that "smith" implies a skilled craft that requires an extended apprenticeship whereas wigmaker could include someone working on an assembly line that required training rather than an apprenticeship.

And "maker" fits with "shaper" in the grammatical sense, which is sometimes how these definitions seem to be ordered.

And whilst "shaper" describes metalwork very well, it also pertains to wigs which afterall are useless until they are styled or shaped.

I've done my best to appease the Mind Melt gods here!

Patricia peruses published peruke papers, patiently.

This one was very close.

arthroscopy is related to surgical procedure

arthroscopy means "a minimally invasive operation to repair a damaged joint"
surgical procedure means "a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments"


cryosurgery is related to surgical process

cryosurgery means "the use of extreme cold (usually liquid nitrogen) to destroy unwanted tissue (warts or cataracts or skin cancers)"
surgical process means "a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments"


I guessed right...

integrator is related to measuring device

You said: measuring system

integrator means "a measuring instrument for measuring the area of an irregular plane figure"
measuring device means "instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something"


electrodynamometer is related to measuring system

You said: measuring device

electrodynamometer means "measuring instrument that uses the interaction of the magnetic fields of two coils to measure current or voltage or power"
measuring system means "instrument that shows the extent or amount or quantity or degree of something"

Unfortunately, I didn't guess right

"The opposite of defrayal is evasion "

That's really not true.

Yes, defrayal relates to costs being paid. And tax evasion involved avoiding a payment. But evasion has many meanings, most of which do not involve money being paid. And even in the context of payments, the opposite of evasion is not defrayal. The word defray implies that an outside party is making a payment. The opposite of evading taxes is not defraying taxes.