From http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hammock


hammock2
[ham-uh k]
Spell Syllables
noun
1.
hummock (def 1).
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2017.


Yes, I know neither Random House or dictionary.com are the dictionaries used for Mind Melt or Word Wizard. But it does show that hammock is a variant spelling of hummock. Since we all know by now that a hummock is a small hill and since Word Wizard and Mind Melt love those variant spellings, we now have to think of hammock as a small hill too.

So you might hang your hammock on the hammmock. Such nonsense seems great.

Because dictionaries record how language is used, rather than how someone has decreed that it should be used, new words and variants are added regularly. I suspect that some of these become widespread shares uses of someone's original error - especially once that has been posted online, and starts to be seen and cited by others who aren't familiar with the traditional uses and/or spellings of the word/s involved. So now more and more people are calling a small hill a hammock. I wonder if they take a nap in their hummock?

I expect moles do.

Can something be done about the Mind Melt question that matches up "transsexual" with "unusual person" in the Relationships portion?

squint-eye is related to individual



squint-eye means "a person with strabismus"
individual means "a human being"

Every squint-eye is an individual, but not every individual is a squint-eye.

These two sets of opposites appeared in Mind Melt today. I know that I'm too stupid to see the difference so allocated them incorrectly. Could someone please explain?


The opposite of come along is regress

You said: devolve

come along means "develop in a positive way"
regress means "get worse"
The opposite of inevitable is avertible

--------
The opposite of recover is devolve

You said: regress

recover means "get over an illness or shock"
devolve means "grow worse"

Flavorer and Flavoring...same definitions but "wrong"

Flavorer and flavoring have exactly word-for-word the same meanings in set 20 of today's Mind Meld according to the answer explanation/definition  but were counted as wrong when used interchangeably??  Why?  Result was 2 responses showing incorrect?
So how does one tell which one to Use?

I got this right, simply because I had exhausted all other possibilities, but honestly, under what stretch of the imagination can "red hot" relate to "sandwich"? Even the definition of it meaning a frankfurter served hot on a bun is drawing a long bow.

It seems to be reaching the 'seven degrees of separation' level.



red hot is related to sandwich

red hot means "a frankfurter served hot on a bun"
sandwich means "two (or more) slices of bread with a filling between them"

The link is the bread and the bun. Very tenuous, but it is often a three-step or even four-step link in part 3. I would never have made the link from red hot to a hot dog, but now that I think of it, I have certainly heard the shout of "Get your red hots right here" at sporting venues. So once you go red hot > hot dog > something in a bun > something in some other kind of bread, you're there. Simple, really.

it is a bit of a dated term and it may be primarily confined to the U.S. but I have heard hot dogs/frankfurters called red hots before.

I associate it with baseball concession food, as in "Get ya red hots heeeer!" but again, it may not have been heard regularly since the 1940s...

I agree it is ridiculous,especially since it is both regional and archaic, not to mention the shakiness of calling a hot dog a sandwich, but I am just saying, I don't think this one rates more than a 7 out of 10 on the Mind Melt "Are you kidding me?!?!" scale of absurdity

More recent than that - I would have heard it around Boston and/or Philadelphia in the 1960s. Since I moved to Australia in 1973, I have no idea whether it is still current or not.

The red hots might refer to the spicy, sauced onions that are often served with dirty water dogs.

Mira Jane, I'm learning a whole new food vocabulary here! "Dirty water dogs"? Wha'?

Being an Aussie, I've certainly never heard of Red hots.

But with regard to some of the ways Mind Melt associations are made, you might as well define a chair as a dog. They both have 4 legs. In fact, that might be a closer association than red hot to sandwich.

I take it all back - Once again, I'm in love with Mind Melt. Today's offering has changed my mind.

gruntle is related to tranquillise

gruntle means "cause to be more favorably inclined"
tranquillise means "make calm or still"

I have often heard of 'disgruntled', but our family members thought 'gruntled' was a private jokey way of describing contentment. Not so private, it seems. :-)

fortissimo is a direction in music
You said: a direction in music

pianissimo is a direction in music
You said: a direction in music

Charming. Can you extend the definitions beyond the semi-colon (visible only when the 'correct' answers are shown) on these so it's answerable and not a coinflip.

Hmmm, I notice in the last three days, in the third section, I have had a pair of words that should the exact same definition. I know it is 50/50 but I only get 50/50 about 10% of the time. Frustrating when you get ones like that where there is no difference in the definitions. Example: Fouldard and Textile, both woven fabrics!!

Hi!

I'm currently trying for the 24 Hours of Humanities mini badge, but when I check back to check my progress, I get the message 'You have scored 990 points playing kids quizzes in the past 24 hours.'

It's not a big deal, I know, but is slightly confusing to a bear of very little brain, such as myself!



Oops! Wrong thread...*blush*

A few Joli Llamas have also reported having almost all of their selections for Part 1 just disappear after they submitted the quiz. That part showed up as blank, not right or wrong, just blank. I cannot provide set details, but the dates when it happened were May 12 and again May 17.

There's a misspelling in one of the definitions in Part 3 of today's Mind Melt.

One of the words used is 'hysertia' which clearly should be 'hysteria'.

These options appeared in Mind Melt today, almost impossible to determine the correct answers in advance?:

tracklayer is related to manual laborer

You said: laborer

tracklayer means "a workman who lays and repairs railroad tracks"
manual laborer means "someone who works with their hands"


hodman is related to laborer

You said: manual laborer

hodman means "a laborer who carries supplies to masons or bricklayers"
laborer means "someone who works with their hands"

Caregiver is related to a professional person
Firefighter is related to guardian

Not one person got perfect score due to this tiny error.

I needed 29 to get my daily. ;(