That's a real word! I never thought it would score!

[mcdonna]

Originally Posted by crazykate

But what if they're using their powers for evil? Like finding fault with every filled-out form, misfiling important paperwork to cause weeks and weeks of delays... Like normal bureaucrats, but much worse?

I think those are the SUBSUPERBUREAUCRATS ...

Threads like this convince me that a sense of the absurd contributes to Wordtwist success.

[lalatan]

Originally Posted by crazykate

But what if they're using their powers for evil? Like finding fault with every filled-out form, misfiling important paperwork to cause weeks and weeks of delays... Like normal bureaucrats, but much worse?

lol, kate. An interesting theory. I think we have no need to fear though. Every person with super in their name (Superman/woman/girl/boy) has used their power to help downtrodden, victimized people, e.g. those who stand in lineups in a government office. That said, if we ever encounter Superannoyingman/woman, I think we'd be wise to be wary of them.

Originally Posted by mcdonna

Threads like this convince me that a sense of the absurd contributes to Wordtwist success.

You could be onto something there! However, I feel more research by a government-funded academic is needed.

[crazykate]

I just played GOOGLE and GOOGLES. I didn't really expect them to work, but the game accepted them, even though lexic.us listed it as "word type: trademark".

[lalatan]

I just googled "why does Wordtwist Boggle consider Google a valid word?" but it offered no insight on the matter.

[lalatan]

Today I played 2 words I only vaguely was aware of. In looking for something to pair with -ousness I somehow thought stertorous was a word. STERTOROUSNESS was worth 26 pts and 2 records.
On another I played ACQUITTANCES for 21 pts and 2 records. I thought that was probably the best word available. I seemed to recall QUITTANCE was a word. Played QUITTANCES for 22 pts.

Later today I played 2 boards where I couldn't see a thing. On 1 of them I was fixated on finding a partner for -nesses, ran out of time and wound up with a miserable 48 pts for the board. My best word was OVERABLE for 14 pts. THEN on the very next board I see CONTRACTIBLENESSES in the first 10 seconds.

Such events always leave me in a high state of puzzleheadednesses.

[lalatan]

I ended my day at 1:31 a.m. last night by playing FENCELESSNESSES for 28 pts & 2 records. I fell asleep pondering who would ever use such a word? Polar explorers, people on the Prairies in the 1800's, climbers on mountaintops? I was 1 of the last group and, truthfully, the word or condition never even crossed my mind. While viewing mountains in all directions I never once thought, "Look at all those fencelessnesses!"

[mcdonna]

Originally Posted by lalatan

I ended my day at 1:31 a.m. last night by playing FENCELESSNESSES for 28 pts & 2 records. I fell asleep pondering who would ever use such a word? Polar explorers, people on the Prairies in the 1800's, climbers on mountaintops? I was 1 of the last group and, truthfully, the word or condition never even crossed my mind. While viewing mountains in all directions I never once thought, "Look at all those fencelessnesses!"

Ah, but that's the glory of the -NESSES words. If anyone ever actually used any of them, they would start the slippery slope from Ultra Rare to merely Rare, and would not be worth nearly so many points. We should do everything we can to keep them from sliding into usefulnesses.

[lalatan]

Lol, mcdonna! Too true. Oops, sorry for shooting off my big mouth about it. Hope admin doesn't notice. They don't seem to read the forum though so I don't think they'll penalize us by dropping point values.
I think the best -nesses word I set a record with was EXTEMPORANEOUSNESSES for 40 pts last month. Let's just keep that between us though.
Edit: On further reflection I believe they get their usage stats externally so we should do whatever we can to prevent such words from entering the vernacular as you so adroitly suggested.

[mcdonna]

My lips are sealed!

Today's not-really-a-word find is TECHNOSTRESSES. I stuck the two pieces together just for grins, as I couldn't figure out anything that seemed viable. 26 points and set a new board record!

[crazykate]

Originally Posted by mcdonna

My lips are sealed!

Today's not-really-a-word find is TECHNOSTRESSES. I stuck the two pieces together just for grins, as I couldn't figure out anything that seemed viable. 26 points and set a new board record!

Wow!
While I too try pretty much any word with "nesses", I don't think I'd have tried "technostresses". Some words are truly surprising.