Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/freerice-guilt-free-addiction

Comment #1898

2008-04-11T18:20:02Z

Thanks, Stephan. Must be my evil twin.

Comment #1897

2008-04-11T16:13:48Z

Why are all your latest comments signed SursumCorsda?

Comment #1896

2008-04-09T11:18:04Z

I notice that they have changed their algorithm for the better -- now when I miss a word it is likely to come up again soon, reinforcing the correct definition.

Comment #1895

2008-02-25T11:05:26Z

Today I succeeded at a word because of the Hippo CDs! (Kendo)

Comment #1894

2008-02-22T18:05:17Z

Hehe. In that case, I probably shouldn't have told you about GeoBee either. :)

Comment #1893

2008-02-22T05:02:18Z

You shouldn't have said that. I stopped as soon as I reached level 50 because I figured there was nothing more left to achieve.

Comment #1892

2008-02-21T13:35:04Z

Two weeks surrounded by foreign tongues must have been good to me -- I achieved Level 52, and I had previously thought it stopped at 50. (I didn't stay there long, but I take my victories where I find them.)

Comment #1891

2008-01-29T16:46:53Z

I finally got around to playing. It's pretty challenging alright! I got clerihew at one point, and welkin too. All the words related to French or German are easy, but I struggle with the Anglo-Celtic stuff.

Comment #1890

2008-01-25T03:46:16Z

Collywobbles was a question in the free-rice game. (and we got the answer correct)

Comment #1889

2008-01-21T12:04:00Z

Welkin! I just got welkin. :)

Where did Jonathan learn "collywobbles"? The only time I've seen that word used is in Miss Read's Thrush Green books (which I highly recommend), where "Dotty's Collywobbles" is a local ailment caused by partaking of foods prepared by a much-beloved but eccentric old lady.

Comment #1888

2008-01-21T09:31:08Z

Congratulations! That's awesome. I'd know many more history dates if there were a similar program for them. :) I like the Saxon/Pimsleur way they combine introducing new words with bringing back old ones for reinforcement.

Comment #1887

2008-01-21T09:26:55Z

Over 10,000 grains of rice, level 46, and a definite addict.

Comment #1886

2008-01-19T21:58:51Z

And the best I've done is 42 and that was at the beginning. I've since hit 40 a number of times, and I know, I really should be in bed, but can I use the excuse that I have to study English because I'm living in a foreign country?

Comment #1885

2008-01-19T21:57:11Z

Yes, it is addictive. I've donated 4,000 grains of rice and I find it interesting how many words I've learned in the past year. I find it amazing that I can guess at the words related to French just from the exposure to it. I also find it amusing that I got "basilisk" and "gamut" one after the other. I know the one from Basel, and the other from medieval music.

I appreciate that the answers aren't meant to trick you like the SAT's. Of course, I might find SAT questions easier now, too, but somehow in this game I find it's more designed to help you learn than to show you how stupid you are.

Comment #1884

2008-01-17T02:46:17Z

Thanks Stephan - I hadn't seen that before.

Jonathan and I worked on the free rice thing - he got a couple that I didn't know. Jonathan says:

"Oh my collywobbles, oh my funnies".

Comment #1883

2008-01-16T22:36:01Z

Great, Peter! Thanks to your link, I know that I've been pronouncing it wrong. Gooey-Duck, not Geo-Duck.

Stephan, I found "gweduck" as an alternate spelling, slightly better for pronunciation. But then how would they tell the tourists from the locals? Like the Bostonians, who can discern by the pronunciation of Quincy. It's Quin-zee, not Quin-see. I never knew till I lived there. I loved the spelling poem. As far as I know, English spelling is so mixed up because English unabashedly steals words from any language it comes in contact with. :)

Note that I've amended the post to include a picture of my great uncle going digging for geoducks. There's a picture somewhere with an actual clam, but I can't find it.

Comment #1882

2008-01-16T19:54:24Z

That makes me want to launch into another lengthy complaint on the absurdities of English spelling. I don't mind not knowing the names of shellfish off the northwestern coast of another continent, but if whoever came up with the name had at least had the common courtesy to spell it in a more reasonable fashion, I'd have been much obliged. But then, English spelling is a lost battle.

Comment #1881

2008-01-16T15:15:05Z

Oops! Low 40's, not low 50's!

Comment #1880

2008-01-16T14:55:11Z

Being from Seattle, I can't resist this opportunity to break out into THE GEODUCK SONG!

Chorus:

Dig a duck, dig a duck,  

Dig a gooey duck  

Dig a duck, dig a gooey duck  

Dig a duck a day

You can hear the digger say

As he’s headed for the bay

I gotta dig a duck, gotta dig a duck a day

Cause I get a buck a duck

If I dig a duck a day

So I gotta dig a duck,

Gotta dig a duck a day

They walk across the sand

About a half a mile from land

To dig a gooey duck

You dig him up by hand

But it isn’t much trouble

And you don’t use a shovel

You find a gooey duck

By looking for the bubble

It take a lot of luck

And a certain kind of pluck

To dig around the muck

To get a gooey duck

Cause he doesn’t have a front

And he doesn’t have a back

And he doesn’t know Donald

And he doesn’t go, "Quack!"

Follow this link for sheet music:

http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiGOOEYDUK;ttGOOEYDUK.html

p.s. I played the rice game a while back, too. It's pretty fun.

Comment #1879

2008-01-16T14:05:56Z

Geoduck! That is funny.

I gave the game a brief try last week, but quickly saw it could eat up the time I had and decided to put it on hold. I think I was in the low 50's, but got sent back after a few wrong answers.