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(=== Collins (SOWPODS) in North America: How many more words are there, and what would I need to learn? === Technically, of course, you don’t need to learn anything! In practice, of course, the) |
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| − | This page describes which '''[[Collins]]'''-only '''words''' are | + | This page describes which '''[[Collins]]'''-only '''words''' are '''important''' for an [[OTCWL|OWL2]] player to learn, and is part of our introduction to [[SOWPODS|Collins (SOWPODS) in North America]]. |
| − | '''important''' for | ||
| − | [[SOWPODS|Collins (SOWPODS) in North America]]. | ||
== How many more words are there, and what would I need to learn? == | == How many more words are there, and what would I need to learn? == | ||
| − | Technically, of course, you don’t need to learn anything! | + | Technically, of course, you don’t need to learn anything! (All OWL2 words remain valid.) |
In practice, of course, there are some useful basic words to start with. | In practice, of course, there are some useful basic words to start with. | ||
| − | Because CSW contains all the | + | Because CSW contains all the OWL2 words, you can continue to play the same game, and anything that was good in OWL2 remains good. And because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds of words that are the most useful to study in OWL2 are also the best to study in CSW. Thus the player who has studied the 2s, 3s, JQXZ words, some 4s, high probability bingos, etc., can continue to use the same methods for CSW. |
| − | the same game, and anything that was good in | ||
| − | because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds | ||
| − | of words that are the most useful to study in | ||
| − | to study in CSW. Thus the player who has studied the 2s, 3s, JQXZ | ||
| − | words, some 4s, high probability bingos, etc., can continue to use | ||
| − | the same methods for CSW. | ||
| − | So how many words are there? In total, the | + | So how many words are there? In total, the OWL2 contains 178,691 words. CSW, meanwhile, contains 267,750. About half of these are 9–15 letters, and while some 9s can be useful, the vast majority (about 98%) of the gain is with the 2–8s. OWL contains 83,667 of these, while CSW has 30,908 more. This means that, for approximately every 3 OWL2 words, there is an extra CSW word. |
| − | words. CSW, meanwhile, contains 267,750. About half of these are | ||
| − | 9–15 letters, and while some 9s can be useful, the vast majority | ||
| − | (about 98%) of the gain is with the 2–8s. | ||
| − | these, while CSW has 30,908 more. This means that, for approximately | ||
| − | every 3 | ||
| − | However, it is likely that you didn’t start out playing | + | However, it is likely that you didn’t start out playing OWL with the intention of learning 178,691 words. Likewise, you can play a good CSW game without needing anything like the extra 30,908 2–8s that are actually present. In fact, you can play a decent game with just the 2s and 3s. Sounds unlikely? Well, the thing to remember of course is that 'every word you know from OWL2 is still valid'! So, as we have already seen that three quarters of the words are OWL2, you are already three quarters of the way there. And in many cases, even more than this, because there will be a choice of moves, many of which will be OWL2. |
| − | with the intention of learning 178,691 words. Likewise, you can | ||
| − | play a good CSW game without needing anything like the extra 30,908 | ||
| − | 2–8s that are actually present. In fact, you can play a decent game | ||
| − | with just the 2s and 3s. Sounds unlikely? Well, the thing to remember | ||
| − | of course is that 'every word you know from | ||
| − | So, as we have already seen that three quarters of the words are | ||
| − | |||
| − | cases, even more than this, because there will be a choice of moves. | ||
| − | So, what should you actually study? | + | So, what should you actually study? Here are some lists. In some cases we’ve presented just the most useful words from a list, but you can see the full list by following the link in the heading. |
| − | cases we’ve presented just the most useful words from a list, | ||
| − | but you can see the full list by following the link in the heading. | ||
| − | == | + | == Two-letter words == |
Start with the 2s. There are 23 of these: | Start with the 2s. There are 23 of these: | ||
| Line 45: | Line 22: | ||
NY OB OO OU PO ST TE UG UR YU ZO | NY OB OO OU PO ST TE UG UR YU ZO | ||
| − | While that’s not too many, you probably won’t remember | + | While that’s not too many, you probably won’t remember them all straightaway (I’ve played in the [[WSC|Worlds]], and I certainly didn’t remember the 2s in one sitting!) They’ll just become a natural part of the game over time. |
| − | them all straightaway (I’ve played in the [[WSC|Worlds]], and I | ||
| − | certainly didn’t remember the 2s in one sitting!) They’ll | ||
| − | just become a natural part of the game over time. | ||
== [[Three-letter words]] == | == [[Three-letter words]] == | ||
| Line 54: | Line 28: | ||
Following the 2s, there are 277 3s. The most useful 3s are: | Following the 2s, there are 277 3s. The most useful 3s are: | ||
| − | EXO AIA WOX ZEX REZ BEZ WOF WAI OOF ZHO | + | EXO AIA WOX ZEX REZ BEZ WOF WAI OOF ZHO |
| − | JAI ZEA JIZ TIX AUA RIZ HOX DZO ZEL FAW | + | JAI ZEA JIZ TIX AUA RIZ HOX DZO ZEL FAW |
| − | IWI WEX YEX OYE NOX AUE UEY TEX LUZ AYU | + | IWI WEX YEX OYE NOX AUE UEY TEX LUZ AYU |
| − | Obviously, like in | + | Obviously, like in OWL2, you don’t have to be 100% on all the 3s before continuing! While ZIZ may come in handy some day, the chances are, various 4s and bingos will come up first. |
| − | 3s before continuing! While ZIZ may come in handy some day, the | ||
| − | chances are, various 4s and bingos will come up first. | ||
| − | The next most useful words are the same as in | + | The next most useful words are the same as in OWL2: short words with many vowels, high-scorers with J, Q, X and Z, some of the most useful 4s and 5s (words which are likely to be much better than other moves if you have those tiles, such as FAUVE), high probability bingos, dump-words such as 4s with 2 Is, and, of course, words with Q but no U. |
| − | many vowels, high-scorers with J, Q, X and Z, some of the most | ||
| − | useful 4s and 5s (words which are likely to be much better than | ||
| − | other moves if you have those tiles, such as FAUVE | ||
| − | probability bingos, dump-words such as 4s with 2 Is, and, of course, | ||
| − | words with Q but no U. | ||
== [[Vowel dumps]] == | == [[Vowel dumps]] == | ||
| − | + | 2s: EA EE IO OO OU | |
| − | + | 3s: AIA AUA AUE | |
| − | + | 4s: EUOI HIOI VIAE HUIA EVOE EOAN ONIE UVAE EINE MOAI ... | |
| − | + | 5s: AIDOI AINEE AULOI OUIJA ZOAEA ZOOEA | |
| − | + | 6s: EUOUAE ZOAEAE ZOOEAE | |
| − | + | 7s: ETAERIO AIERIES OLEARIA EATERIE EUGARIE EQUINIA DOULEIA | |
| − | + | AURELIA MOINEAU DIANOIA ... | |
| + | 8s: ERIONITE AEROTONE ETAERIOS AEGIRINE DOUANIER TAENIATE | ||
| + | AEGIRITE AURELIAN INAURATE OLEARIAS ... | ||
== [[Short JQXZ words]] == | == [[Short JQXZ words]] == | ||
| − | + | J: JA | |
| − | + | JAI JIZ JOR JAP JUD ... | |
| − | + | JEDI JUVE BENJ JEAT JIRD ... | |
| − | + | OUIJA JEWIE JAXIE EEJIT JIRRE ... | |
| + | Q: WAQF QUEP QUOP QUAT QUIM | ||
| + | NIQAB QORMA TALAQ QIBLA QUOIF ... | ||
| + | X: EXO WEX WOX YEX ZEX ... | ||
| + | GREX FAIX WEXE DIXI LANX ... | ||
| + | VITEX JAXIE XOANA VIBEX WUXIA ... | ||
| + | Z: ZO | ||
| + | ZEA JIZ ZEX REZ BEZ ... | ||
| + | ZITE ZATI TREZ ZILA ZOOT ... | ||
| + | ZOAEA ZOOEA GRENZ AVIZE WAREZ ... | ||
== [[High-playability bingos]] == | == [[High-playability bingos]] == | ||
| − | + | 7s: ETAERIO OTARINE EROTISE AIERIES ORIGANE OTARIES SEALINE | |
| − | + | OLEARIA RIOTISE OARIEST ... | |
| + | 8s: ERIONITE AEROTONE ETAERIOS AEGIRINE DENTARIA DOUANIER | ||
| + | TAENIATE LITERATO AEGIRITE AURELIAN ... | ||
== [[I and U dumps]] == | == [[I and U dumps]] == | ||
| − | DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI MIHI HIOI WILI SIMI PIPI SIRI ISIT | + | I: DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI MIHI HIOI WILI SIMI PIPI SIRI ISIT |
| − | PUDU WUDU HUHU KUKU PUKU KUTU KUZU PULU ZULU RURU SUSU UTUS YUZU | + | U: PUDU WUDU HUHU KUKU PUKU KUTU KUZU PULU ZULU RURU SUSU |
| + | UTUS YUZU | ||
== [[Q-not-followed-by-U words]] == | == [[Q-not-followed-by-U words]] == | ||
| Line 111: | Line 92: | ||
The basics above are more than enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide you enjoy it, and wish to go further. | The basics above are more than enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide you enjoy it, and wish to go further. | ||
| − | The major downside to going further is that it can be difficult to | + | The major downside to going further is that it can be difficult to keep the two lexica separate. Although remembering which of the words you now know are “new” (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long) is not too bad, remembering a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same thing, especially over a period of time. Those CSW words may come back to haunt you a few months down the line! |
| − | keep the two lexica separate. Although remembering which of the | ||
| − | words you now know are “new” (think back to the last dictionary | ||
| − | update, if you have been playing that long) is not too bad, remembering | ||
| − | a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same | ||
| − | thing, especially over a period of time. Those CSW words may come | ||
| − | back to haunt you a few months down the line! | ||
| − | But nevertheless, some people have high [[CSW | + | But nevertheless, some people have high [[CSW ratings|ratings]] at both OWL2 and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite quickly. |
| − | both | ||
| − | quickly. | ||
| − | Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top | + | Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top 1% of the words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning 25% of all the words. So, for the 2-8s, learning the top 300 from CSW is effectively learning one quarter of all the words newly allowed by that lexicon. This top 25% (or any other fraction) can be accessed by playability in Zyzzyva. |
| − | words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning | ||
| − | all the words. So learning the top | ||
| − | learning | ||
| − | playability in Zyzzyva. | ||
==Collins Cheat Sheet== | ==Collins Cheat Sheet== | ||
| Line 133: | Line 102: | ||
I have incorporated the above into a [[Cheat Sheet]], that is | I have incorporated the above into a [[Cheat Sheet]], that is | ||
designed to be used by new-to, or occasional player of, CSW. It | designed to be used by new-to, or occasional player of, CSW. It | ||
| − | resembles the NSA’s “Important Words to Raise Your Score” sheet | + | resembles the NSA’s “Important Words to Raise Your Score” sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words. It is planned to make the sheet available for download from this wiki. |
| − | that was given to new members, except that it concentrates | ||
| − | words. | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
There is also a Cheat Sheet Part 2, which contains a useful array of the hooks to CSW 2s, and the full set of CSW 4s. | There is also a Cheat Sheet Part 2, which contains a useful array of the hooks to CSW 2s, and the full set of CSW 4s. | ||
| − | + | The full set of extra CSW words is available via <a href="http://www.lulu.com/product/hardcover/bobs-color-british-bible-2007-hardcover-%28sowpods%29/5345269">Bob’s British Bible</a>. | |
==Zyzzyva== | ==Zyzzyva== | ||
| − | Finally, while the lists above are | + | Finally, while the lists above are useful, is there any word study software for CSW? The current best answer is the same as for OWL2: [[Zyzzyva]]. This can easily be set up to supply the regular set of OWL2 words, and, in addition, the CSW words. The latter can be marked with a # sign to distinguish them, and searches can be conducted so that only the CSW words are returned, or, if you want to leave them, the CSW words can be suppressed. One can also, for example, require the correct lexicon as part of a quiz answer. |
| − | software for CSW? | ||
| − | [[Zyzzyva]]. This can easily be set | ||
| − | up to supply the regular set of | ||
| − | CSW words. The latter can be marked with a # sign to distinguish | ||
| − | them, and searches can be conducted so that only the CSW words are | ||
| − | returned, or, if you want to leave them, the CSW words can be | ||
| − | suppressed. | ||
| − | To set Zyzzyva up with CSW, go to Zyzzyva→Preferences, select | + | To set Zyzzyva up with CSW, go to Zyzzyva→Preferences, select “General’ in the left navigation bar in the resulting pop-up window, check the box “Load Lexicons’ if it is not checked, and click on Edit. In the “Select Lexicons’ window, click the toggle button in the leftmost column (“Default”) that is next to CSW. The button one to the right should then be checked, but grayed out. Then, check the box in the second column (“Load”) next to “OWL2+LWL”. Do |
| − | “General’ in the left navigation bar in the resulting pop-up window, | + | <i>not</i> check any of the other boxes, which should all be empty. Finally, click OK. The program may need to rebuild the database, which will take a few minutes. The settings as given are telling Zyzzyva to be CSW by default, but to remember which words are CSW-only, i.e., still good in OWL2. You can get at just OWL2 by requiring “In Lexicon’ OWL2 when searching, or ignoring the words with a # mark. |
| − | check the box “Load Lexicons’ if it is not checked, and click on | ||
| − | Edit. In the “Select Lexicons’ window, click the toggle button in | ||
| − | the leftmost column (“Default”) that is next to CSW. The button one | ||
| − | to the right should then be checked, but grayed out. Then, check | ||
| − | the box in the second column (“Load”) next to “OWL2+LWL”. Do | ||
| − | <i>not</i> check any of the other boxes, which should all be empty. | ||
| − | Finally, click OK. The program may need to rebuild the database, | ||
| − | which will take a few minutes. The settings as given are telling | ||
| − | Zyzzyva to be CSW by default, but to remember which words are | ||
| − | CSW-only, i.e., still good in | ||
| − | requiring “In Lexicon’ | ||
| − | with a # mark. | ||
If the CSW words are not already marked by a #, go to Zyzzyva→Preferences, click on “Word Tables’ on the nav-bar, and edit accordingly. | If the CSW words are not already marked by a #, go to Zyzzyva→Preferences, click on “Word Tables’ on the nav-bar, and edit accordingly. | ||
| − | If this fails (I haven’t run through it myself, because my | + | If this fails (I haven’t run through it myself, because my copy is already set to CSW), or you need more information, please check out the [http://www.zyzzyva.net Zyzzyva site], |
| − | copy is already set to CSW), or you need more information, please | + | or the Yahoo Groups [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zyzzyva-users zyzzyva-users] email list. |
| − | check out the [http://www.zyzzyva.net Zyzzyva site], | ||
| − | or the Yahoo Groups | ||
| − | [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zyzzyva-users zyzzyva-users] email | ||
| − | list | ||
Comments concerning this page may be directed to [[Nick Ball]]. | Comments concerning this page may be directed to [[Nick Ball]]. | ||
This page describes which Collins-only words are important for an OWL2 player to learn, and is part of our introduction to Collins (SOWPODS) in North America.
Technically, of course, you don’t need to learn anything! (All OWL2 words remain valid.)
In practice, of course, there are some useful basic words to start with.
Because CSW contains all the OWL2 words, you can continue to play the same game, and anything that was good in OWL2 remains good. And because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds of words that are the most useful to study in OWL2 are also the best to study in CSW. Thus the player who has studied the 2s, 3s, JQXZ words, some 4s, high probability bingos, etc., can continue to use the same methods for CSW.
So how many words are there? In total, the OWL2 contains 178,691 words. CSW, meanwhile, contains 267,750. About half of these are 9–15 letters, and while some 9s can be useful, the vast majority (about 98%) of the gain is with the 2–8s. OWL contains 83,667 of these, while CSW has 30,908 more. This means that, for approximately every 3 OWL2 words, there is an extra CSW word.
However, it is likely that you didn’t start out playing OWL with the intention of learning 178,691 words. Likewise, you can play a good CSW game without needing anything like the extra 30,908 2–8s that are actually present. In fact, you can play a decent game with just the 2s and 3s. Sounds unlikely? Well, the thing to remember of course is that 'every word you know from OWL2 is still valid'! So, as we have already seen that three quarters of the words are OWL2, you are already three quarters of the way there. And in many cases, even more than this, because there will be a choice of moves, many of which will be OWL2.
So, what should you actually study? Here are some lists. In some cases we’ve presented just the most useful words from a list, but you can see the full list by following the link in the heading.
Start with the 2s. There are 23 of these:
CH DA DI EA EE FY GI GU IO JA KO KY NY OB OO OU PO ST TE UG UR YU ZO
While that’s not too many, you probably won’t remember them all straightaway (I’ve played in the Worlds, and I certainly didn’t remember the 2s in one sitting!) They’ll just become a natural part of the game over time.
Following the 2s, there are 277 3s. The most useful 3s are:
EXO AIA WOX ZEX REZ BEZ WOF WAI OOF ZHO JAI ZEA JIZ TIX AUA RIZ HOX DZO ZEL FAW IWI WEX YEX OYE NOX AUE UEY TEX LUZ AYU
Obviously, like in OWL2, you don’t have to be 100% on all the 3s before continuing! While ZIZ may come in handy some day, the chances are, various 4s and bingos will come up first.
The next most useful words are the same as in OWL2: short words with many vowels, high-scorers with J, Q, X and Z, some of the most useful 4s and 5s (words which are likely to be much better than other moves if you have those tiles, such as FAUVE), high probability bingos, dump-words such as 4s with 2 Is, and, of course, words with Q but no U.
2s: EA EE IO OO OU
3s: AIA AUA AUE
4s: EUOI HIOI VIAE HUIA EVOE EOAN ONIE UVAE EINE MOAI ...
5s: AIDOI AINEE AULOI OUIJA ZOAEA ZOOEA
6s: EUOUAE ZOAEAE ZOOEAE
7s: ETAERIO AIERIES OLEARIA EATERIE EUGARIE EQUINIA DOULEIA
AURELIA MOINEAU DIANOIA ...
8s: ERIONITE AEROTONE ETAERIOS AEGIRINE DOUANIER TAENIATE
AEGIRITE AURELIAN INAURATE OLEARIAS ...
J: JA
JAI JIZ JOR JAP JUD ...
JEDI JUVE BENJ JEAT JIRD ...
OUIJA JEWIE JAXIE EEJIT JIRRE ...
Q: WAQF QUEP QUOP QUAT QUIM
NIQAB QORMA TALAQ QIBLA QUOIF ...
X: EXO WEX WOX YEX ZEX ...
GREX FAIX WEXE DIXI LANX ...
VITEX JAXIE XOANA VIBEX WUXIA ...
Z: ZO
ZEA JIZ ZEX REZ BEZ ...
ZITE ZATI TREZ ZILA ZOOT ...
ZOAEA ZOOEA GRENZ AVIZE WAREZ ...
7s: ETAERIO OTARINE EROTISE AIERIES ORIGANE OTARIES SEALINE
OLEARIA RIOTISE OARIEST ...
8s: ERIONITE AEROTONE ETAERIOS AEGIRINE DENTARIA DOUANIER
TAENIATE LITERATO AEGIRITE AURELIAN ...
I: DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI MIHI HIOI WILI SIMI PIPI SIRI ISIT
U: PUDU WUDU HUHU KUKU PUKU KUTU KUZU PULU ZULU RURU SUSU
UTUS YUZU
INQILAB -s QASIDA -s TALAQ -s
MUQADDAM -s QAWWAL -s TSADDIQ -s
NIQAB -s QAWWALI -s TSADDIQIM
QABALISM -s QIBLA -s TZADDIQ -s
QABALIST -s QIGONG -s TZADDIQIM
QABALISTIC QINGHAOSU -s WAQF -s
QAIMAQAM -s QORMA -s YAQONA -s
QALAMDAN -s QWERTIES
The basics above are more than enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide you enjoy it, and wish to go further.
The major downside to going further is that it can be difficult to keep the two lexica separate. Although remembering which of the words you now know are “new” (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long) is not too bad, remembering a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same thing, especially over a period of time. Those CSW words may come back to haunt you a few months down the line!
But nevertheless, some people have high ratings at both OWL2 and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite quickly.
Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top 1% of the words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning 25% of all the words. So, for the 2-8s, learning the top 300 from CSW is effectively learning one quarter of all the words newly allowed by that lexicon. This top 25% (or any other fraction) can be accessed by playability in Zyzzyva.
I have incorporated the above into a Cheat Sheet, that is designed to be used by new-to, or occasional player of, CSW. It resembles the NSA’s “Important Words to Raise Your Score” sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words. It is planned to make the sheet available for download from this wiki.
There is also a Cheat Sheet Part 2, which contains a useful array of the hooks to CSW 2s, and the full set of CSW 4s.
The full set of extra CSW words is available via Bob’s British Bible.
Finally, while the lists above are useful, is there any word study software for CSW? The current best answer is the same as for OWL2: Zyzzyva. This can easily be set up to supply the regular set of OWL2 words, and, in addition, the CSW words. The latter can be marked with a # sign to distinguish them, and searches can be conducted so that only the CSW words are returned, or, if you want to leave them, the CSW words can be suppressed. One can also, for example, require the correct lexicon as part of a quiz answer.
To set Zyzzyva up with CSW, go to Zyzzyva→Preferences, select “General’ in the left navigation bar in the resulting pop-up window, check the box “Load Lexicons’ if it is not checked, and click on Edit. In the “Select Lexicons’ window, click the toggle button in the leftmost column (“Default”) that is next to CSW. The button one to the right should then be checked, but grayed out. Then, check the box in the second column (“Load”) next to “OWL2+LWL”. Do not check any of the other boxes, which should all be empty. Finally, click OK. The program may need to rebuild the database, which will take a few minutes. The settings as given are telling Zyzzyva to be CSW by default, but to remember which words are CSW-only, i.e., still good in OWL2. You can get at just OWL2 by requiring “In Lexicon’ OWL2 when searching, or ignoring the words with a # mark.
If the CSW words are not already marked by a #, go to Zyzzyva→Preferences, click on “Word Tables’ on the nav-bar, and edit accordingly.
If this fails (I haven’t run through it myself, because my copy is already set to CSW), or you need more information, please check out the Zyzzyva site, or the Yahoo Groups zyzzyva-users email list.
Comments concerning this page may be directed to Nick Ball.
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