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Friday Fun Thread for July 12, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Anyone know of a list of words by their population-level familiarity? For instance, % Americans who know what a rollercoaster is, a snowshoe, a thermos.

@self_made_human had a great idea. The paper from which those two lists (words many women, but few men know, and vice versa), also compares words specific to the UK and to the US. Databases which you are after are available as the "supplementary material" on the page of the paper and at https://osf.io/g4xrt/.

Neat.

Apparently the least known word is stotinka, the cent-analogue for the lev (the currency of Bulgaria). The first one I knew was the tenth least known, witenagemot. Helps to have played Crusader Kings I guess.

I guess that's where Rowling conjured up the Wizengamot from.

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