Test Your Vocabulary

[ahinton]

they do have trams in Manchesterford.

In Manchest, perhaps, but they don't 'ave 'em in 'erford - but then what would you expect in a city wherein it is said by some that the only really consistently successful business is its Cathedral?..

[ahinton]

good news. None of that unseemly queuing at the Post Office for you then.

What's a Post Office?

[Beef Oven]

good news. None of that unseemly queuing at the Post Office for you then.

No, the European Union's competition law has put paid to rural Post Offices. You see, the UK government can't make funds available to keep 'em going. It would be seen as anti-competitive and a firm from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania or Latvia must be protected from 'unfair' UK government subsidy, just in case one of their firms might like to bid for the contract to run a Post Office branch in rural Wales, Scotland or England.

Doncha love the EU

[ardcarp]

Au contraire. Makes me glad I live south of Watford.

[Nick Armstrong]

Au contraire. Makes me glad I live south of Watford.

So do I - I don't see the connection...

[Stillhomewardbound]

I managed 3720 - it's the interplay between speed and accuracy

You're quite right, AM51. I've just got my first 10/10 after many goes and a score of 3700.

I noticed that where I was falling down was being in a rush to get to the next question, so altogether I wasn't giving myself any recovery time. It worked much better when I answered then paused briefly before going on to the next question.

The other difference was being sure to consider each of the four options. Slightly longer, but likely to produce greater accuracy.

Having said all that, my best run happened to feature an index of words very close to my own personal lexicon, if you get my drift, ie.

Antipathy: Dislike (Medium)
Antithesis: Opposite (Medium)
Cognitive: Mental (Easier)
Ebullient: Lively (Harder)
Amicable: Friendly (Medium)
Clout: Influence (Easier)
Coerce: Pressure (Easier)
Benison: Blessing (Hardest)
Efficacy: Effectiveness (Harder)
Affinity: Kinship (Harder)

[ardcarp]

Cognitive: Mental

...as in cognitive illness, cognitive arithmetic or (teenage-speak) going cognitive?

[amateur51]

3860 on a slow 3G mobile phone with slow Internet. I am obviously a genius.

Other explanations are available

Bravo Beefy!

[vinteuil]

... (teenage-speak) going cognitive?

... is that the 'teenage speak' for the Biblical sense of 'having knowledge' of someone? .

[Vile Consort]

No, the European Union's competition law has put paid to rural Post Offices. You see, the UK government can't make funds available to keep 'em going. It would be seen as anti-competitive and a firm from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania or Latvia must be protected from 'unfair' UK government subsidy, just in case one of their firms might like to bid for the contract to run a Post Office branch in rural Wales, Scotland or England.

Doncha love the EU

I think you will find there are other reasons why post offices aren't surviving. For example:

* Pensions and benefits being paid into bank accounts
* Email taking over from postage
* Being able to do online many things that used to necessitate a visit to a post office (or in some cases, a bank) such as paying bills, getting a tax disc
* Stamps being sold in outlets other than post offices

I't be hard pressed to say when I last set foot in a post office. It must be some years now. So it's also arguable that they are going the same way as hat shops, and for the same reason.

[ardcarp]

* Email taking over from postage

Until someone invents an app that will de-materialise objects and reassemble them in other parts of the planet, sending (for instance) Christmas presents to New Zealand is quite tricky without a Post Office. (But I get a feeling that someone is going to tell us how to do it.) Whatever, think on the social function of a village post office, and think how important La Poste is in any French town...still an organ of the state, I think.

[Vile Consort]

What social function? Oh, you mean the postmaster is a nosey so-and-so who wants to know all sorts of things about me that I am not prepared to tell him? I told him to mind his own business because I didn't want him gossiping about me like he was gossiping to the customer ahead of me.

[teamsaint]

Not being reliant on the internet to do everything is a good social reason IMO.

[Anna]

Leaving post offices aside for the moment (and I do use mine, admittedly only for sending packages) I wonder if there is an English version of a vocabulary quiz? I've just done it again and scored 4080 but, if someone stopped me in the street and asked me to define 'Impudent' I would not reply 'Sassy', not would I define 'Catatonic' as 'Emotionless'

[teamsaint]

Leaving post offices aside for the moment (and I do use mine, admittedly only for sending packages) I wonder if there is an English version of a vocabulary quiz? I've just done it again and scored 4080 but, if someone stopped me in the street and asked me to define 'Impudent' I would not reply 'Sassy', not would I define 'Catatonic' as 'Emotionless'

I agree that some of the answers are dubious.
Especially the ones I got wrong............../Incorrect/false/immoral/mistaken/injustice/evil/error/iniquity/improper/injure/harm etc !!