Subject: bin/4305: [dM] boggle uses very incomplete wordlist
To: None <gnats-bugs@gnats.netbsd.org>
From: der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
List: netbsd-bugs
Date: 10/20/1997 11:09:53
>Number:         4305
>Category:       bin
>Synopsis:       [dM] boggle uses very incomplete wordlist
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    bin-bug-people (Utility Bug People)
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Mon Oct 20 08:20:03 1997
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     der Mouse
>Organization:
	Dis-
>Release:        -current (1997-10-20)
>Environment:
	Any (noticed on a SPARC SLC)
>Description:
	/usr/games/boggle uses a dictionary built from (the source-tree
	copy of) /usr/share/dict/web2.  This would not be a problem,
	except that web2 omits many words that do belong to the
	language, most notably inflected forms.  A short list of words
	boggle doesn't accept that I found playing a few games (this
	is, obviously, just a tiny sample of the problem):

	aids	cees	cranes	dines	pets	shit	slanted
	anted	craned	cues	gets	raids	slan

	cees and slan may be dubious, but the rest certainly ought to
	have been accepted.  (Except for shit and slan, they are also
	all inflected forms of words that _are_ listed.)
>How-To-Repeat:
	Run boggle with a board that includes one or more of the above
	words, type the words, and notice that boggle refuses them.
>Fix:
	Unsure.  I see no easy fix; given what web2 is, I don't think
	boggle should use it.  But I also see no easy way to get a
	complete list of words including inflected forms for boggle.
	Perhaps the correct fix is just to put a note in the BUGS
	section of the manpage warning that the dictionary NetBSD
	installs for boggle's use is defective in this respect.

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
		     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: