A couple issues came up last night during game play...
First, a challenge was issued (the problem of the challenge system
shall be addressed later) for the word "Hammock" for letter H category
"Product Names". The argument ensued that this should be a 'brand
name' based on the idea that firstly, the word "hammock" isn't a name,
and "product" refers to brands.
My justification was very simple, mainly, 'name' is used to refer to
any word that designates a person, place, thing or idea, or group of
any of the aforementioned, and product, among other things, refers to
something produced.
See definitions of both words here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/product
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/name
Further, no where in the formal definition of "product" does the word
(or even idea) of Brand appear. On the contrary, it stresses the
primary definition of "product" to be something that is produced via
some process.
For good measure, the definition of Brand is here:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/brand
The second issue, is just a grander issue with the nature of the
rules. Since the outcome of a challenge is simply determined by
majority rule, this can be easily abused. Whether the additional
political dynamic this sets up is intentional by the game creators is
ambiguous at best, and frustrating at worst, especially when playing
with a group whose linguistic prowess is questionable.
The second point is more of a comment, but I would be interested in
feedback on the "Hammock" case.
THANKS!
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