Is contacting a word

Contact is a word-guessing game for three or more players.

In Contact, one person (the «wordmaster» or «target word person») thinks of a word (the «target word»), and the objective of the other players is to guess that target word, one letter at a time, by giving clues hard enough to stump the wordmaster but easy enough that another player can «make contact» with the clue. Some amount of cooperation is needed among the other players, because a guess must be seconded by another player (by stating «Contact!») in order to be «challenged» by the wordmaster.

Rules

Play begins when one person chooses a target word (generally restricted to improper nouns), and announces the first letter. Other players then think of words that begin with that letter, and one may propose a clue for a not-yet-guessed such word (the «guess word» or «clued word»). Several versions of Contact exist, differing in the characteristics of these clues:

• In the most common version of Contact, a clue can comprise any actions, words, or sounds that all players can hear and (if necessary) see.
• In another version, the clue must ask whether the target word has certain characteristics.
• In another version, the clue must be a definition for the clued word.

The wordmaster then attempts to identify the clued word. If the wordmaster thinks of a word that satisfies the clue, the wordmaster will say «It’s not [guessed word],» and a new clue must be given. There are variations how closely the wordmaster’s guesses must satisfy the clue:

• The wordmaster must think of the clued word. The protection against vague clues is that another player must get the same word.
• The wordmaster can give any word that fits the clue.

These versions are actually equivalent, since if the clue-giver in the second version wishes, he can repeat his clue until the wordmaster guesses the clued word or gives up. Given their functional equivalence, the first version is more common since it does not require frequent repetition of «I repeat my clue.»

Simultaneously, all other players attempt to identify («make contact with») the clued word, and any players who think they know the clued word can say «Contact!» If the wordmaster cannot identify the clued word (indicated by saying «challenge») and at least one «Contact!» occurs, the «contacted» guessers (including the initiator) simultaneously say their words. The wordmaster must say the next letter of his word if, depending on the version:

• At least one of the contacted guessers says the same word as the initiator.
• All of the contacted guessers say the same word as the initiator (although this discourages multiple contacts).
• A majority of the contacted guessers say the same word as the initiator.
• At least two respondents say the same word.

If the target word is ever said by any player, the players win and the game is over. The wordmaster cannot win. The player who first guesses the target word usually becomes the wordmaster for the next round.

Other variations include:

• Once at least one player has made contact, the wordmaster may be limited to a fixed number of guesses, usually three.
• Once at least one player has made contact, the wordmaster may be limited to a fixed time, usually one minute.
• The players may be limited to a fixed number of clues, usually twenty. The wordmaster wins if the players do not guess the target word by this time.
• The players may be limited to a fixed number of clues, usually ten, per letter given by the wordmaster. The wordmaster wins if the players do not earn another letter of the target word by this time.
• For each «contact» beyond the first that is correct when the wordmaster cannot identify the guess, an additional letter in the target word is given. No letters are given if multiple contacts are offered and they are not all the same, even if at least one is correct.

Play continues in this fashion until the target word is completely revealed or said by anyone playing.

Example

Beginning of the game and the wordmaster correctly identifies a guessed word

• The wordmaster chooses a target word of «elephant» and announces to the players the first letter is «e»
• The first player mentally guesses the target word to be «eskimo,» and checks it against the wordmaster by asking «Do I live in an igloo?»
• The wordmaster correctly respond to the guess by saying «It’s not an eskimo»
• Play continues with the next player making a guess

Beginning of the game and the wordmaster incorrectly identifies a guessed word

• The wordmaster chooses a target word of «elephant» and announces to the players the first letter is «e»
• The first player mentally guesses the target word to be «eskimo,» and checks it against the wordmaster by asking «Do I live in an igloo?»
• The wordmaster either:
  • Incorrectly responds to the guess by saying something like «It’s not an emu» (or any word beginning with «e» that is not eskimo)
  • Fails to respond
• Any player besides the one that initiated this round may say «contact» to signify she believes she knows the guessed word (that may occur anytime after the round has begun)
• The initiating player and any that made contact (depending on rule variations) simultaneously announce their guessed words
• If they successfully make contact, the wordmaster reveals the second letter of the target word to be «l»
• Play continues with players making guesses using words that begin with «el»

See also

• I spy — simpler variant.

контакт, связь, связи, связывающий, контактный, связаться, соприкасаться

существительное ↓

прилагательное ↓

глагол ↓

наречие ↓

Словосочетания

come into contact with a terrorist group — войти в контакт с террористической группировкой  
in direct contact with the voters — посредством прямого контакта с избирателями  
to come into contact with smth. — дотрагиваться до чего-л.  
contact lenses — контактные линзы  
to face up a contact — зачищать контакт  
to firm a contact — установить контакт  
to get in contact with smb. — связаться [наладить контакт] с кем-л.  
high contact — тесное касание  
flight visual contact — визуальный контакт в полете  
radar contact — радиолокационный контакт  
ohmic contact — омический контакт  
point contact — точечный контакт  

Примеры с переводом

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

Возможные однокоренные слова

contactor  — контактор, замыкатель
contacts  — контакт, связь, связи, соприкосновение, связаться, соприкасаться, прикасаться

Формы слова

verb
I/you/we/they: contact
he/she/it: contacts
ing ф. (present participle): contacting
2-я ф. (past tense): contacted
3-я ф. (past participle): contacted

noun
ед. ч.(singular): contact
мн. ч.(plural): contacts

Change is an inevitable thing in a living language; even the peeves that cling to it, lamprey-like, will alter over time. The grumbles, whinges, and peeves surrounding your grandparents’ English are often different than those encountered today. For evidence of this shift we need look no further than the feelings that people for much of the 20th century had for the word contact, when it was used as a verb meaning «to call or write to (someone or something).»

Don’t contact anyone: get in touch with him, call him, write him, find him, tell him.
-Sheridan Baker, The Complete Stylist, 1966

As a transitive verb, the word is vague and self-important. Do not contact people; get in touch with them, look them up, phone them, find them, or meet them.
-William Strunk and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, Fourth ed., 2000

These are rather mild condemnations of the word, and fail to properly show the extent to which contact bothered people. Some people took exception to its being used as a verb, while others accepted its verbness, but thought that it should only be used in an intransitive role (meaning it would have no direct object).
Rex Stout, the mid-century mystery novelist, had his famous protagonist, Nero Wolfe, convey a deep and abiding sense of displeasure with people who use contact as a verb of any kind.

“I went out to Richdale and made inquiries. I contacted a young woman—as you know, I am especially effective with young women—“
“Contact is not a verb and I said be brief.”
“Yes, sir. The last time you told me that I looked it up in the dictionary and I certainly don’t want to contradict you but it says contact is a verb. Transitive or intransitive.”
“Contact is not a verb under this roof.”
-Rex Stout, Black Orchids, 1942

I should have warned them that the use of “contact” as a verb was not permitted in that office. Now Wolfe would have it in for him.
-Rex Stout, And Be a Villain, 1948

“About a month ago I put ads in the New York papers, and I contacted the New York police, and—What’s the matter?” “Nothing. Go on.”
It was not nothing. Wolfe had made a face … One man who had made “contact” a verb in that office had paid an extra thousand bucks for the privilege, though he hadn’t known it.”
-Rex Stout, Might as Well be Dead, 1956

Nero Wolfe’s strong feelings on this matter notwithstanding, contact is obviously a verb, and well-nigh everyone today uses it as one. In fact, it appears to have begun being used as a verb not long after people began using it as a noun; both parts of speech originated in the 17th century. For a long time most people had no issue with how either one was used, but in the early 20th century the use of contact as a transitive verb became common in North America, particularly in business-speak, and soon people were waxing apoplectic about it.

In terms of pure splenetic inventiveness, there have been few complaints that have matched the one by F. W. Lienau, an executive at Western Union, articulated in a memo sent to his staff: “Somewhere there cumbers this fair earth with his loathsome presence a man who, for the common good, should have been destroyed in early childhood. He is the originator of the hideous vulgarism of using contact as a verb. So long as we can meet, get in touch with, make the acquaintance of, be introduced to, call on, interview or talk to people, there can be no apology for contact.” We may all of us have some issues with the way the English language is progressing, but few of us have the requisite peevishness and poetry to begin our complaints with a line such as “somewhere there cumbers this fair earth with his loathsome presence….”

One of the initial reports on this memo came from the New York weekly review The Commonweal, which approvingly wrote “We are all for Mr. Lienau. He sounds like the man to deal with certain other things that afflict us: with ‘name’naddress,’ for example, which is all but universal; with people who ‘meet up with’ someone; with styles that ‘slenderize’…»

By the late 20th century there was a general acceptance of the transitive contact, even among those who thought the language was made poorer by its addition. The second edition of the Harpers Dictionary of Contemporary English Usage, published in 1985, wrote “When contact first appeared as a verb meaning “to get in touch with” or “to go see,” connoisseurs of language were horrified by it … Usage has outlived the scorn of purists and contact is deemed acceptable by several dictionaries as a colloquial verb.” They took pains to note that “’colloquial’ means that it is acceptable for conversation and informal writing but not for formal papers and speeches,” before moving on to ask their in-house panel of linguistic arbiters how they felt about the matter.

Several of them felt just fine with contacting others. But Heywood Broun replied “I do not use business jargon.” Edwin Newman wrote “No, I did at one time but not since I learned better.” Most of the panelists appeared to have accepted the usage, albeit with feelings of misgiving. George Cornish wrote “I would not say ‘Let’s contact him,’ but I no longer quarrel with those who do.” And Walt Kelly sighed in with “I suppose that, having admitted the camel’s nose, we might as well admit the whole camel, but it makes for a messy tent.”

The noise surrounding this odd controversy has died down to barely a murmur (we don’t even get online complaints left in the comments about this use). Yet just in case some of you have heard that this is the sort of thing that one should avoid, you needn’t worry; you may use contact as any sort of verb you want. The usage note crafted by our editors for this sense provides an admirably succinct take on the matter: “The use of contact as a verb, especially in sense 2b, is accepted as standard by almost all commentators except those who write college handbooks.»