alt Hacker NewsPerhaps the unusual outcomes are just more memorable, and so seem more frequent? Here's a representative sample of 30 that were used very recently.
Shoal, Hasty, Lobby, Vogue, Gunky,
Sheep, Theft, Linen, Slime, Fluke,
Hydra, Dizzy, Lance, Shred, Buyer,
Attic, Guava, Awake, Stank, Hoist,
Mogul, Squad, Roost, Skull, Bloom,
Mooch, Surge, Vegan, Scene, Cello,
If I had to guess at a riskier 20%... Guava, a fruit some people may not have had; Gunky because it's slang; Mogul, Vogue, and Mooch were borrowed from other languages; Cello is something people may have heard more than read; Hoist.
> Perhaps the unusual outcomes are just more memorable, and so seem more frequent?
That's a good point and could very well be true. I just know I've played plenty of games where I was mad that they didn't show the meaning. So let's say its 5% for native speakers, and up to 20% for non-native speakers - that's still a golden opportunity to expand vocabularies. And honestly it can't be a lot of work to add a couple lines of static text. At worst it would be ignored, and at most, help people learn more interesting words.