Pre-Game Talk: Scoreless - Correct or Not?

[Blueline Bomber]

I don't know if anyone caught the throwaway line by Mike last night, but apparently some fans have been giving it to him for calling a 0-0 game "scoreless." And I, like probably many of you, initially thought "Well, that's dumb. Of course it's scoreless."

But then I thought about it a little deeper. If a game is 0-0, and it ends 0-0, then the final score of that game is 0-0. Which would indicate that the game had a score from the second it began, and thus, couldn't be called "scoreless."

And if you're like me, you immediately countered that with "No, it's 'scoreless' because no one has scored a goal." Which made sense, until I thought about it a little more. In that context, "score" is acting as the verb, not the noun. So it's technically "goalless", not "scoreless." If something doesn't have a soul, you don't say it's "have less", you say it's "soulless."

And then I thought, well, if a game always has a score from the second it begins, even if the score is 0-0, when is "scoreless" correct to use? And the only example I could come up with was if the game uses points instead of goals. Because while it's still technically incorrect to call a game "scoreless" if it uses points, because points would be the noun, calling a game "pointless" could easily be confusing given the other connotation.

So I decided to do another pointless thing and put my thoughts here to gather the thoughts of others on this board.

 

[Tryamw]

I don't know if anyone caught the throwaway line by Mike last night, but apparently some fans have been giving it to him for calling a 0-0 game "scoreless." And I, like probably many of you, initially thought "Well, that's dumb. Of course it's scoreless."

But then I thought about it a little deeper. If a game is 0-0, and it ends 0-0, then the final score of that game is 0-0. Which would indicate that the game had a score from the second it began, and thus, couldn't be called "scoreless."

And if you're like me, you immediately countered that with "No, it's 'scoreless' because no one has scored a goal." Which made sense, until I thought about it a little more. In that context, "score" is acting as the verb, not the noun. So it's technically "goalless", not "scoreless." If something doesn't have a soul, you don't say it's "have less", you say it's "soulless."

And then I thought, well, if a game always has a score from the second it begins, even if the score is 0-0, when is "scoreless" correct to use? And the only example I could come up with was if the game uses points instead of goals. Because while it's still technically incorrect to call a game "scoreless" if it uses points, because points would be the noun, calling a game "pointless" could easily be confusing given the other connotation.

So I decided to do another pointless thing and put my thoughts here to gather the thoughts of others on this board.

Truly you have a dizzying intellect

 

[Derailed75]

Scoreless is the score of a game without scores

 

[MrazeksVengeance]

LESS TALK, MORE VENGEANCE.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Scoreless is the score of a game without scores

So you're saying like a game of hide and seek, UNO, or Monopoly would be considered "scoreless."

Yeah, I can see that. It's a bit weird to say "We're in the middle of a scoreless game of UNO", since no one would expect a score in such a game, but I guess it would be technically correct to call it scoreless.

 

[HisIceness]

Los Angeles Kings vs. Carolina Hurricanes Box Score: March 15, 2003 | Hockey-Reference.com

Get the latest box score updates on the Los Angeles Kings vs. Carolina Hurricanes game played on March 15, 2003 on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

Sorry I couldn't help but add this, I was at this game and it was one of the last 0-0 games in league history.

Oh and to keep on topic I voted scoreless

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Los Angeles Kings vs. Carolina Hurricanes Box Score: March 15, 2003 | Hockey-Reference.com

Get the latest box score updates on the Los Angeles Kings vs. Carolina Hurricanes game played on March 15, 2003 on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

Sorry I couldn't help but add this, I was at this game and it was one of the last 0-0 games in league history.

Oh and to keep on topic I voted scoreless

Why? Even your link is saying there's a score to that game. Thus, it can't be scoreless.

 

[HisIceness]

Why? Even your link is saying there's a score to that game. Thus, it can't be scoreless.

I saw no scoring this night, not even in the stands. Therefore scoreless.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Truly you have a dizzying intellect

Wait till he gets going!

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

0-0 is scoreless.

Through every medium I’ve ever heard him broadcast or discuss things, Mike loves harping on dumb, super-minority opinions and crushing them in order to make himself sound smarter for having the “correct” opinion when in fact it’s the opinion held by like 95% of people.

Before you know it, he’s gonna get on his high horse about the people in the crowd who yell “shoot” all the time. And I’m gonna be like “you know Mike I never really thought about it before, but you’re right, those people are a bit silly!”

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Hmmm... looking a bit more into it, it seems like the adjective suffix -less, while most commonly used on nouns to indicate "without" (such as headless, jobless, priceless, etc), can on rare occasions be used with verbs to indicate "failure or inability to perform or be performed" (such as tireless, harmless and yes, scoreless)

Got my English lesson for today

 

[Derailed75]

Hmmm... looking a bit more into it, it seems like the adjective suffix -less, while most commonly used on nouns to indicate "without" (such as headless, jobless, priceless, etc), can on rare occasions be used with verbs to indicate "failure or inability to perform or be performed" (such as tireless, harmless and yes, scoreless)

Got my English lesson for today

In the same respect as the thread it self. Score can be a noun, "whats the score of the game" or verb " he just scored"

 

[Blueline Bomber]

In the same respect as the thread it self. Score can be a noun, "whats the score of the game" or verb " he just scored"

True, but I had assumed -less could only be correctly used with nouns, and therefore calling the game scoreless, or without a score, would be incorrect, since the game did have a score. Using score as a verb with the adjective suffix -less didn't make sense. But apparently in rare cases, -less can also be used with a verb, therefore making "scoreless", or inability or failure to score, correct.

 

[mikeyfan]

Would 0 be considered a point? If not then scoreless would be correct. If 0 is considered a point, then scoreless would be wrong. I myself don't believe 0 is a point, so to me to say a game is scoreless is correct. How, often do we hear the phrase "no score"? Such as at then end of the 1st period there is no score.

 

[LakeLivin]

My take: the teams are scoreless. Before it starts, the game is scoreless, but once it begins the game has a score (0-0).

edit: Proud to be the lone contrary opinion up to this point!

 

[Porvari]

"Scoreless draw" is starting to sound like an awesome kōan.

 

[Joe McGrath]

f***ing Gen Z

 

[Blueline Bomber]

f***ing Gen Z

I don't keep up with the terminology, but I believe I'm what's typically called a Millennial, not Gen Z

 

[Derailed75]

My take: the teams are scoreless. Before it starts, the game is scoreless, but once it begins the game has a score (0-0).

edit: Proud to be the lone contrary opinion up to this point!

You are not alone I said earlier the score of a scoreless game is 0-0 both a score and scoreless at the same time

 

[Lempo]

So you're saying like a game of hide and seek, UNO, or Monopoly would be considered "scoreless."

Yeah, I can see that. It's a bit weird to say "We're in the middle of a scoreless game of UNO", since no one would expect a score in such a game, but I guess it would be technically correct to call it scoreless.

Ahem.

"Once a player has no cards remaining, the game round is over, points are scored, and the game begins over again. Normally, everyone tries to be the first one to achieve 500 points, but you can also choose whatever points number to win the game, as long as everyone agrees to it."

Scoring and Winning: When a player no longer has any cards and the game ends, he/she receives points. All opponents’ cards are given to the winner and points are counted. This also applies even if the last card is an Action card, such as a Draw Two or a Wild Draw Four – The next player must draw the required cards which will then be tallied up. The first player to attain 500 points is the winner.

The scoring for the cards is as follows:

• Numbered cards (0-9) – Face value
• Draw Two/Skip/Reverse – 20 points each
• Wild/Wild Draw Four – 50 points each
• Wild Swap Hands/Wild Customizable cards – 40 points each

Original Uno Rules

The rules of the original Uno game, including the other versions of Uno. All about Uno the card game here.

www.unorules.com

This is the level of uneasiness I feel due to the scorn for your poor poor example:

 

[DaveG]

Wait till he gets going!

if there are no scorers, the game is scoreless, simple as that

also I poisoned both cups

 

[AD Skinner]

That means you must have studied and in studying you must have learned that man is scoreless

 

[MinJaBen]

If this thread continues, I am going to have to take some iocane powder and put it in my beer.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

f***ing Gen Z

A bunch of nerds who would know about not scoring.

 

[Joe McGrath]

I don't keep up with the terminology, but I believe I'm what's typically called a Millennial, not Gen Z

I’m referring to the people who brought it up to begin with to Mike, I assume.