# Quick, what's the word I'm looking for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 7, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076 "2010-01-07T21:41:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/1 "2010-01-07T21:41:44Z")
If you have a song and you’ve listened to it 4 times you’d say that the song had four playings? listens? ??? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/2 "2010-01-07T21:45:59Z")
Plays, surely? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/3 "2010-01-07T21:47:42Z")
repetitions recitations airings ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/4 "2010-01-07T22:00:45Z")
Outings? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/5 "2010-01-07T22:07:36Z")
Thanks, I think ‘plays’ will work fine. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/6 "2010-01-07T22:12:13Z")
Plays or playthroughs. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/7 "2010-01-07T22:39:55Z")
Personally, I’d say I had played it or listened to it four times. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/8 "2010-01-07T22:45:54Z")
Yes, but they’re not asking for a verb to describe the action, but rather a noun to describe the occurence. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/9 "2010-01-07T22:50:58Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Yes, but they’re not asking for a verb to describe the action, but rather a noun to describe the occurence. Agreed. But the OP asked what “you’d say.” ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/10 "2010-01-08T00:38:58Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Plays, surely? Yes, but saying “the song had four plays” might have unfortunate connotations! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/11 "2010-01-08T00:47:18Z")
“Spins” for all the hipsters. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/12 "2010-01-08T01:15:15Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > “Spins” for all the hipsters. I never knew I was a hipster until just now. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/13 "2010-01-08T01:42:15Z")
“Hearings”? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/14 "2010-01-08T02:10:38Z")
I used it in the following way: The exact time it takes to drive from home to daycare equates to that of back-to-back-to-back pre-schooler requested (nay, demanded) plays of the Beatles ‘Yellow Submarine’. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/15 "2010-01-08T02:19:56Z")
If you’re listening to the radio and they play the same song four times in the time you’re listening, the song has “had four plays.” If you are a music critic and you are writing about how many times you played the song for the review, you would say you “gave it four listens.” It is somewhat colloquial but appropriate in that context. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/16 "2010-01-08T02:29:06Z")
> [@HongKongFooey](#): > > I never knew I was a hipster until just now. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? 😕 It can go either way. There’s being hip, and then there’s going over the top. As long as you’re in the former camp, you’re good. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/17 "2010-01-08T06:21:07Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I used it in the following way: > > The exact time it takes to drive from home to daycare equates to that of back-to-back-to-back pre-schooler requested (nay, demanded) plays of the Beatles ‘Yellow Submarine’. Did you correct the punctuation? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/18 "2010-01-08T07:58:53Z")
“Playings” might be more accurate than “plays,” though it sounds strange. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/19 "2010-01-08T12:21:30Z")
I think you could use “renditions” even though the principle value of using that word is to carry an implication that each play was subtly different (as, for instance if it had been a live performance or four different recordings instead of the exact same digital recording). ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-whats-the-word-im-looking-for/524076/20 "2010-01-08T15:43:43Z")
If it’s the same recording, I definitely would \*\*not \*\*use _renditions_.