I'm not trying to be like "I have this very unique experience, and that should be everyone's experience", I just genuinely didn't think of styes as this ultra esoteric concept that people only understand in the abstract, i think of it as a relatively common, relatable experience that most people will probably have a few times in their life.

Is that not the case?

I personally had a stye a few months ago, and it was also a topic of conversation last weekend with my sister-in-law who currently had one. So, not infrequently, I guess?

in that case it would be interesting to know how he defines "crosswordese", because I've always understood it to mean "words and concepts that are common in crosswords, and more or less nonexistent in real life", which stye demonstrably is not.

Is that crosswordese? I've definitely used that in casual conversation, and is a thing that is occasionally genuinely relevant to my life unlike, say, ETUI or mel OTT.

are there people who dont do that?