Which is more commonly used in writing? 者 or もん.

For example:

  1. 笑った者勝ち
  2. 笑ったもん勝ち
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2021-10-27T20:31:25.930
90927
2021-10-28T00:54:09.967
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question
kanji quotes
Which is more commonly used in writing? 者 or もん
[BCCWJ](https://bonten.ninjal.ac.jp/bccwj/string_search?commit=%E6%A4%9C%E7%B4%A2&string_search%5Bgenres%5D=PN_core%2CPN%2CPM_core%2CPM%2CPB_core%2CPB%2CLB_core%2CLB%2COW%2COB%2COC_core%2COC%2COY_core%2COY%2COL%2COM%2COP%2COT%2COV&string_search%5Bwords%5D=%E8%80%85%E5%8B%9D%E3%81%A1&string_search%5Byears%5D=1971%2C1972%2C1973%2C1974%2C1975%2C1976%2C1977%2C1978%2C1979%2C1980%2C1981%2C1982%2C1983%2C1984%2C1985%2C1986%2C1987%2C1988%2C1989%2C1990%2C1991%2C1992%2C1993%2C1994%2C1995%2C1996%2C1997%2C1998%2C1999%2C2000%2C2001%2C2002%2C2003%2C2004%2C2005%2C2006%2C2007%2C2008&utf8=%E2%9C%93)
returns: 45 examples for 者勝ち vs 17 examples for both もの勝ち and もん勝ち.

For writing, 者勝ち seems more common as suggested by the corpus, but it could be
only that we type that way (e.g. when I type 早い者勝ち below, it is suggested by
the input method as I typed はやい). Since もん is an easier-to-pronounce version
of 者, it does not exactly make sense to compare them in writing.

My personal impression is that, for more idiomatic phrases like 早い者勝ち, 者 and
もん sounds equally natural, but for less common ones like 笑ったもん勝ち, もん sounds
natural (or smoother) possibly because they are used in written form less
frequently.
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2021-10-28T00:08:17.397
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2021-10-28T00:08:17.397
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answer
In general, もん is highly colloquial, and should be avoided in formal writings.
もん may be fine in casual personal blogs, but it's out of the question in news
articles, Wikipedia articles and such. Even in casual writing, もん sounds a bit
rough, and many people choose to use 人 instead.

However, this ～もん勝ち ("the one who does ～ is the winner") is an exception
because it is an established set phrase. It's fine to say 逃げたもん勝ち ("fleeing is
winning") even in a serious essay. I personally feel もん is more common in this
set phrase, but I may be wrong.
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2021-10-28T00:54:09.967
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answer