THE POWER OF SCRABBLE

The power of prayer really works. I found myself praying - to anyone, really - for inspiration for something to stick on this blog to stop it going mouldy, and dear old Tom Joad unwittingly came to the rescue. He has revived his excellent blog Word du Jour - which is a mine of information for etymology freaks - and browsing through it I found this post which I contributed back in January 2010. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

Daphne does Dictionaries

Hasbro’s Scrabble Plus computer game is a goldmine for wordsmiths. Its built-in dictionary encompasses American, Australian, South African and Scots dialect, as well as every technical dictionary known to man, and then some I think it just makes up as it goes along. It does allow you to check if you suspect it of cheating. Every fish (of which there are 25,000 in the world), mammal, rock, archaeological term, dance move, cloud formation, generic drug, mathematical term and paint colour in the WORLD is in the Scrabble dictionary. It’s like playing against Stephen Fry.

The Scrabble Nazi, who always manages to sneak up behind me when I am playing against the computer, rails and rants that abbreviations, initials, exclamations, proper nouns, foreign words, slang or acronyms shouldn’t be allowed. And words he has never heard of. According to the Wikipedia definition: “Acronyms or abbreviations, other than those that have been regularized (such as AWOL, RADAR, and SCUBA), are not allowed. Variant spellings, slang or offensive terms, archaic or obsolete terms, and specialized jargon words are allowed if they meet all other criteria for acceptability.” I’m more sanguine. It’s the computer’s game. I have to learn to play by its rules. But that doesn’t mean it always wins…

Aardvark

AA
If you thought Aardvark was the first word in the dictionary, you now stand corrected. It is Aa. Aa (pronounced with two syllables, like ah-ah) is rough cindery lava found in Hawaii. Hawaii being part of the USA, I guess that means all Hawaiian words are acceptable. Does this apply to Native American languages? Of which there are nearly 300 north of Mexico.

AW
This, apparently, is Scots for “all”. Now I don’t mind common Scots words such as “Bampot” or “Gobshite”, but Hasbro seems to take the view that if it’s in print somewhere, it’s a word, and so every mickle word that Rabbi Burns ever put down on paper is fair game.

AY
Ever. Scots, again.

DOH
A deer, a female deer.

ER
Expression of hesitation.

FE
Means the same as fee, don’t argue, it just is.

GI
I got the SN on this one. He thought it was G.I. (as in American soldier) but I knew it was the Japanese word for karate pajamas (being the Word Geek that I am, I once compiled a list of 50 Japanese words that everyone should know). Which brings us to whether a foreign word in common usage is allowed? Computer says hai karate.

LITE
Now I would have bought this if it had said “sugar-free” as in Coke Lite. But it thinks Lite is the opposite of dark. And to compound matters it adds Liten, Liteness, Litenesses, Litening, and Litely. The SN goes purple and hops about with rage, and it sure ain’t English, but I will use it if I get a chance.

NAH
Expression of denial. See NO, NAW.

PARA
This, it says is an abbreviation of Paratrooper. The SN feels that as an abbreviation it therefore should not be allowed. I detect an increasingly anti military tone to his objections.

Paras is also a word

PARAE
A type of fish. You’ll have to take my word on this one.

RAH
A cheer. As in rah rah rah.

QUOP
I had a Q, an O and a blank, and there was a triple word square and a double letter square lined up over a P. It was too tempting not to chance my arm. Q*OP! 72 points! The most I have EVER scored in Scrabble. The Scrabble dictionary said quop was a verb, meaning to throb or pulsate. It turns out it was ONCE used by James Joyce, in Ulysses: ”His heart quopped.” Now just because James Joyce made up a word, does that make it a real word? In which case we can really have some fun. I would tend to agree with the SN on this one, but 72 points – brillig!

ZO
A Tibetan breed of cattle, also spelled ZHO. Now I would have had this down as a proper noun, but who am I to argue with Deep Thought?

It’s a whole new world of words at Hasbro.