Ordinarily Wordplay Days are days when we all turn away from our screens, but yesterday I took the opportunity to photograph you as a way of helping us continue to put names with faces. In between the photographs of you and your classmates, I’ve included lists of some first names that are playable in Scrabble (because they are common nouns as well as proper ones). Continue to review these pictures and their captions to learn the names of your classmates, and study the lists of names in between to build your vocabulary.
- Al: a type of East Indian tree
- Alan: a breed of hunting dog (also aland, alant)
- Alec: a herring
- Ana: a collection of miscellany about a specific topic
- Anna: A former Indian coin
- Barbie: a barbecue
- Belle: a pretty woman
- Ben: an inner room
- Benny: an amphetamine pill
- Bertha: a type of wide collar
- Beth: a Hebrew Letter
- Biff: to hit
- Bill: a charge for goods or services
- Billy: a short club
- Bo: a friend
- Bobby: a policeman
- Bonnie: pretty (also bonny)
- Brad: a small nail or tack
- Carl: a peasant or manual laborer (also carle)
- Carol: to sing merrily
- Celeste: a percussive instrument (also celesta)
- Chad: a scrap of paper
- Chevy: to chase (also chivy)
- Christie: a type of turn in skiing (also christy)
- Clarence: an enclosed carriage
- Dagwood: a large stuffed sandwich (named after the comic strip character who was fond of them)
- Daphne: a flowering shrub with poisonous berries
- Davy: a safety lamp
- Deb: a debutante
- Devon: a breed of cattle
- Dexter: located to the right
- Dom: a title given to some Monks
- Don: to put on a piece of clothing
- Donna: an Italian woman of repute
- Erica: a shrub of the heath family
- Fay: to join together closely
- Florence: a former European gold coin
- Franklin: a nonnoble medieval English landowner
- Fritz: a nonworking or semi-functioning state
- Gilbert: a unit of magneto-motive force
- Gilly: to transport on a type of train car
- Graham: whole wheat flour
- Hank: to secure a sail
- Hansel: to give a gift to, usually to commence a new year (also handsel)
- Harry: to harrass
- Henry: a unit of electric inductance
- Herby: full of herbs
- Jack: to hoist with a type of lever
- Jacky: a sailor
- Jake: okay, satisfactory
To learn whether a name is playable in Scrabble, type it in the box on the Scrabble Dictionary page, and click “GO!”
Next Up
For class on Monday, August 30, read “Skim Reading is the New Normal.” Afterward, compose brief reading notes in your journal. Include (1) the title and author, (2) the main points, and (3) any questions or observations you would like to address in class. If you are unfamiliar with any of the terms in the article, look up their meanings and jot those in your journal as well.
Jane Lucas 
Your inventiveness is amazing!
Get Outlook for Android ________________________________
Thank you, Elizabeth! I hope all is well with you.