In the previous weeks, I published one blog post featuring playable two-letter words that begin with a and a second blog post featuring playable two-letter words that start with b, c, d, and e. Today’ s blog post features playable two-letter words beginning with f, g, h, i, j, k, and l. Learning these two-letter words, as well as the other two-letter words in the alphabet, will enable you to see more options for play and increase the number of points you earn in a single turn.
- fa: a tone on the diatonic scale
- fe: a Hebrew letter
- gi: a white garment worn in martial arts
- go: a Japanese board game
- ha: used to express surprise
- he: a pronoun signifying a male
- hi: an expression of greeting
- hm: used to express consideration
- ho: used to express surprise
- id: the least censored part of the three-part psyche
- if: a possibility
- in: to harvest (a verb, takes -s, -ed, -ing)
- is: the third-person singular present form of “to be”
- it: a neuter pronoun
- jo: a sweetheart
- ka: the spiritual self in ancient Egyptian spirituality
- ki: the vital life force in Chinese spirituality (also qi)
- la: a tone of the diatonic scale
- li: a Chinese unit of distance
- lo: an expression of surprise
Competitive Scrabble
Last week some students asked whether Scrabble is played competitively. It is, and the culture of competitive Scrabble is documented in detail in journalist Stephan Fatsis’ Word Freak (2001). In his author’s note, Fatis outlines what distinguishes casual play from competitive Scrabble:
“A twenty-three-page game book governs everything from how to select tiles properly (the bag containing them must be held at eye level or higher) to what to do if a player needs to to go to the bathroom during a game (a situation that just happens to fall under Rule II P).”
Competitive Scrabble is a also the subject of a documentary film, Word Wars (2004).
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website. Also review the posts on my blog devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.
Jane Lucas 