The March 13 Scrabble list featured toponyms (place names and words derived from places) in the first half of the alphabet. Today’s post includes a list of toponyms in the second half. These proper nouns are playable in Scrabble because they’re also common nouns. Studying them offers you additional opportunities to broaden your vocabulary and up your game.

• oxford: a type of shoe, also known as a bal or balmoral
• panama: a type of wide-brimmed hat
• paris: a type of plant found in Europe and Asia that produces a lone, poisonous berry
• roman: a romance written in meter
• scot: an assessed tax
• scotch: to put an end to; or to etch or scratch (as in hopscotch)
• sherpa: a soft fabric used for linings
• siamese: a water pipe providing a connection for two hoses
• swiss: a sheer, cotton fabric
• texas: a tall structure on a steamboat containing the pilothouse
• toledo: a type of sword known for its fine craftsmanship, originally from Toledo
• wale: to injure, to create welts on the skin
• warsaw: a type of grouper fish
• waterloo: a definitive defeat
• zaire: a currency of Zaire

Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website or the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder page, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.

The first Scrabble post of the semester featured first names that are also common nouns, making them playable in Scrabble. Today’s post includes place names and words derived from places, or toponyms–more proper nouns that are playable in Scrabble because they’re also common nouns. Studying these words offers you additional opportunities to broaden your vocabulary and up your game.

• afghan: a wool blanket
• alamo: a cottonwood poplar tree
• alaska: a heavy fabric
• berlin: a type of carriage
• bermudas: a variety of knee-length, wide-legged shorts
• bohemia: a community of unconventional, usually artistic, people
• bolivia: a soft fabric
• bordeaux: a wine from the Bordeaux region
• boston: a card game similar to whist
• brazil: a type of tree found in Brazil used to make instrument bows (also brasil)
• brit: a non-adult herring
• cayman: a type of crocodile, also known as a spectacled crocodile (also caiman)
• celt: a type of axe used during the New Stone Age
• chile: a spicy pepper (also chili)
• colorado: used to describe cigars of medium strength and color
• congo: an eellike amphibian
• cyprus: a thin fabric
• dutch: referring to each person paying for him or herself
• egyptian: a sans serif typeface
• english: to cause a ball to spin
• french: to slice food thinly
• gambia: a flowering plant known as cat’s claw (also gambier, which is a small town in Ohio)
• geneva: gin, or a liquor like gin
• genoa: a type of jib (a triangular sail), also known as a jenny, first used by a Swedish sailor in Genoa
• german: also known as the german cotillon, an elaborate nineteenth-century dance
• greek: something not understood
• guinea: a type of British coin minted from 1663 to 1813
• holland: a linen fabric
• japan: to gloss with black lacquer
• java: coffee
• jordan: a chamber pot
• kashmir: cashmere
• mecca: a destination for many people

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What a Bonus a Z Makes

Because they knew that da (a father) and od (a hypothetical force) were playable words, the members of one of last Friday’s teams played dozers (ones who doze) in the upper right corner for a triple-word score. Because the z was played on the double-letter square, the team earned a total of eighty-four points for dozers (seventy-eight), da (three), and od (three).

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Kudos

Six students took advantage of last Friday’s bonus assignment and posted comments on their classmates’ analyses.

• Nick Beeker
• Aidan Berlin
• Jermaine Cain
• Sofia Marin
• Izzie McLawhorn
• Dylan Virga

Kudos to Nick, Aidan, Jermaine, Sofia, Izzie, and Dylan. You can view their comments on the March 6 blog post.

Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, or the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder page, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.

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Coming Soon

In class on Monday, we will read and analyze “Strawberry Spring,” a short story by Stephen King. In preparation for our study, read the author’s page on his website.

Knowing words with multiple vowels proves useful when you’re faced with a rack of mostly, or all, vowels. Here’s a list of the first twenty-two playable four-letter words with three vowels:

• aeon: a long period of time (also eon)
• agee: to one side (also ajee)
• agio: a surcharge applied when exchanging currency
• ague: a sickness associated with malaria
• ajee: to one side (also agee)
• akee: a tropical tree
• alae: wings (pl. of ala)
• alee: on the side shielded from wind
• amia: a freshwater fish
• amoa: a kind of small buffalo
• awee: a little while
• eaux: waters (pl. of eau)
• eide: distinctive appearances of things (pl. of eidos)
• emeu: an emu
• etui: an ornamental case
• euro: an Australian marsupial, also known as wallaroo, for being like the kangaroo and the wallaby; also a unified currency of much of Europe
• ilea: the terminal portions of small intestines (pl. of ileum)
• ilia: pelvic bones (pl. of ilium)
• jiao: a Chinese currency (also chiao)
• luau: a large Hawaiian feast
• meou: to meow
• moue: a pouting expression

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, or Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder page, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.

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Happy Spring Break!

After spring break, we will examine the student analysis “Wait Means Never,” which I distributed in class on February 18, and “The Strange Fruit of Sosnowiec,” my model analysis of a page of Art Spiegelman’s graphic memoir Maus, which I will distribute in class on March 2

Before class on Monday, March 2, read and annotate “Wait Means Never,” and study the page of Maus posted in the readings folder on Blackboard. As you examine the page, note in your journal what elements of the page you would address if you were writing an analysis of it.

If you were absent on February 18 or misplaced your copy of “Wait Means Never,” download a copy from Blackboard.

In the previous weeks, Scrabble blog posts have featured playable two-letter words that begin with a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, and l. Today’s post features the playable two-letter words beginning with m, n, o, and p. 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.

M, by the way, is the most versatile consonant. In the first position, m pairs with every vowel: ma, me, mi, mo, mu, and also my. In the second position, m pairs with every vowel except i: am, em, om, um.

• ma: a mother
• me: a singular objective pronoun
• mi: a tone of the diatonic scale
• mm: an expression of assent
• mo: a moment
• mu: a Greek letter
• my: a first-person possessive adjective
• na: no, not
• ne: born with the name of (also nee)
• no: a negative answer
• nu: a Greek letter
• od: a hypothetical force
• oe: a whirlwind off the Faero Islands
• of: originating from
• oh: an exclamation of surprise
• oi: an expression of dismay (also oy)
• om: a sound used as a mantra
• on: the batsman’s side in cricket
• op: a style of abstract art dealing with optics
• or: the heraldic color gold
• os: a bone
• ow: used to express pain
• ox: a clumsy person
• oy: an expression of dismay (also oi)
• pa: a father
• pe: a Hebrew letter
• pi: a Greek letter

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Scrabble Zzz’s

Although there is no set time limit for making a play in non-competitive Scrabble, be mindful that making fewer than fifteen-to-twenty plays in a seventy-minute class period (minus five minutes for your break) indicates that at least one of the two teams is spending an inordinate amount of time deliberating. Each play deserves careful consideration, but excessive pondering makes the game tedious and can also give your opponents an edge. The more time you spend determining what to play, the more time your opponents have to study the board–and possibly find a higher-scoring play than the one they had initially planned.

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, or the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder page, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble.

Coming Soon

For Monday, read these short sections of Writing Analytically: “Focus on Individual Words and Sentences” (48-49) and “Words Matter” (49-50). Those word-focused readings serve as a prelude to Monday’s in-class writing assignment and the analytical writing you will produce for your second major paper assignment.

In class on Monday, you will read a designated classmate’s literacy narrative on his or her blog, and compose a response that you will submit as a comment on the writer’s post. Bring your laptop to class, and also be sure to bring Writing Analytically and your journal with your completed exercise on “Amanda Petrusich on Katy Grannan’s Photograph of Taylor Swift” or an assigned reading of your choice. Do not remove the exercise from your journal before class. I will not collect the assignment; I may simply conduct a check for it while you and your classmates are working on your blog exercise.

Previously, I published a blog post featuring playable two-letter words beginning with a, as well as a blog post featuring playable two-letter words beginning with b, 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 may 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

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Notes on Last Friday’s Games

Review the games and commentaries below, and make note of the dos and don’ts.

Non-English Words and Proper Nouns

The game featured above includes a non-playable Spanish word, que, and a non-playable proper noun, the name Reid. As a rule, non-English words are not playable in English Scrabble unless they are commonly used in the English language, such as foods with origins in other countries. Do not assume that a non-English word is playable because other words that appear to be non-English are playable. For example, si is playable but not as the Spanish affirmative, which has an accent mark. Si has another meaning in English, which will be included in a later two-letter Scrabble list.

If you aren’t sure whether a proper noun, such as Reid, is also a common noun, you and your teammate will have to determine whether you are willing to take a chance on it.

S, as in Save and Strategy

In the first four plays of the game featured above, the teams played three of the four s‘s. S is a valuable letter to save for strategic use, rather than waste on low-point words, such as shed (eight) and shop (eleven). Only the play of the third s was judicious because it earned its players thirty-three points.

Although the two blanks have a point value of zero, they are the most valuable letters in the game. Second to the blanks in value are the four s‘s, worth one point each. The high value of blanks and s’s, despite their low-point value, lies in their versatility.

Less is More

The game pictured above illustrates the benefits of playing two-letter words to increase the number of points earned in a single play. In ten turns, the two teams played a total of eight two-letter words:

• ae (horizontal)
• ae (vertical)
• eh
• er
• lo
• ox
• ti

Ae, eh, and er are among the words defined in previous posts with two-letter word lists. Lo appears in today’s list, and ox and ti will be included in later lists.

Notably, the two teams that played the game pictured above, with a total of eight two-letter words played in ten turns, achieved higher scores than the other eight teams. Kudos to Zach Dick, Ewan Paterson, and Dylan Virga.

Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, or the Merriam-Webster Scrabble Word Finder page, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble.

Coming Soon

On Monday, we will examine sample literacy narratives. Before class, read the model narrative, “A Bridge to Words,” which is posted in Blackboard. You do not need to print a copy. I will distribute copies in class, along with copies of two student literacy narratives written in previous semesters.

The first Scrabble blog post of the semester featured playable two-letter words beginning with “a.” Learning those two-letter words, as well as the others that follow in the alphabet, will enable you to see more options for play and can increase the number of points you earn in a single turn.

Here’s a list of the playable words beginning with “b,” “d,” and “e”:

• ba: the soul in ancient Egyptian spirituality
• bi: a bisexual
• bo: a pal
• by: a side issue
• de: of, from
• do: a tone on a scale
• ed: education
• ef: the letter f (also eff)
• eh: used to express doubt
• el: an elevated train
• em: the letter m
• en: the letter n
• er: used to express hesitation
• es: the letter s
• et: a past tense of eat
• ex: the letter x

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When in Doubt . . .

Consult the guidelines (in the game box) if you are unsure whether an action is permissible in gameplay. An additional copy of the guidelines follows.

Scrabble Guidelines

• Do not let your opponents know which letters are on your rack. Whenever possible, communicate with your teammate nonverbally by pointing to the letters and rearranging them on the rack. If you need to refer out loud to letters on your rack, refer to them as “this one, that one . . . .”
• Do not say the definition of a word aloud. If you play a word and your opponents question its validity, do not provide the definition. Definitions can be provided only in the event of a challenge. See the note below regarding challenges. Also, note that you will have the opportunity on your own after class to look up the meanings of any unfamiliar words played by your opponents or recommended by your teammate and subsequently played by the two of you. You will also have the chance to look up definitions during your Monday debriefings.
• If you think your opponents have played a word that isn’t permissible, such as a misspelled word or a proper noun, tell me that you have a challenge. I will consult the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary to determine whether the word in question is playable and will provide the definition. If the challenged word isn’t playable, the team that set it down loses a turn. Conversely, if the challenged word is playable, the team that called the challenge loses a turn.
• If any group member’s smartphone or laptop is in evidence during the game, immediately tell that person to put it away. The presence of any player’s digital device is a foul—as is providing a definition or otherwise offering unauthorized assistance—and fouls come with penalties, five points each.

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Next Up

On Monday, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., you will read his ”Letter from Birmingham Jail.” You do not need to print a copy; I will distribute copies of an excerpt from the letter when class resumes on Wednesday, January 21, and we will examine it before you begin revising your literacy narratives in class.

Coming Soon

Next Wednesday will be devoted primarily to revision work. After your Scrabble debriefing and our examination of an excerpt from “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and another short excerpt, I will return the drafts of your literacy narratives. You will then have the remainder of the class period to begin revising on your laptops. You will have an additional week to continue revising before posting to Blackboard and WordPress. The due date for your literacy narrative is Wednesday, January 28, before class; the hard deadline is Friday, January 30, before class.