Today’s Scrabble post features the names of authors and characters that are playable words. Learning them will not only increase your word power (and up your game), but also broaden your knowledge of literature. If you haven’t read some of the classics in the list below, I encourage you to check them out.
Eyre: a long journey (the last name of of the title character in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, 1847)
Dickens: a devil (Charles Dickens, 1812-1870)
Fagin: a person, usually an adult, who instructs others, usually children, in crime (from a character of that type in Dickens’ Oliver Twist)
Holden: the past participle of hold (Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye)
Huckleberry: a berry like a blueberry (the first name of the title character in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Hucklebery Finn, 1884)
Oedipal: describing libidinal feelings of a child toward the parent of the opposite sex (from the title character in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, c. 429 B.C.)
Quixote: a quixotic, or extremely idealistic person; also quixotry, a quixotic action or thought (the title character in Michael de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Part I: 1605, Part II: 1615)
Could the words in the hypothetical game featured in the image at the top of this post be the first plays in an actual game of Scrabble? They couldn’t be the first two plays, but they could be the first three. Huckleberry with the b on the center square/double-word bonus square would be worth fifty-eight points, but huckleberry has eleven letters, and the first player, or team, could not play more than seven letters. But the first play could be berry for twenty-eight points. The second player, or team, could follow with q-u-i-x-o-t to the left of the e in berry for twenty-five points. Then the first player, or team, could add h-u-c-k-l-e to berry for a total of twenty-five points.
Next Up
Monday morning in class, you will have time to plan and prepare the individual presentation that you will deliver during the exam period, 3:30 p.m., Monday, April 27. In the meantime, think about the major assignments you have completed and the skills you have developed over the course of the semester. Review your blog posts, your reflective writing, and your journal entries, and ask yourself, what accomplishments of mine in English 1103 best demonstrate the skills and habits of mind that not only benefit me as a writer and a student, but also in my life beyond the classroom?
Keeping a u on your rack before the q is played is one way to decrease the chances that you will be left holding the q, a deduction of ten points. From the “Two-Letter Words, Q-Z” blog post, you know that qi (the central life force in Chinese culture) is one u-less option–and one that’s fairly easy to play since there are nine i’s in the game. Learning additional q words without u’s, such as the ones listed below, will increase your word power and provide you with more options for playing the q.
qabala(s): an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. Also qabalah, cabala, and kabbalah.
qadi(s): an Islamic judge. Also cadi.
qaid(s): a Muslim tribal chief. Also caid.
qajak(s): a kayak.
qamutik(s): a sled drawn by dogs. Also komatik.
qanat(s): a system of underground tunnels and wells in the Middle East
qapik(s): a monetary subunit of the manat (Azerbaijan).
qat(s): a shrub
qawwali(s): a style of Muslim music
qi: the central life force in Chinese culture
qibla(s): the direction of the Kaaba shrine in Mecca toward which all Muslims turn in ritual prayer. Also qiblah, kibla, and kiblah
qigong(s): a Chinese system of physical exercises.
qindar, pl. dars or darka: a monetary unit of Albania. Also qintar(s).
qiviut: the wool of a musk ox.
qoph(s): the nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Also koph.
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.
Coming Soon
In class on Monday, you will read a designated classmate’s final essay and annotated bibliography, compose a handwritten response to it, and transcribe your feedback as a comment on the student’s WordPress blog. After your Scrabble debriefing, you will receive instructions for your peer response, and you will have the remainder of the class period to complete it.
As part of University Honors Day, High-PURCS, (High Point University Research and Creativity Symposium) will be held Tuesday, April 14, from 8-2 at the Nido and Mariana Qubein Conference Center. Attending High-PURCS and responding to some questions about the presentations offers you the opportunity to earn a bonus assignment credit. Look for details in tomorrow’s class notes.
To mark the beginning of Passover and the approach of Easter, today’s post features proper nouns in the Bible and the Torah, ones that are common nouns as well, making them playable in Scrabble. Some of these–including Gloria, Joseph, Maria, Noel, Ruth, Saul, and Veronica–-appeared in your first Scrabble post, “What’s in a Name,” along with your group pictures.
Bible: a definitive text
Calvary: a representation of the crucifixion
Gloria: a halo
Golgotha: a burial place
Jezebel: an evil woman
Joseph: a woman’s long cloak (after Joseph’s coat of many colors)
Judas: a peephole
Lazar: a beggar afflicted with a terrible disease, particularly a leper
Lucifer: a friction mark
Maria: a large plane on the surface of the moon that appears dark
Noel: a Christmas carol
Ruth: compassion
Saul: a soul
Sodom: a place infamous for vice
Torah: a law (pl. torahs, toroth, or torot)
Veronica: a handkerchief with a depiction of Christ’s face (after a biblical woman who offered Jesus a handkerchief to wipe his face as he carried the cross)
And Some Sweet Scores
Since Easter brings baskets of candy, here’s a list of playable sweets. If you have the right letters, don’t be a butterfingers.
Bonbon: a type of chocolate-coated sweet
Butterfingers: a clumsy person (also butterfingered but not butterfinger)
Candyfloss: cotton candy
Fireball: a ball of fire, a meteor
Jawbreaker: a type of hard candy
Jujube: a type of edible berry (not to be confused with juju: an object believed to have magical powers)
Nestle: to lie close to something or someone
Skittle: a form of bowling, or a pin played in that game (but not skittles)
Starburst: an image resembling a diffusion of light
Tootsie: a foot (also tootsy)
Updated Model Annotated Bibliography
The bibliography that follows, an updated version of the one I distributed yesterday in class, includes two notable changes:
The parenthetical citation at the conclusion of the summary of “Can You Say . . .’Hero’?” now includes the previously omitted paragraph number, which is thirty-two (par. 32).
The final paragraph of the annotation for the interview with Sierra Welch includes her new major, criminal justice. Also, I corrected the pronoun from he to she, but then eliminated the need for it by revising the subordinate clause, where she is currently enrolled in English 1103, to the more concise participle phrase, currently enrolled English 1103.
Remember that the model below does not include the paragraph indentations or the hanging idents you will include in the Microsoft Word file or PDF you submit to Blackboard.
Annotated Bibliography
Conte, Joseph M. “Don DeLillo’s The Falling Man and the Age of Terror.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 57, no. 3, 2011, pp. 559–83. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org.libproxy. highpoint.edu/stable/26287214.
In “Don DeLillo’s Falling Man and the Age of Terror,” Joseph M. Conte probes novelist Don DeLillo’s fictional chronicle of the destruction of the Twin Towers and the scarred lives of a survivor, Keth Neudecker, a corporate lawyer who escapes the North Tower; and his estranged wife, Lianne, who was not at the World Trade Center but who is subsequently haunted by images of a Manhattan performance artist who dangles from bridges and buildings, imitating the posture of the Falling Man in Richard Drew’s now-iconic photograph. Conte explores the characters and landscape of DeLillo’s novel, as well as the challenges of rendering in fiction the virtually unspeakable events of 9/11.
Although the focus of Conte’s analysis is not Tom Junod’s own Falling Man, his study is pertinent to those researching Junod’s work, as it references his 2003 article “The Falling Man,” and demonstrates the contrast between DeLillo’s aims as a novelist and Junod’s as a journalist. While Junod aimed to depict photographer Richard Drew’s Falling Man as a human symbol of what the United States became on 9/11, DeLillo’s fictional Falling Man haunts the New Yorkers who witness him imitating the posture of the still-unidentified Falling Man in Drew’s photo. Notably, Conte cites Junod criticism of DeLillo’s The Falling Man in his June 2007 Esquire review of the novel, addressing his objections to DeLillo’s decision to write a 9/11 novel whose scope is not equal to that of the loss.
Joseph M. Conte, a professor of English at the University of Buffalo, is the author of Transnational Politics in the Post-9/11 Novel, Design and Debris: A Chaotics of Postmodern American Fiction, and Unending Design: The Forms of Postmodern Poetry.
Hendrickson, John. “Family Secrets.” Esquire, March 2026, pp. 28-31.
As a prelude to the publication of Tom Junod’s new memoir, In the Days of My YouthI was Told What it Means to be a Man, journalist John Hendrickson profiles Junod at his home outside Atlanta, where he asks the author about his relationship with his father, Lou (the focus of his memoir), as well some of his most well-known magazine stories, including the highly-praised feature on Fred Rogers and the much-maligned profile of Kevin Spacey. Hendrickson incorporates observations on Junod’s prose by a host of other writers and editors, including memoirist J. R. Moehringer; Peter Griffin, former deputy editor at Esquire; Taffy Brodesser-Akner, New York Times staff writer; Wright Thompson, Junod’s colleague at ESPN; and journalist Bronwen Dickey, who teaches Junod’s work at Duke University.
“Family Secrets” provides researchers with the personal history that informs Junod’s writing, especially his new memoir, which Hendrickson refers to as a book whose “concerns hum beneath almost every magazine story Tom has ever written” (29). Along with its vital background on Junod’s formative years, Hendrickson’s article offers the insights of other writers and editors who admire Junod’s prose.
John Hendrickson’s stories have appeared in The New York Times, New York magazine, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic, where he is a contributing writer. He is also the author of Life on Delay, a memoir about his lifelong struggle with stuttering.
“Can You Say . . . ‘Hero’?” brings together Tom Junod’s conversations with Fred Rogers in New York City, where he met architect Maya Lin at her giant clock in Penn Station, to tape a segment for his TV show; in Pittsburgh, at his studio, where produced Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood for thirty-one years and 865 episodes; and in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he navigated the perimeter of his childhood home on Weldon Street. Together, those conversations build the foundation for Junod’s profile of Fred Rogers, a portrait of a music major at a small Florida College who shelved his plans for divinity school when he first watched his parents’ new television. He detested what he saw—slapstick pie throwing—but, in Junod’s words, “[H]e believed, right then, that he was strong enough to enter into battle with that—that machine, that medium—and to wrestle with it until it yielded to him” (par. 32).
Junod draws on the repetition used both by and for children to chronicle the life of a man who dedicated himself to creating and sustaining an imaginary neighborhood where he and his Land of Make-Believe characters say the words that children need to hear. Junod’s profile offers vital background information for researchers examining the life and legacy of Fred Rogers and also serves as a primer for Junod’s signature style. Paired with “The Falling Man,” “Can You Say . . . ‘Hero’?” showcases the patterns that are hallmarks of his prose. For example, the metaphors and similes he crafts not only provide comparisons but also link the recurring images and ideas in his stories.
Tom Junod, a senior writer for ESPN, has also written for Life, Sports Illustrated, and GQ, where his articles garnered two National Magazine Awards. Among Junod’s other notable works are his Esquire feature “The Falling Man” and his newly published memoir In the Days of My Youth I was Told What it Means to be a Man.
Published in the September 2003 issue of Esquire, Tom Junod’s “The Falling Man” focuses on the now-iconic 9/11 image of an unidentified man in downward flight, who appears to bisect the Twin Towers. Junod chronicles the moments leading up to AP photographer Richard Drew capturing the photo, Toronto Globe and Mail reporter Peter Chaney’s search for the true identity of the Falling Man, the reactions to the picture—both those of the public and of grieving families (whose loved one could be its subject), and the photograph’s status as a national symbol.
Junod’s thorough and riveting account of Richard Drew’s photograph and its life beyond the frame illuminates the role of the Falling Man in American culture and highlights the writer’s award-winning prose. “The Falling Man” remains an essential reference for studies of the iconography of 9/11, as well as studies of Junod’s writing.
—. “James B. Stewart and Tom Junod on Writing about 9-11.” The Press Box, 2 Sept. 2021, https://podcasts.apple.com /us/podcast/ james-b-stewart-and-tom-junod-on-writing-about-9-11/id1058911614?i=1000534129966.
In his interview with Tom Junod, Bryan Curtis, editor-at-large of The Ringer and cohost of The Press Box podcast, talks with Junod on the occasion of 9/11’s then-upcoming twentieth anniversary. In his Q and A with Junod and the one with James B. Stewart that precedes it, Curtis asks the writers about their approaches to writing about 9/11, their writing processes, and the public’s reactions to their magazine features devoted to 9/11: Tom Junod’s on the unidentified Falling Man and James B. Stewart’s “The Real Heroes are Dead.” The latter, published in The New Yorker, focuses on Rick Rescorla, the decorated Vietnam War veteran and head of security for Morgan Stanley, who died in the South Tower’s collapse after leading an evacuation that saved hundreds from the same fate.
The September 2, 2021, episode of The Press Box podcast offers insights into the intricacies of writing about 9/11 and the writing processes of two journalists who reflected on the tragedy after the initial shock subsided: Stewart, six months later, and Junod, two years later. Their conversations with Bryan Curtis provide key first-person accounts for researchers studying the writing of Junod or Stewart in particular, or the journalism of 9/11 in general.
Welch, Sierra. Interview. Conducted by Jane Lucas. 23 March 2026.
English 1103 student Sierra Welch discusses first encountering Tom Junod’s writing when she read the opening paragraphs of “The Falling Man” in class and recognizing the distinctive qualities of his prose. In her words, “[H]e could have explained what he saw, but instead, he went into a description of one man, how he was falling, his pants, his legs, and used different similes to convey how significant 9//11 was and capture the emotional aspects for the readers.”
Welch’s remarks provide a detailed first-person account of a reader’s initial response to Junod’s prose. Her observations provide insights relevant to researchers examining general readers’ reactions to Junod’s words, as well as educators contemplating his writing as a subject of classroom study.
Sierra Welch is a criminal justice major at High Point University, currently enrolled in English 1103.
Coming Soon
Next week, you will complete your final essay and annotated bibliography. The due date for posting it to Blackboard and WordPress is Wednesday, April 8 (before class); the hard deadline is Friday, April 10 (before class).
Yesterday in class, I distributed copies of my Tom Junod bibliography in progress (and an updated version is included above). Early next week, I will post my complete final essay and bibliography to Blackboard and WordPress. In the meantime, look to my model essay and bibliography “Scrabble as a Game Changer in the College Classroom,” which I distributed copies of in class. An additional copy is posted in the sample papers folder on Blackboard.
Look to next Tuesday’s post as a guide for finalizing your revisions and preparing to write your in-class reflective essay on the process of researching, writing, and revising your essay and bibliography.
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
Congratulations to the High Point men’s basketball team on their NCAA Tournament first-round, bracket-busting win over Wisconsin!
Blowin’ in the Wind
The recent strong winds likely reminded you that March is our windiest time of the year. To mark our gusty month, this Scrabble post features playable wind-related words. One of them, oe, appeared in a previous Scrabble post, the one devoted to two-letter words beginning with m, n, o, and p. If your rack contains the right letters, spelling these words will be a breeze.
bayamo: a strong wind found in Cuba
bhut: a warm, dry wind in India (also bhoot)
bise: a cold, dry wind, found especially blowing from the northeast in Switzerland (also bize)
blaw: to blow
bleb: a blister (an extremely intense or severe wind)
bora: a cold wind in lowland regions
brr: used to indicate feeling cold (also brrr)
bura: a violent Eurasian windstorm (also buran)
chinook: a warm wind that flows off the east side of the Rockies; or a type of Pacific Northwest salmon named after the Chinook people)
etesian: a northerly Mediterranean summer wind
fon: a warm dry wind that blows down off some mountains (also fohn and foehn)
haboob: a violent sandstorm or duststorm
oe: a whirlwind or gust of wind, especially in the Faeroe Islands
sarsar: an icy wind (from the Arabic çarçar for a cold wind)
simoom: a hot, violent desert wind (also simoon and samiel)
williwaw: a violent, cold wind blowing down from a mountain (also willyway and williwau)
On Monday, as an exercise in creating a primary source for your annotated bibliography, you will conduct an interview with one of your classmates. Details TBA.
What makes a title effective? That’s an important question to consider since the title contains the first words of yours that a reader will encounter. First, it should be descriptive; it should evoke an image in the reader’s mind. It should also be relevant to your subject; it should convey something about the writing that will follow. Lastly, it should be intriguing; it should create in the reader a desire to keep reading. With those traits in mind, review the titles of your classmates’ analyses listed below. Which of them is most effective and why?
“The Classroom of Loss”
“Confidence in the Face of Language”
“Death is in the Lesson Plans”
“Details Matter”
“Falling Not Jumping: The Power Words”
“Found in the Dark”
“The Impact of One Image”
“Learning through Loss”
“The Man Who Changed the Game Forever”
“On ‘The Falling Man'”
“One Player, New Strategy”
“Working through ‘The School'”
Bonus Assignment Opportunity
Directions
Determine which one of the titles you deem most effective.
Compose a comment of one complete sentence or more that includes (1) the title enclosed in quotation marks, and (2) a brief explanation of its effectiveness. If the title includes a title within it, be sure to inclose that title in single quotation marks. (See the two examples in the list above.)
A bonus for your bonus: You will receive extra points for your bonus assignment if you include the correct answers to the questions that follow. With the title of his new memoir– which I addressed in yesterday’s class notes–Tom Junod employs a device I used in the title of yesterday’s blog post. Stephen King employs that device in “Strawberry Spring” as well, not in the title but twice in the story. What device does Junod employ in his title, and to what does the title refer?
Post your comment as a reply to this blog entry no later than 5 p.m. on, Monday, March 23. (To post your comment, click on the post’s title, and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will then see the image of an airmail envelope with a leave comment option.)
I will approve your comments (make them visible) after Monday’s deadline.
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
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).
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.
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.
Last week, I published a blog post featuring playable four-letter words with three vowels. Knowing those words, and others with multiple vowels, proves useful when you’re faced with a rack of mostly, or all, vowels. Here’s a list of the remaining playable four-letter words with three vowels, beginning with the letters in the second half of the alphabet:
naoi: ancient temples (pl. of naos)
obia: form of sorcery practiced in the Caribbean (also obeah)
odea: concert halls (pl. of odeum)
ogee: an S-shaped molding
ohia: a Polynesian tree with bright flowers (also lehua)
olea: corrosive solutions (pl. of oleum)
olio: a miscellaneous collection
ouzo: a Turkish anise-flavored liquor
raia: a non-Muslim Turk (also rayah)
roue: a lecherous old man
toea: a currency in Papua, New Guinea
unai: a two-toed sloth (pl. unai; an ai is a three-toed sloth)
On Monday, after your Scrabble debriefing, you will receive your group presentation assignment, and you will have the remainder of the period to plan and rehearse.
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)
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.
Today’s blog post is the final installment in the series of posts devoted to playable two-letter words. 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.
qi: the central life force in Chinese culture (also ki)
re: a tone of the diatonic scale
sh: used to encourage silence
si: a tone of the diatonic scale (also ti)
so: a tone of the diatonic scale (also sol)
ta: an expression of thanks
ti: a tone of the diatonic scale
to: in the direction of
uh: used to express hesitation
um: used to express hesitation
un: one
up: to raise (-s, -ped, -ping)
us: a plural pronoun
ut: the musical tone C in the French solmization system, now replaced by do
we: a first-person plural pronoun
wo: woe
xi: a Greek letter
xu: a former monetary unit of Vietnam equal to one-hundreth of a dong (also sau, pl. xu)
As an introduction to Michael Lewis, whose writing we will examine in class on Monday, read this overview of his publications. After you read it, compose a one- or two-paragraph journal entry that addresses these questions: (1) Lewis’s two books on one subject have both been adapted for film. What is the subject, and what are the titles of the two books (and films)? (2) A third book of his, one devoted to a different subject, has also been adapted for film. What is the subject, and what is the title of the book (and film)?
Coming Soon
In class on Wednesday, you will begin planning and drafting your second major writing assignment, your analysis. The chapter of Michael Lewis’ writing that we examine in class on Monday and the other texts we have studied thus far in English 1103–“MeTalk Pretty One Day,” “The Day Language Came into Life,” “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” the excerpt from the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “The School“–are among the pieces of writing that may serve as the subject of your upcoming analysis.
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
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.
Southard, Meredith. Cartoon. The New Yorker, 26 Dec. 2022.
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.
Jane Lucas 