Since today’s Wordplay Day occurs on Halloween, this morning’s Scrabble blog post is devoted to words for ghosts. Two of the words (banshee and eidolon) are seven letters long, enabling a player or team to Scrabble, or bingo, earning an additional fifty points for the play. Another two are eight letters long (barguest and fairyism) and can be formed by adding letters to a word played previously.
banshee: a female spirit in Gaelic folklore that wails to warn of a family member’s imminent death. Note that this word is featured in Stephen King’s short story “Strawberry Spring,” which we studied in class on Monday.
barguest: a goblin (also barghest)
bogy: a goblin
daimon: a spirit (also daemon and demon)
eidolon: a phantom or specter
fairyism: the quality of being like a fairy (not really a ghost but a great word)
haint: a ghost
kelpie: a water sprite in Scottish folklore known for drowning sailors
wraith: a ghost of a person, often appearing just before that person’s death
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. Learning q words without u’s, such as the ones listed below, which start q-a, 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 (also ki), is included in the Scrabble post for September 19. The list above is limited to words that start with the letters qa.
In class on Monday we will examine a horror story for Hallowen. We will study it on Monday because Halloween is Wordplay Day, and Wednesday you will begin work on your final essay and annotated bibliography. As an introduction to the writer, read the author’s note on his website and compose a one-paragraph summary, followed by a one-paragraph response in your journal.
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)
Rather than listing the answers to the questions on Monday’s quiz, I have followed each question below with a note regarding where to find the answer. By finding the answers yourself, you will learn more than you would from simply reading them in a list.
Write a brief but vivid description—a minimum of one complete sentence—of the page that you were assigned to read for today. See the page of Art Spiegelman’s memoir Maus posted in the Blackboard readings folder and featured in the October 13 class notes.
The blog post devoted to the sample student analysis that we studied includes several points about the content and form of the essay. Compose a sentence that specifies one of those points that was not addressed in class. See the October 2 class notes, specifically the five bullet points under the heading “Content” and the six bullet points under the heading “Form.”
What is the topic of the most recent Scrabble blog post? Note that Scrabble is the subject, not the topic. The topic is something more specific about the game. See the October 3 class notes.
Your quiz also included a bonus opportunity. Possible answers for that bonus are found in the class notes for October 3.
Scrabble Journal Exercise
In the game pictured above, the first team played “ZIT” with “Z” on a triple-letter square for thirty-two points. Using a blank for an “E,” the second team followed with “ZEROS,” with the “S” on a double-letter square for twenty-six points. The first team then played “SOLVED,” building from the “S” in “ZEROES.”
With “SOLVED,” the only letter that the first team played on a bonus square was the “E”* on a triple-letter, giving that “E” a value of three points. How many points total did the first team earn for “SOLVED”? Would they have benefited from playing elsewhere on the board? If so, why? The first team earn a total of twelve points for “SOLVED.” They would have benefited from playing elsewhere on the board because playing “SOLVED” below “ZEROS” set up the second team to score a triple-word play with “MOC” and simultaneously form two additional words, “EM” and “DO” for a total of twenty-seven points, more than double the first team’s score for the previous play.
In the game pictured above, the first team earned twelve points for the first play, “TOY,” which appears as “OY” on the board. (Remember to make sure that all letters played remain on the squares where they are played.) The second team followed with “LOAN” for six. Then, using the “L” in “Loan” and the “T” in “TOY,” the first team played “NEUTRAL” and “AT.”
With “NEUTRAL,” the only letter that the first team played on a bonus square was “U” on a double-letter square, giving it two points. How many points total did the first team earn for “NEUTRAL”? Would they have benefited from playing elsewhere on the board? If so, why? The first team earned a total of ten points for “NEUTRAL” and “AT.” They would have benefited from playing elsewhere on the board because playing “N-E-U-T-R-A” in front of the “L” in loan set up the second team to score a triple word under the “N.” It also placed the vowel “E” under a triple-letter score, where the opponent would be able to play a high-value consonant. Although the first team may have played “NOW” and/or “ZEN” themselves, they set up their opponents to play on the squares where those words were played.
In the game above, the play is limited almost exclusively to the right quadrants. What words could the teams play horizontally below the “Q,” horizontally above or below the “Y,” and elsewhere to advance the game to the left quadrants?
Here are a few of the ways that the players might advance the game into the left quadrants:
Because no more than two letters can be played below the “Q,” the words that either team could play there are limited to “QAT,” “QUA,” and “QI.” A Team could play both below and above the “Q” by spelling “AQUA,” but that play would not be prudent because it would set up the opponents to play on the triple-word square. Playing “QAT” would be preferable because of the large number of words that end with “T.”
A team could play “T-A-T-T-O” above the “Y” and in front of the “O” to spell “TATTOO” and “OY.” A team could also play “I-D-E-A” below the “Y” and in front of the blank (“L”) to spell “IDEAL” and “YA.”
“NEW” offers more opportunities for advancing the board into the left quadrants. Spelling an a-ending word, such as “ALPHA” or “AREA” vertically with the final “A” in front of the “N” would form both the vertical word and “ANEW.”
“A-A,” “B-A,” “L-A,” M-A,” “P-A,” “R-A,” “W-A,” or “Y-A” could be played in front of the “H” to spell “AAH,” “BAH,” “LAH,” “MAH,” “PAH,” “RAH,” “WAH,” or “YAH” horizontally, along with “AB” vertically.
In the first game pictured above, playing down from the “J” would advance the game into the lower left quadrant, but playing only as much as the single letter “O” below it would set up the opponents to score a triple-word play.
Spelling a word that ends with “K-E-Y” would enable the first game to advance into the lower left quadrant, but “MONKEY” isn’t a possibility because both “M”s and both blanks have already been played. Ditto for “HICKEY,” “HOCKEY,” and “HOKEY” because both “H”s have been played. “JOCKEY” isn’t an option either because the “J” has been played. Three possibilities are “POKEY,” “SMOKEY,” and “TURNKEY.”
The last two rows of the board offer additional opportunities to advance into the left quadrant. Using the “U” or the “T” in “GUT” as one of the last letters in a horizontal word would advance the game into the left side of the second-to-last or last row of the board.
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 fall break, we will examine “The Strange Fruit of Sosnowiec,” my model analysis of a page of Art Spiegelman’s graphic memoir Maus. Before class on Monday, October 13, read the page of Maus posted in the readings folder on Blackboard. As you read the page, make note in your journal of the elements of the page you would address if you were writing an analysis of it.
In class on Monday, you will compose a midterm reflection focusing on the assignments and aspects of the course that have contributed the most to your development as a writer and a student. Tomorrow’s post will serve as a guide for your preparations.
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)
ya: you
ye: you
yo: an expression used to attract attention
za: pizza
“‘Interesting,’ ‘Revealing,’ ‘Strange’” Exercise
If you have not completed the journal exercise that I assigned on Wednesday, be sure to do so before Monday’s class. The directions on the handout I distributed are included below.
Directions
Review your reading handouts—”MeTalk Pretty One Day,” “The Day Language Came into Life,” the excerpt from the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird, and the excerpt from “The Falling Man”—and select the one that appeals to you most as a subject of analysis. If you think that you would prefer to write an analysis of “The School,” complete this exercise using a line from Barthelme’s story that’s different from the one that you used in your group assignment.
Choose a line that could be described as interesting, revealing or strange, and compose a sentence that demonstrates what makes it so. Do not include the word interesting, revealing, or strange in your answer. Instead, show what the line achieves. Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase and follow it with a parenthetical citation.
Below your sentences, write the header Work Cited and follow it with an MLA work cited entry for the text.
Sample Works Cited Entries
Bartheleme, Donald. “The School.” The Best American Short Stories 1975, edited by Martha Foley. Houghton Mifflin, 1975. pp. 8-11.
Keller, Helen. “The Day Language Came into My Life.” Square Space, https://janelucasdotcom. files.wordpress.com/2025/08/a0461-3.thedaylanguagecameintomylife_keller.pdf.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Lippincott, 1960. p. 12.
Sedaris, David. “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” Me Talk Pretty One Day. Little Brown, 2000. pp. 166-73.
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’ 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,” the excerpt from the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird,” the excerpt from “The Falling Man,” and “The School“–are among the pieces of writing that may serve as the subject of your upcoming analysis.
In the previous weeks, I published blog posts featuring the 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.
For Monday, read the section of Writing Analytically devoted to “Nine Basic Writing Errors” (424-44). In class, 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 Tom Junod‘s “The Falling Man.” 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)
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”:
Jane Lucas 