T-W-E-R-K for 12 points: Scrabble fans to pick first word to be entered into official dictionary for NINE years

By

Daniel Miller

|

Scrabble fans have been asked to cast their votes for the first new word to be entered into the game’s official dictionary for nine years.

While the world’s major dictionaries are updated every year, the Scrabble dictionary is only updated once or twice a decade, long a source of annoyance for many keen players.

The announcement has already prompted a flurry of debate as to which words deserve to be considered.

Lost for words? The makers of Scrabble have invited fans of the board game to vote for the first new word to be included into its official dictionary in nine years

The last update to the Scrabble dictionary was published in 2005 and contained around 4,000 new words.

They included strategically useful two-letter words ‘qi’, a Chinese term for circulating life energy, (11 points) and ‘za’, North American slang for pizza (11 points).

Announcing the competition this week, Scrabble’s makers Hasbro suggested new words such as ‘selfie’ (nine points) and ‘hashtag’ (14 points).

But fans have been proposing

their own ideas such as ‘aa’, a pointy rock found in Hawaii (two

points), and ‘zyme’, something that causes zymotic disease (18 points).

Other possible choices include

‘twerk’ (12 points), the suggestive bottom-wiggling dance made famous by pop star Miley

Cyrus and YOLO, an acronym for You Only Live Once (seven

points) which was entered into the Oxford Dictionary in 2012.

Twerk (12 points) a raunchy, bottom-wiggling dance made famous by U.S. pop star Miley Cyrus (pictured) will likely be among the entries

While the world’s major dictionaries are updated every year, the Scrabble dictionary is only updated once or twice a decade, long a source of annoyance for many players.

John Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association , said he was delighted by the announcement.

He told www.wbur.org: ‘My phone has

been ringing off the hook. This is huge news within the Scrabble

community, because we’ve never done anything like this before.

‘I’m

heavily involved with School Scrabble. I’m going to be helping around

the National School Scrabble Championship next month.

THE BEST WORDS TO LEARN

According to UK Scrabble expert Barry Grossman

Epopoeia (12 points) – an epic poem

Psst (6 points) – a word used to capture someone’s attention inconspicuously

Brrr (5 points)- used to signify being cold

Barry (10 points) – another word for a blunder

Euoi (4 points) – cry of Bacchic frenzy

Qat (12 points) – a variant spelling of the word khat, which is an evergreen shrub

Jiao (11 points) – a monetary unit in China

‘And when I see kids that are of that age range, grade 4 to 8, who are playing Scrabble, it’s like they’re talking using a different language, and I have to keep telling them, “No, LOL is not a word, OMG is not a word.’”

Hasbro has invited fans to nominate their word via the game’s Facebook page before March 28. The 16 finalists will be unveiled on April 2 before they are narrowed down to one final word.

The chosen word will be revealed on April 10 and will be included in the fifth edition of Merriam-Webster’s Official ScrabblePlayers Dictionary.

Jonathan Berkowitz, vice president of marketing at Hasbro said: ‘The Scrabble Word Showdown will let fans nominate and vote on words that are fun and relevant for today’s players.

‘We are excited to see which word rises to the top and makes its way into the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.’

And Peter Sokolowski, Editor at Large at Merriam-Webster, added: ‘Our language changes faster than ever today.

‘It’s great to include a word in the new edition that dedicated Scrabble players are eager to use on the board.’

Comments (13)

Share what you think

The comments below have not been moderated.

Anyofu,

Liverpool, United Kingdom,

5 minutes ago

OMG, I just wet myself with the excitement.

Kate,

New York,

12 minutes ago

Qi and Za were great additions… worth far more than 11 points: at least 62 points if you can place them triple/triple. As for “twerk” I’m not a fan.

Matt,

Here and there., Germany,

17 minutes ago

Za……..North American slang for pizza…………………Can I suggest another new word……..Dumbdown……?

Niz,

Torpoint, United Kingdom,

32 minutes ago

Phalexia is my word, used when I have finger trouble on the keyboard and mix the letters up (hte).

PrivateSi,

WORCS,

50 minutes ago

With a ‘W’ and ‘K’ in it I can see why they were tempted by The Dark Side (innit)!.. However, talking of scores, I believe DM, I should be on about 180,000 green up arrows and 115,00 red down arrows… I think I can speak for every commenter that we’d like our Profile Stat TOTAL BACK, Cheers Guys… We all hope you haven’t lost them and it’s just a backend upgrade..

JmP,

my Own, Austria,

1 hour ago

As if those who find twerking so cool could actually spell it…

sallybrook,

Notts, United Kingdom,

1 hour ago

BarracoBarner!

TopGirl,

Sunny Side up, United Kingdom,

1 hour ago

Twerk- a raunchy, bottom-wiggling dance made famous by U.S. pop star Miley Cyrus…. Really not watch the first Charlies Angels with Cameron Diaz she did it there long before that awful child Cyrus!

MickeyKnoxx,

Atlanta, United States,

37 minutes ago

People have been saying Twerk since the early nineties. Mily has nothing to do with it she is borrowing from hip hop to raise eyebrows.

HEROIN GRANGER,

los angeles, United States,

1 hour ago

Bored..want s..e..x..with a guy..

acdcguy,

minnesota, United States,

1 hour ago

would “obamasucks” count as word…..

PrivateSi,

WORCS,

48 minutes ago

depends what you stick on the end of it!

Who is this week’s top commenter?

Find out now

T-W-E-R-K for 12 points: Scrabble fans to pick first word to be entered into official dictionary for NINE years