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Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

theguardian.com

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Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#31

Post by Wowfunhappy »

oh_sigh wrote: post #29
chrisweekly wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(tangent to scrabble per se) I like the idea of "ze" (gender-neutral pronoun), but this is the first I've come across it. Hopefully it'll catch on as IMHO it's a big improvement over alternatives like "they". While on the topic of "missing" words, when will our language finally get something reasonable for "you (plural)"?? Extant "y'all" (southern) and "yous" (NJ) are not cutting it!

Why is it a big improvement over 'they'? Singular they has become popular naturally, whereas 'ze' has existed for years without anyone naturally using it(except for trolls on the internet).

Singular "they" still sounds wrong to me every time I see it. Which is a shame since it would be very useful.

Perhaps more importantly, I don't think singular "they" would be considered proper in formal writing.

Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#32

Post by wiredfool »

chrisweekly wrote: post #22
gerry_shaw wrote: post #17

The addition of ze (gender-neutral pronoun) is even better than OK.

(tangent to scrabble per se) I like the idea of "ze" (gender-neutral pronoun), but this is the first I've come across it. Hopefully it'll catch on as IMHO it's a big improvement over alternatives like "they". While on the topic of "missing" words, when will our language finally get something reasonable for "you (plural)"?? Extant "y'all" (southern) and "yous" (NJ) are not cutting it!

Y'all is often singular. Y'alls and All y'alls are plural.

There's also youse, seen in Irish english. (at least in the Dublin dialect, can't say I've heard it much in the north)

Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#33

Post by mxwsn »

frogpelt wrote: post #27
hammock wrote: post #24

I've posted this before but in my family we play serious Scrabble but with house rules that improve the game. Rule 1: On your turn, but before playing your word, any letter in your hand may be swapped with any letter on the board, as long as the swap makes a valid word (some people already do this with blanks, we do it with any letter). Swap one letter at a time, as many times as you like. No points are scored for sw…

How are Q and Z getting reused so much? There can't be that many times they can be replaced with another letter can there? Also, after I saw how many "words" are in the Scrabble dictionary I realized that Scrabble was not a vocabulary/spelling competition like I thought when I first played. Some of those "words" are a joke, a few are mentioned in the article (eeew being one example).

"For living-room players, Scrabble is about language, a test of vocabularies. For world-class players, it’s about cold memorization and mathematical probabilities. Think of the dictionary not as a compendium of the beauty and complexity of the English language, but rather as a giant rulebook. Words exist merely as valid strings with which to score points.

A Scrabble board after two top players are finished playing on it might look, to the uninitiated, as though they had played in Martian. Here’s a taste: In a single game in last year’s Nationals, Richards played the following words: zarf (a metal holder for a coffee cup), waddy (to strike with a thick club), hulloed (to hallo, to shout), sajous (a capuchin, a monkey), qi (the vital force in Chinese thought), flyboats (a small, fast boat), trigo (wheat) and threaper (one that threaps, disputes).

Top players tend not to be novelists or poets, but more often computer programmers or mathematicians."

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-makes-nigel-richar...

Sidenote on replacing Q and Z: "Qi" and "Za" are common and useful ways of using q/z which also readily support replacement. In my experience, this is the first "rules change" that one encounters when going from casual Scrabble/Bananagrams/etc to something slightly more competitive. Enabling or disabling these two two-letter words in particular has a huge impact on the game.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-qi-and-za-changed-s...

Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#34

Post by jolmg »

oh_sigh wrote: post #29
chrisweekly wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(tangent to scrabble per se) I like the idea of "ze" (gender-neutral pronoun), but this is the first I've come across it. Hopefully it'll catch on as IMHO it's a big improvement over alternatives like "they". While on the topic of "missing" words, when will our language finally get something reasonable for "you (plural)"?? Extant "y'all" (southern) and "yous" (NJ) are not cutting it!

Why is it a big improvement over 'they'? Singular they has become popular naturally, whereas 'ze' has existed for years without anyone naturally using it(except for trolls on the internet).

"They is having a great time."

It does sound wrong for some uses of he/she.

Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#35

Post by wiredfool »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #31
oh_sigh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it a big improvement over 'they'? Singular they has become popular naturally, whereas 'ze' has existed for years without anyone naturally using it(except for trolls on the internet).

Singular "they" still sounds wrong to me every time I see it. Which is a shame since it would be very useful. Perhaps more importantly, I don't think singular "they" would be considered proper in formal writing.

The singular they is quite old:

> The Oxford English Dictionary traces singular they back to 1375, where it appears in the medieval romance William and the Werewolf.

from https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-singular-they...

Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#36

Post by kermitismyhero »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #31
oh_sigh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it a big improvement over 'they'? Singular they has become popular naturally, whereas 'ze' has existed for years without anyone naturally using it(except for trolls on the internet).

Singular "they" still sounds wrong to me every time I see it. Which is a shame since it would be very useful. Perhaps more importantly, I don't think singular "they" would be considered proper in formal writing.

If singular "they" was good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for me.

There's not a man I meet but doth salute me/ As if I were their well-acquainted friend.

Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#37

Post by blotter_paper »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #16
blotter_paper wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the regular players have a list of two-letter words on paper, in pencil, at hand. No, this is against the rules. You know what we call a list of words? A dictionary. You aren't allowed to have those open until a word gets challenged. A decade ago I had all the two letter words in the Scrabble dictionary memorized, I doubt I'd still be able to spit them all out.

OP said it wasn't visible during play, only as a quick reference when resolving disputes -- quicker than hunting through a full-size dictionary. > No, this is against the rules. It wasn't, but even if it was, that's only the official rules. We can choose to play by different rules.

I'm pretty sure he edited that comment without noting it, the current text doesn't match what I quoted. I do think I misread his intent, but I don't think he originally said that it was just for resolving disputes or specified that it wasn't visible during play. You can see other comments reacting in line with my original interpretation, too.

Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#38

Post by Someone »

hammock wrote: post #24

I've posted this before but in my family we play serious Scrabble but with house rules that improve the game. Rule 1: On your turn, but before playing your word, any letter in your hand may be swapped with any letter on the board, as long as the swap makes a valid word (some people already do this with blanks, we do it with any letter). Swap one letter at a time, as many times as you like. No points are scored for sw…

”the board remains MUCH more open the whole game”

I think that’s a sign of suboptimal play. The goal isn’t to score as many points as possible, it’s to score more points than your opponent. Opening up a line towards a triple-later or even triple-word square only is worth it if your word scores really high.

Also, there often are high-scoring moves that ‘weave’ new words inside the existing grid. An extreme example is adding the o’s in an existing grid of x’es:

   xxxxx
   ooxoox
     xxxxx
        x
(That’s one reason competitive players have to know the full sets of two- and three letter words)

Even if such a move scores 20-ish points less than your points-wise optimal move, it may be the better choice.

Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#39

Post by mattkrause »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #31
oh_sigh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it a big improvement over 'they'? Singular they has become popular naturally, whereas 'ze' has existed for years without anyone naturally using it(except for trolls on the internet).

Singular "they" still sounds wrong to me every time I see it. Which is a shame since it would be very useful. Perhaps more importantly, I don't think singular "they" would be considered proper in formal writing.

If it is good enough for Austin, Byron, and Chesterfield, not to mention Shakespeare, then it is good enough for me.

The catch is that it sounds best when there's no specific antecedent: "Every user of the workshop must be responsible for their own safety."

It sounds odder when it is deliberately used to avoid (mis)gendering a specific individual: "Pat does not discuss their* gender." I think this is the niche that 'ze' is supposed to fill.

Re: Scrabble rule change allows use of 'OK'

#40

Post by BRAlNlAC »

jolmg wrote: post #34
oh_sigh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it a big improvement over 'they'? Singular they has become popular naturally, whereas 'ze' has existed for years without anyone naturally using it(except for trolls on the internet).

"They is having a great time." It does sound wrong for some uses of he/she.

Don’t force the verb form.

“I’m worried about my kid at summer camp”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure they are having a great time”

Sounds very natural to my west coast ears.

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