Scrabble Dictionary


The official Scrabble dictionary is adding nearly 3,000 new words to its pages including a handful of slang terms that have some players up in arms but as word spread at this scrabble tournament in Saskatoon... there were other emotions. We aired some tape of competitive Scrabble players at a recent tournament in Saskatoon reacting to the news that the Collins Official Scrabble Words Book -- the dictionary most commonly used in international Scrabble play -- is adding words such as Myspace, webzine, Facebook andWiki as well as some slang such as innit --which means isn't it ... thang -- a substitute forthing and grrl, spelled g-r-r-r-l. Apparently either 2 or 3 r's are acceptable.
But some of the new slang words are not sitting well with some Scrabble enthusiasts. Shan Abassi is a Director of the Mississauga Scrabble Club. He also plays competitively -- next month he'll be playing in the Canadian National Championship. Shan Abassi was in Toronto.
But according to Sarah Churchwell, there's not much we can -- or should -- try to do about the fact that languages change. Sarah Churchwell is a professor of American Literature at the University of East Anglia and she was in London, England.
And we gave the last word on the subject of Scrabble to someone who has a much more fundamental problem with the game. Andrew McAfee is a research scientist at the Centre for digital business at MIT.