# Are those convenient little words in Scrabble REALLY words? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 7, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027 "2001-11-07T18:05:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/21 "2001-11-08T10:01:10Z")
I play scrabble at playsite 3.0 but it says scrabble and other Hasbro games provided by [games.com](http://games.com) so I’d think the rules are the same ---
**Author:** ![Caiata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Caiata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caiata)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/22 "2001-11-08T11:10:23Z")
Anybody know what’s up with being able to use the word “Latino”? Latino, I thought, was referring to anything from or pertaining to Latin America? Kind of like “Japanese” (not allowed) is anything from or pertaining to Japan? Latino is in the Scrabble Dictionary only it is “latino”. The definition was something along the lines of - I don’t own the dictionary, a friend has it - “from or pertaining to Latin America” (I think?), but “American”, “Japanese”, “Chinese”, “Armenian”, etc., as far as I can recall, aren’t allowed. So what’s the deal with “(L/l)atino”? ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/23 "2001-11-08T17:20:42Z")
I’ve seen Latino used like the word hispanic, like, she was going out with a Latino, but it’s usually capitalized. Somebody from Latin America, etc. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/24 "2001-11-08T17:28:49Z")
Interestingly enough, the British Scrabble dictionary has a slightly different set of allowable two-letter words. Off-hand, the only one I can remember is that “QI” is allowed as another spelling for “CHI” (as in the Taoist life force, not the Greek letter.) The American version does not allow that word, last I checked. Hmmm…but the American Heritage dictionary does list “qi” as an alternate spelling. I personally like playing with all the two-letter words, because I really don’t think any of them really are cheating. I mean, OK, to some the words “en” and “em” seem stupid, but I know them from printing & typography. (And they are also allowable as spellings of letters…which is what it is in typography anyway…as in “en dash” - a dash with the width of an “n”) You may think “aa” is a stupid fictional word, derived solely for the purposes of causing endless arguments in Scrabble, but like **Max** , I’ve heard it used and have seen it in print. “Qat” was used in National Geographic a few years ago. Alternate spellings “kat” and “khat” are also permissible. [Here’s a list of all those 2-letter word definitions.](http://www.yak.net/kablooey/scrabble/2letterwords.html) I do hate it, though, when vowel-free interjections are used, such that “hm” and “hmm” are acceptable, just as “brr” and “brrr” are. Heck, why not “brrrr”? Or “Hmmmm”? ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/25 "2001-11-08T23:21:59Z")
As a professional Scrabble player, I’ll offer my expert opinion. The whole point of using a dictionary is to _prevent_ arguments. Ditto with agreeing upon a specific dictionary. The OSPD is what made things like tournament and club play possible. You can go into any club or tourney in NA knowing that that wonderfully useful word ouguiya (unit of currency in Mauritania, but I’m sure you all knew that) will not be challenged off the board just because someone else is using a different dictionary. Does the OSPD have a lot of obscure, bizarre words? Yes. But keep in mind that for somebody, somewhere, those words are normal every day objects. There are unfortunately some words that shouldn’t be words, like kbar and al, but nobody is ever going to be in complete agreement over what should and shouldn’t be a word. So, we agree to use a standardized source to avoid endless disputes over the board which would render play impossible. If Mr. Athena finds the inclusion of so many obscure twos intolerable, it’s probably only because they are the most frequently played. There are far more obscure threes, fours, etc. that simply don’t come up as often. If you wish, you can agree to play using a different dictionary with fewer words. After all, you are supposed to play for fun, and it’s hardly fun when you are constantly upset at the word source. As for specific points raised in this thread, ba is considered English just as nirvana (a blessed state in Buddhism) is. Neither are native English words (if there really is such a creature), but they have been judged by dictionary compilers to have passed sufficiently into English to be acceptable, even if they describe non-English concepts. Latino has me a bit stumped. Perhaps it’s an ethnic, not a geographic thing. Negroid and mongoloid are also acceptable. All the old rules for determining rule validity still apply. No foreign words, no hyphenated or capitalized words, no abbreviations, no chemical symbols, etc. Some of the words certainly _look_ like abbreviations, and some like amu (atomic mass unit) are very questionable, but the rules are still the same. A final note: the current dictionary used in professional Scrabble is the OWL (Official Word List). It is very similar to the OSPD3, except that it has a handful of minor additions and deletions, and it contains all those wonderful “naughty” words that aren’t in the OSPD3. Oh, and it’s just a word list–no definitions, parts of speech, or anything. I’ll be happy to answer any more Scrabble-related questions you may have. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/26 "2001-11-09T17:44:25Z")
\ > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pulykamell \* > I mean, OK, to some the words “en” and “em” seem stupid, but I know them from printing & typography. (And they are also allowable as spellings of letters…which is what it is in typography anyway…as in “en dash” - a dash with the width of an “n”) That’s what that means? That is one of those little things that has been bothering me for years, but not enough to actually try to look it up or anything. 🙂 Now I know why an em-dash is longer than an en-dash, Cool. \ ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/27 "2001-11-10T06:05:10Z")
Two-letter words are allowed, but certain four-letter words are not. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/28 "2001-11-10T12:19:52Z")
yes, if i’m remembering my typography correctly, the em dash is the width of a lowercase “m” and the en dash is the width of a lowercase “n.” the en dash is alt-0150 on your pc, and the em is alt-0151. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/29 "2001-11-10T21:07:21Z")
The one that always got me was _oe_… a whirlwind in the Faeroe islands. I can understand (I guess) the Scottish words like _ain_ (but not _zo_). And I’m not above using _xu_. But why _qua_ and not _quo_, _hmm_ but not _doh_… It’s very arbitrary, but if you don’t like it simply pick a less comprehensive dictionary as your standard (like those crappy school versions). ---
**Author:** ![GreatKingRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@GreatKingRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreatKingRat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/30 "2001-11-10T21:58:08Z")
Opus1, Do you have a list of the additions and deletions in OWL? Do you know if [games.com](http://games.com) uses OWL or OSPD3? Why do you consider al a questionable word? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027/31 "2001-11-10T22:00:42Z")
I’ll never forget the time I was playing a friend and we were using a random dictionary pulled off the shelf. I played “aa” so I could go sideways and he challenged me. And this beautiful huge dictionary _didn’t have “aa”!!!_. I was traumatized. I thought everyone knew what aa was. That’s what you get for being a science geek. Too bad pahoehoe isn’t as useful. Gotta love those Hawaiian loan words. But my favorite was getting challenged on “karst”. Ha ha, everyone knows that a karst is an area where limestone erosion has caused sinkholes. Loser. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-those-convenient-little-words-in-scrabble-really-words/92027.md?page=1)