# Need scrabble words Q but no U

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-scrabble-words-q-but-no-u/577067>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [April 3, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-scrabble-words-q-but-no-u/577067 "2011-04-03T20:13:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-scrabble-words-q-but-no-u/577067/41 "2011-04-05T01:53:31Z")

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Qan is currently the “proper” word for Khan … personally I go either way. One of those ineffable stupid transliteration thingies. I have also seen Xan in some victorian era sources.

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**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-scrabble-words-q-but-no-u/577067/42 "2011-04-05T02:27:59Z")

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Thanks everyone. Wow, lots of words I’ve never heard of before.

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**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:** [April 5, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-scrabble-words-q-but-no-u/577067/43 "2011-04-05T04:21:31Z")

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> [@OpalCat](#):
>
> Thanks everyone. Wow, lots of words I’ve never heard of before.

Yeah, that’s Scrabble for you. Have you read [_Word Freak_](http://www.amazon.com/Word-Freak-Heartbreak-Competitive-ScrabblePlayers/dp/B004Q7E1ZS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301976829&sr=8-1), by any chance? It’s a wonderfully funny journalistic piece on competitive Scrabble and the author’s indoctrination into that weird world and his quest to attain a 1600 rating. I picked it up at an airport somewhere and read it cover to cover–384 pages–on the flight. I just couldn’t put it down. You get a fascinating insight on what it takes to become a competitive Scrabble player (lots of list memorization and anagramming, for instance) and the, um, unique personalities that inhabit that world.

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**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-scrabble-words-q-but-no-u/577067/44 "2011-04-05T07:56:57Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I mean, if “qi” or “burqa” aren’t English words, then what _is_ the English word for the life-force studied in Chinese mysticism, or for the full-body garment conservative Muslim women wear?

“Chi” and “Burka” spring to mind. That sort of thing is why I always understood Scrabble didn’t allow “Foreign” words not widely used in English; because of difficulties in translating from something like Chinese or Arabic to English.

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**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-scrabble-words-q-but-no-u/577067/45 "2011-04-05T18:09:46Z")

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never mind

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