I’ve been playing vjunior Scrabble with the kids. Kept in mind these ages are 4 to almost 11.
There’s a great divide in ages. And then me, an ol’ granny.
Let me preface this by saying no one, NO! one has ever beaten me at Scrabble.
And I don’t care if they are just kids, I am merciless. I think it builds character to lose to ones Nana.
After 3 games, eldest grand-daughter asked me how I win all the time. I simply said "I’ve read the dictionary, and the Scrabble dictionary, and OTHER things.
Her head and the eldest grand-son pea brain decided that meant I invented ‘Scrabble’
She goes on-line and sees it was invented in the 1930s.
She states I would have to be nearly 100. (Great math there miss second grader)
I said back “I never said I invented Scrabble in the 1930s”
In his ultimate wisdom, eldest Grand-son says: " You must’ve been a young kid", (gah! Not good math skills there mister third grader)
No matter what I say they believe I invented Scrabble.
Umm…
They also believe I’m the genius behind “knock-knock jokes”
Oops!!!
My favorite nephews daughter (I forget what that makes her to me) told me about Abraham Lincoln on his birthday two years ago. I told her I used to go fishing with Abe when we were both kids. She stood up and told her teacher about her Uncle kayaker being friends with Lincoln.
This reminds me of how we play Uno in our house. We call it “Cut-Throat Uno,” which means that, if someone is down to only a few cards in their hand (i.e., they’re close to winning), everyone else gangs up on them to make them draw lots of cards.
When my niece was about 7 or 8, she got a “Hello Kitty” Uno deck for Christmas. She spent most of Christmas afternoon trying to entice my wife and me into playing with her. She still hasn’t forgiven us for how that game went.
bwaa-ha-ha. I love these stories. My niece, now that she’s 26, has finally learned why I wouldn’t play games with her when she was a kid. Kids are constant cheaters and she was their queen. She says she still is.
When I was 38, my hair and beard started to turn white.
So I was teaching a class of new 11 year olds computing; the lesson had gone really well and with a couple of spare minutes to go I asked if they had any questions.
Hands shot up.
“Mr Glee, how old are you?”
I was ready for this.
“Well firstly, that is a personal question and you need to be careful. Some people don’t like being asked those sorts of questions.
However I don’t mind. So type on your computer how old you think I am - and if anybody guesses correctly, I’ll answer.”
Frantic typing ensued.
I strolled round the room, looking at their screens.
The youngest guess was 53 and the oldest 85.
I asked the ‘85’ guesser why he thought that.
“Well you have white hair and beard and so does my grandfather. And he’s 85!”
I congratulated the pupil on using logic and told the class nobody got it right…
91 (my mom’s age (born 1930)) is close to 100. It’s closer to 90, but pretty good estimating for a 7(ish) year-old. Certainly better then the third grader.
(For those not seeing the rather erudite joke, a treppenwitz is the funny remark you think of too late - literally, a staircase witticism. The joke you think of when you have left the building. I couldn’t think of anything funny, hence Hari’s observation. )
I used to ‘reverse-cheat’ while playing Battleship with my kid years ago. He’d call out the dumbest places, and would never win if the game was legit. So, he’d call out a corner or something, and I’d move my ship there and make a big dramatic, “Oh! You hit my Ship!!!”
Kid’s game I hated most: Chutes and Ladders. It’s not only boring, it’s almost impossible to cheat so your kid will win and the game will be over sooner.
Beck, you’re so good, I’m surprised anyone will play Scrabble with you. Maybe Don Quixote.
@nelliebly, no adults in my house will allow me to play Scrabble.
Trivial pursuit is out as well.
Son-of-a-wrek says I have nothing better to do than read dictionaries and trivia books. It seems I’m not allowed to be better informed and have a nice vocabulary.
