# Ored and zas legal in scrabble? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 21, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288 "2013-04-21T04:40:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/1 "2013-04-21T04:40:02Z")
Zas is plural slang for pizzas, and ored could be used for the boolean operation. The two registers were ored. We didn’t use either (no dictionary or wifi available) We also rejected cert. Brian ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/2 "2013-04-21T04:50:07Z")
za isn’t a real word it doesn’t count in scrabble ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/3 "2013-04-21T05:08:48Z")
I don’t know what the real rules of Scrabble are, but I’ve seen people pull out foreign language dictionaries and use those words. It’s like the list of non-Scrabble words would be shorter than the permitted ones. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/4 "2013-04-21T05:10:09Z")
Foreign words are not allowed either. What sort of cheaters do you play with ---
**Author:** ![Reyemile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@Reyemile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reyemile)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/5 "2013-04-21T05:41:53Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > za isn’t a real word it doesn’t count in scrabble Za is absolutely counted by both Scrabble and Words With Friends on my iPad. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/6 "2013-04-21T05:45:41Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Foreign words are not allowed either. What sort of cheaters do you play with I don’t play with them, I just watch them. It’s not my type of game. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/7 "2013-04-21T06:36:21Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > za isn’t a real word it doesn’t count in scrabble [Za.](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/za?s=t) It also showed up in the online Scrabble Dictionaries, but I’m not sure how official those are, versus the print one from Hasbro. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/8 "2013-04-21T06:59:25Z")
ZA and QI were officially added to the print dictionary back in 2006 for the 4th edition. [Cite.](http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sectionfront/life/scrabble-players-adjust-as-official-dictionary-adds-za-qi-and-3300-others-429268/) It was notable at the time because “Z” and “Q” now had 2 letter combinations available. They were the last 2 alphabet letters without a 2 tile combination. They are also the only tiles worth 10 points. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/9 "2013-04-21T07:25:16Z")
> [@Wolverine](#): > > ZA and QI were officially added to the print dictionary back in 2006 for the 4th edition. [Cite.](http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sectionfront/life/scrabble-players-adjust-as-official-dictionary-adds-za-qi-and-3300-others-429268/) It was notable at the time because “Z” and “Q” now had 2 letter combinations available. They were the last 2 alphabet letters without a 2 tile combination. They are also the only tiles worth 10 points. There’s still “C” and “V”, which don’t have any two-letter words. At least not in the American scrabble dictionary. I’m not sure about English or international. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/10 "2013-04-21T11:46:48Z")
Players must agree on a dictionary before the start of play. There is an official Scrabble dictionary which is used for tournament play, but in its absence, any dictionary can be used. From there, the basic question is - is it in the dictionary? If not, it doesn’t count and the player who played the word loses a turn. If it is, the player who challenged loses a turn. It doesn’t matter if it is a commonly used term that everyone at the table knows; the question is ‘Is it in the dictionary?’ I say this as someone who is still bitter about losing a challenge on ‘zebu’ (a humped ox _bos indicus_, found in India, Asia and Africa). It is in the Oxford English dictionary, but not in the Scrabble dictionary. (Or at least, not in the edition of the Scrabble dictionary we were using…) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/11 "2013-04-21T13:59:48Z")
\*\*za \*\*is a valid word, since 2006 as mentioned above if you are using the Official Scrabble dictionary. **zas** is not valid. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/12 "2013-04-21T23:27:50Z")
Seems to be if za is allowed zas should be too. As mentioned we had no dictionary at all. I’m sure Scrabble purests will shudder, but we played super friendly (if the table did not think it was a word you could try again) Brian would certainly allow zebu ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/13 "2013-04-21T23:35:28Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > \*\*za \*\*is a valid word, since 2006 as mentioned above if you are using the Official Scrabble dictionary. **zas** is not valid. For the US at least, “ZAS” is valid, being the plural of “ZA”. (You can run searches in the official Scrabble dictionary [here](http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble/en_US/tips.cfm).) “QI” also takes an S to form “QIS”. “ORED” is not valid. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/14 "2013-04-21T23:39:20Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Seems to be if za is allowed zas should be too. Not necessarily. “za” refers to “pizza the food”, not a particular pizza pie (e.g. you don’t have “a” za; you have “some za”). Yes, you can say, “some pizzas,” but in this case “pizza” refers to individual pies, so za would not be a synonym. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/15 "2013-04-21T23:49:00Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Not necessarily. > > “za” refers to “pizza the food”, not a particular pizza pie (e.g. you don’t have “a” za; you have “some za”). Yes, you can say, “some pizzas,” but in this case “pizza” refers to individual pies, so za would not be a synonym. Wait…the online Scrabble dictionary defines “za” as “_a_ pizza”? I have never heard it used that way, but it’s their game… As for “ored”, technically the logical operation is in capital letters, so it’s “ORed”, which would not be allowed. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/16 "2013-04-22T02:09:16Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > For the US at least, “ZAS” is valid, being the plural of “ZA”. I could have sworn ZAS was not valid, but I haven’t checked in a while. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/17 "2013-04-22T05:48:18Z")
The Official Scrabble Player’s Dictionary should be good enough for the settling of disputes in friendly games, but it actually fails to include many words that are thought to be too coarse or insulting for polite society but which are nevertheless approved for use in tournament play. A prime example is “ofay.” There are many others. If you like you can go to the website www.isc.ro and download the complete official scrable wordlist. You are correct in refusing to accept “cert.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/18 "2013-04-22T13:49:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Le Ministre de l’au-delà** : > > Players must agree on a dictionary before the start of play. There is an official Scrabble dictionary which is used for tournament play, but in its absence, any dictionary can be used. This bears repeating. The official rules of Scrabble do not specify any particular dictionary, only that all players must agree on one. You could, if you chose, play Scrabble using only Urban Dictionary, or only words that get at least 5000 Google hits, or only words found in _Finnegan’s Wake_. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/19 "2013-04-23T01:07:25Z")
> [@denquixote](#): > > The Official Scrabble Player’s Dictionary should be good enough for the settling of disputes in friendly games, but it actually fails to include many words that are thought to be too coarse or insulting for polite society but which are nevertheless approved for use in tournament play. When me and my dad play, we use a house Rule of Two Dictionaries: We have a recent Official Scrabble Dictionary (which includes ZA and QI), but we also have an older Official Scrabble Dictionary from before they took out all the dirty words and racial slurs. Any word which appears in either of them is acceptable. (For use in Scrabble, I mean. Not necessarily acceptable to use in polite society.) > [@N9IWP](#): > > We also rejected cert. > [@denquixote](#): > > You are correct in refusing to accept “cert.” Heck, the plaintiffs didn’t even have standing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288/20 "2013-04-24T01:19:11Z")
Oh, and on the topic of “ored”, is “xor” a legal word? If not, then “ored” certainly wouldn’t be, but if it is, then you can make a pretty good case that it ought to be. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ored-and-zas-legal-in-scrabble/656288.md?page=2)