I thought “re” was in there because of solfege (as the second tone of the scale) not the “in re:” usage.
Well there’s that too now isn’t there? 
(I figured it was “re” because of “res” and “qua” but you’re probably right)
You can look stuff up (and get the definition) for the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, 4th Ed. from Hasbro online right here. (That’s for the U.S. wordlist anyway.)
An odd selection from what I would consider recently coined vernacular:
PHAT is in there (meaning “excellent”), but BLING is not.
RAD is in there (meaning “to fear” ?!), but not HELLA.
Phat was in there before anyone thought it was excellent. I forget exactly what but it has something to do with nails (the hammering kind). Rad is a unit of radiation dosage.
I’ve always been frustrated that zoot (as in zoot suit, zoot suiter, and zoot pants) isn’t in the Scrabble dictionary. Granted, those terms are sometimes capitalized and sometimes hyphenated, but not always. Oddly enough, the derived term zooty is in the dictionary now, a word I have never seen or heard outside the Scrabble dictionary.
Weird. I just sat down to write up “zoot” and you beat me by three minutes.
The definitions I gave (for PHAT, and RAD meaning “to fear”) are the ones actually given in the Scrabble dictionary. Hence the head scratching!
Ok. The preferred definition to give in the OSPD is not necessarily the oldest or most common, but the one that has the most forms (i.e., “radder, raddest” etc.).
Hi everyone, my issue is not so much with “za” though I think that is a stretch, it is with missing solfege. Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti are the syllables for the Major Scale. They are part of an international musical language that is used by every musician I have ever met. So if the Major scale is acceptable, why isn’t the Minor scale acceptable: Do, Re, Me (“may”), Fa, So, Le (“lay”), Te (“tay”) In fact, I would argue that if they accept some solfege syllables, they must accept all of them: Do, Di, Ra, Re, Ri, Me, Mi, Fa, Fi, Se, So, Si, Le, La, Li, Te, Ti.
There are two Solfege systems in use. The American system is known as “Moveable Do” meaning that whatever key you’re in, the first degree of the scale is “Do”. The older European system is also known as “Fixed Do”. In this system, Do is always “C”.
There is some variation historically in the treatment of accidentals (black keys on the piano) but among musicians who play modern music, the chromatic scale that I listed above is universally used and understood.
I live in New York City, the undisputed capital of Pizza and undisputed capital of Jazz. I eat a slice of “za” 4-5 times a week. I can honestly say I heard the word “za” twice before becoming a scrabble addict. Once by an MC in a freestyle battle, once by a friend. On the other hand, I have heard and used solfege syllables (especially Fi, Le and Te) thousands of times at least… and that doesn’t include my time in music school or while teaching.
Whenever I bring this up with other scrabble enthusiasts, they usually shrug it off. Is it possible that I am the only person who sees the inherent flaw in accepting some solfege syllables and not others?
Superman as a verb.
I’ve never heard the term ‘solfege.’ I know the notes of the major scale because of the Julie Andrews song.
Does the harmonic scale have a name for that three-half-tone jump (seventh?)?
Those are the ones that are annoying to me, especially pinyinizations. Apparently some are common enough for scrabble, but others aren’t. If you live in a very cross-cultural place, the only way to know in advance if a word is valid or not is to memorize every freaking instance or omission in the dictionary.
E.g. why is gyro valid but shumai is not?
Ti. It’s the same note as the one in the major scale, so the actual note has the same name.
Why don’t I give you the traditional chromatic scale, which covers all 17 notes?
UP DOWN
SOLFEGE KEY OF C SOLFEGE KEY OF C
do C ti B
di C♯ te B♭
re D la A
ri D♯ le A♭
mi E so G
fa F se G♭
fi F♯ fa F
so G mi E
si G♯ me E♭
la A re D
li A♯ ra D♭
ti B do C
I was going to say “because you can get a gyro in every mall food court in America,” but I checked the Scrabble dictionary – they use it as “short for gyroscope,” no food reference involved.
More Scrabble dictionary omissions:
-“afro” (as in the hairstyle) ain’t in
-“yanqui” is in, “yankee” isn’t
-on the cheese front, “havarti” makes the cut, “gouda” and “edam” don’t
Seconded.
I remember playing gouda once during a tight game, being challenged, then losing my turn. I was a bit miffed, but then less so when I won.
Elements of the periodic table. Nothing’s more annoying than having to sit on an elegant Scrabble, just because “Mg” ain’t a word.
Someone please tell me that this is a joke.
My friend told me about that this morning. I was hoping it was some sort of late April Fool’s prank. Nobody worth playing Scrabble with will give in to this proper noun rubbish anyway.