Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
You don’t have to twerk so hard to win Scrabble
IT’S OK, Scrabble players, the long wait is over – for some of the game’s most soughtafter, but hitherto banned, words have finally been included in the rule book.
OK, along with twerk, ew and emoji, are among 300 new entries in the sixth edition of The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.
Peter Sokolowski, editor at large of publisher Merriam-webster, said: “OK is something players have been waiting for a long time. Basically, two and three-letter words are the lifeblood of the game.” And for players who have struggled when faced with Q but no U, there are now more options, including qapik, a unit of currency in Azerbaijan. Mr Sokolowski said: “Every time there’s a word with Q and no U, it’s a big deal. Most of these are obscure.”
The North American Scrabble Players Association were consulted on the updates. The dictionary first came out in 1976 and is revised every four to eight years.
Other new words include aquafaba, bizjet, beatdown, zomboid, sheeple, bokeh, botnet, facepalm, frowny, hivemind, puggle and nubber. Mr Sokolowski said the new entries show how language is evolving.
The lexicographer explained: “We are now incorporating more transcribed speech – sounds like ew or mm-hmm, or other things like coulda or kinda.
“Traditionally, they were not in the dictionary but because so much of our communication is texting and social media that is written language, we are finding more transcribed speech.”