Yowza! Why Scrabble players say slang is OK
Call for Collins dictionary to allow more slang words that might inspire younger people to start playing
Scrabble players are calling for more slang to be added to the dictionary to ease fears that the game is unpopular among the young, as the US dictionary Merriam-webster announced a slew of new words to be added to the official Scrabble list, including informal language such as “yowza” and “OK”.
MANY of us will have spent a happy evening deep in concentration playing a hotly-contested game of Scrabble at the dining table.
But British Scrabble players are calling for more slang to be added to the dictionary to address concerns that the game is unpopular among the young.
The American dictionary Merriamwebster has announced a slew of new words to be added to the official Scrabble list, including informal language such as “Ew” and “OK”, and British players say its UK equivalent, Collins, should follow suit.
Natalie Zolty, of the Association of British Scrabble Players, said: “I do think that words like ‘OK’ and slang used every day help to make the game more accessible, especially for university-aged people as they aren’t put off by having to learn more words.
“It means they won’t be put off by not winning as they can use their everyday words over really complex ones.”
British Scrabble has older players than in other countries, where it is seen as a courtship ritual or even a sport.
“It’s very different here to other countries around the world,” said Miss Zolty. “Young people in places like Malaysia and Thailand use Scrabble as an opportunity to learn English. It’s even considered a sport in Nigeria and it’s televised. In Thailand, boys use it to get girlfriends, but the attitude is so different here.” Instead, the average age of British competitors is 40-50.
“I compete regularly and in the past year there haven’t been any under-30s at the competitions, except two children once,” Miss Zolty added. Elie Dangoor, the chairman of the World English-language Scrabble Players’ Association, said: “We support all the words added, especially if they are going to make more people play. I think it’s very exciting.”
Mr Dangoor does have one objection, however. “With ‘OK’ there is a lot of controversy,” he said.
“We already have ‘okay’ in the game which is the more correct spelling so we don’t need ‘OK’. It isn’t pronounced any differently so there is no reason to have it in the game. If it was up to me, we wouldn’t have it.”
Lexicographer Peter Sokolowski, the editor at large at Merriam-webster dictionaries, said the two- and three-letter words were “the lifeblood of the game.”
He added that the inclusion of words such as “ew” said “something new about what we’re seeing in language, which is to say that we are now incorporating more of what you might call transcribed speech”.
The two words are among more than 300 new ones added by Merriam-webster. The additions also include bitcoin, listicle, yowza, sheeple, botnet and hivemind.
Collins is revising its Scrabble dictionary, and a new edition is due to be published next year.
“Merriam-webster publishes the word list (and dictionary) that is used for Scrabble tournament play in the US and Canada,” a spokesman said.
“The official Scrabble word list used in the rest of the world, including the UK, is published by Collins, and we are in the process of updating that list.”