Thursday, March 13, 2008

Wednesday Wordplay - This week, it's on Thursday!

Due to daylight savings time, Wednesday Wordplay will be held on Thursday this week.

What, that doesn't make any sense? Well, neither does starting Daylight Savings Time at least 3 weeks before anyone else in the world.

No daylight is being saved, it's just reallocated. Ask anyone who has to leave for work before 7. A week ago, we commuted in daylight. Now, half-darkness. Screw you, Daylight Savings Time.

Ok, for real, Wednesday Wordplay: I'm tired of explaining myself on Facebook every time I use the word "QI" or "XU" in scrabulous. The Scrabble Dictionary says these are words and let's me use them, so stop being bitter that I scored 50 points with it. Now, you can too. And you can tell your opponent what they all mean....here we go.

Qi - n. The vital force believed in Taoism and other Chinese thought to be inherent in all things. It's also spelled "Chi" and "Ki" (that one's usable, too) Ka is an egyptian spiritual entity, believed to live within the body during life and to survive it after death. Ba is another egyptian spiritual entity, an aspect of the soul represented by a bird with a human head.

Let's go alphabetically now (roughly), so as not to confuse.

Aa is a word, and will get a scrabble player out of plenty of rough spots. Aa is rough itself, it's a rough basaltic lava. Ae is also acceptable, the scottish word for "one". Ai is a three-toed sloth, pronouced ah-ee!

Ab is an abdominal muscle, you knew that. Ad is an advertisement. You knew that, too. Ag is agriculture.

Al - n. an indian mulberry tree.

Am, An, As, At - duh. More duhs: Be, By, Do, Go, He, If, In, Is, It, Me, No, Or, Ox, So, To, Up, Us and We.

Ax - a thing you use to cut stuff.

Ay - the letter "A" Ef is the letter "F". There's also Em, En, Ar, Es, and Ex.

Bi is slang for a bisexual. Bo is slang for pal. Other accepted slang or dialectic words : un (one), na (no), et (ate) ya (you). Za is a slang word for pizza (that I've never heard anyone use, why do you have to abbreviate the word Pizza?).

De is the preposition meaning "from" or "of", just like in french or spanish class.

Do. A deer. A female deer. Ok, not really. it's actually a verb. But - Re, Mi, Fa, La, and Ti are all acceptable, too. Li and Si are semi-tones. Loyal reader Eric can explain.

Ed - short for "education"

Fe - the hebrew letter פ. Put a dot inside and it's Pe.

Id - the opposite of ego

Interjections!
Ah! or ahhhhh
Eh...
HA!
Hm?
Mm(mmmmm)
Ow!
Sh(hhh)
Uh
Yo!

Lo (and behold)
Aw...
Er...
Hi! Ho! Oh,

Oi Oy (vey!)
TA
Um....
Ye (an olde-y but a goode-y)

Jo - n. beloved one; darling; sweetheart.

Li - n. a Chinese unit of distance, equivalent to about one-third of a mile

Ma - and her husband Pa.

Mo - short for moment

Mu - is a greek letter, so is nu, pi and xi.

Ne - from the french "nee" meaning born.

Od - n. a hypothetical force formerly held to pervade all nature and to manifest itself in magnetism, mesmerism, chemical action, etc.

Oe is a whirlwind

Om - a mantric word used in meditation.

Op - as in "op-art"

Os - bone

Xu - 1/100th of a Dong

(It's Vietnamese currency, not... get your mind out of the gutter. There's room here for a Lorena Bobbitt joke, but I think I'll steer clear)

Goodnight Everybody!

And that's Wednesday Wordplay, on thursday. Now go win your scrabulous games!











2 comments:

Eric said...

I guess it never occurred to me why do, re, etc. are accepted (even ut is accepted, the old word for do), but di, ri, ra, fi, te, are not. Personally, I find it easier to just say "C-sharp"

Nicole said...

People argue with you about the acceptable 2 letter words? I thought everyone knew. That's why scrabulous provides a little list for you.

(sidenote: the little list in my family's scrabble dictionary varies somewhat from the facebook one)