Scrabble

I played Scrabble when I was a kid. We didn't play strictly by the rules, and because English was NOT our first language- come to think of it, Enlish came in third in the languages we spoke-  we actually made an exception to the rules: Filipino and Trukese words were allowed.

Last weekend, we had dinner at our friends', Liam's Parents. After dinner we sat for a game of Scrabble, among other games. We broke into three teams: Liam's Parents, Palomino and Alfonsina, Five-Star and Yours Truly. Five-Star and I opened the board with the word RAGE.

As happens with a blank page, the board filled up quickly.

And then the leading scorers were stumped.

Who wouldn't be when all the letters one has left are these.

*If I only an A was available on the board, I could spell VIADUCTI. You know, plural for "viaductus".*

We didn't have a dictionary, and because we had an English As a Second Language (ESL) speaker in our midst, it was inevitable that some players- I'm not saying who- attempted to invent words in order to use up their useless tiles. TIREEMUMAY was a tad far fetched, but that player gave it a valiant effort.

Someone even tried to argue that JUBOY is defined as "a young Jewish male". Right!

This was my favorite. AJUCALM, you know street slang for "one who is calm."

When one can't even find a place to make a two-letter word anymore, it's time to call the game quits. And so the game ended with a beautifully filled board, which by the way did not include foreign or made-up vocabulary. On that note, is "HA" a word?

It isn't.

[Corrected on 02/22/11.]
Yes, "ha" is an acceptable Scrabble word.

Hah!