Ew! It's finally OK to play ew (and OK) as a Scrabble word
Facepalm, twerk and emoji all make the game's official dictionary as part of a huge new update.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Scrabble players, get yourself a copy of the new 2018 Scrabble dictionary, and challenge your favorite smartypants to a battle of the brains.
"Facepalm" is now an OK Scrabble word. So's "OK."
Merriam-Webster published a roundup of some of the more than 300 new words added to the gameplayer's bible on Monday. The first Scrabble dictionary came out in 1976, and since then, it's been the one resource for rule-following players of all ages.
Note that this is the American update: the BBC reports that British players will have to wait until the British version of the dictionary is updated next year to incorporate any changes.
Here's a quick look at some of the new words to memorize.
Need a short word?
"OK" and "ew" are now A-OK to use.
Have a Q but no U?
"Qapik" is now allowed. It's a monetary unit in Azerbaijan.
Loaded up on vowels?
"Arancini" is in the dictionary, it's an Italian ball of cooked rice.
Want some too-modern words that Grandma might challenge?
Try these: "bizjet," "bestie," "twerk," "sheeple," "emoji," facepalm," and "hivemind."
Non-Scrabble dictionaries gained words recently too. Earlier this month, Merriam-Webster announced the addition of more than 840 new entries to the standard dictionary. Some favorites include "TL;DR" (for "Too Long; Didn't Read") as well as "force quit," "airplane mode," "mocktail" and "hangry."
And back in June, the Oxford English Dictionary added more than 900 entries. Newbies include "binge-watch," "impostor syndrome," and "lorem ipsum," that last phrase meaning the fake dummy type often used as filler when setting up a webpage or newspaper article.