Found Word of the Day

I found this on a medical journal cover the other day.. I didn't have my cell phone handy to snap a pic, though. You should be glad I didn't; medical journal covers are nasty. And myxedema is especially nasty.

MYXEDEMA a disease caused by decreased activity of the thyroid gland.

Hey, how about some

BONUS MYX- WORDS!!!!

MYXOID containing mucus (adj)
MYXOMA a tumor composed of mucus tissue (-S or see plural below)
MYXAMEBA a slime mold that resembles an amoeba (gross. takes -E or -S)
MYXOCYTE a large cell found in mucous tissue
MYXOMATA plural of MYXOMA.

Hope you have mucus/ slime/ tumor/ mold/ amoeba- free Christmyx.

EEINRZ?

Fill in the blank quiz..

Missed this one on Facebook Scrabble. Knew the word, but had never studied it.

Click here for the answer. (in picture form)

CIKLOPZ

Just learned this one and I feel duty-bound to pass it on...

Would work nicely as an extension to ZIP or LOCK...

Important, though: it's an adjective. so no -S.

ESPALIER

My wife just asked if I knew what this meant; it was in a book she's reading.
I said no, and then of course ran downstairs to look it up. Next stop, flash card.

ESPALIER to furnish with a trellis [v. -ED, -ING, -S]

Today's Link

http://wordglue.com/cgi/py/stem.py

This was just posted on cgp (an email list for competitive players).. it's an online stem and anamonic builder.

For those of you who don't know, 'stems' are an easy way to begin memorizing bingos ; for example, if you have TISANE on your rack, there is an 'anamonic' (a phrase that contains all letters that can be combined with TISANE to form a 7 letter word) for it.

Actually, different people have come up with different phrases, which is why I like this site. I first learned 'TUCKSHOP WIZ FIXES MEDICINAL BEVERAGE', but maybe you'd prefer another suggestion on there: 'MAKES EXCELLENT HERB TEA; GIVES FOOD A POWERFUL BUZZ'

AIPPRY

Found word of the day...

PAPYRI (plural of PAPYRUS)

Not so uncommon, but I didn't know you could make it plural this way. The names have been changed (whited out) to protect the innocent.

Also all good:
PAPYRAL
PAPYRIAN
PAPYRINE


Hmm, that reminds me of HYENA, HYENIC, HYENOID, HYENINE.
Comment if you know of any other words like this that have 3 different adjective forms.

Episode 52 notes...

IH words
IHRAM a garb worn by muslim pilgrims
JIHAD (JEHAD) a muslim holy war (HADJI)
NIHIL nothing
MIHRAB a niche in a mosque
MAIHEM (MAYHEM)
MANIHOT a tropical plant
SHANTIH (SHANTI) peace
COPIHUE a climbing vine  koh-pee-wey

ULTRA an ultraist
SUPRA above (no s)
(O)MEGA great in size or importance (no s)
GIGA a gigue/ gighe (a lively dance)

over and out:
OUTBRED (doubter obtrude redoubt) to interbreed relatively unrelated stocks
OVERBRED to breed to excess


MOG to move away


SFORZATO(s) the playing of a tone or chord with sudden force


(S)FORZANDO(S) / (S)FORZANDI
(alternate spelling of SFORZATO! FORZANDO takes an S front hook!)


also: SFERICS an electronic detector of storms
        SFUMATO  a technique used in painting      

PSORALEN a drug used to treat psoriasis

TRICORN(E) a hat with the brim turned up on three sides

BIRAMOSE  divided into two branches (no s)

ABCIJON

Found word of the day...

Playing an opponent on FB with this as a last name.

JACOBIN a pigeon

ABEIJNS

Found word of the day...

BASENJI

In a book of 'useless facts' at the local ice cream shop..

BBEKLOS

Found word of the day...

One of many interesting antelope names.
Not too keen on buying the hide of one and draping it over my couch, though.

Quite possibly...

...the coolest SCRABBLE play I've ever made. It was during a Facebook game, but I decided to recreate it here:

http://www.cross-tables.com/annotated.php?u=5019#12

see if you can figure it out.

Another Crazy Word...

Here's a new one I just learned:

UINTAITE n. a variety of asphalt

Interesting things about this word:
1. All 1 point tiles.
2. Cannot be formed from a 7 + a tile.
3. UINTAHITE is also good (I assume it's an alternate spelling?)
4. The only other word (as far as I can tell) that starts with UI in the TWL is another 9: UITLANDER.

GATEABLE*

Just tried to play this in a facebook game.

The irony? ABLEGATE is good.

AINPRTT

Today's found word....

TRIPTAN

also, TRIPTANE

n. a drug for treating migraine attacks

Alternate spellings to 'common' bingos..

Here's a couple of bingos that I might have falsely challenged before discovering that they are alternate spellings to the more commonly used bingos that I'll also list:

TAWNEYS (a light brown color, pl.)
I would have said, "Duh, it's spelled TAWNIES, you idiot!"

AIGRETTE (a tuft of feathers worn as a head ornament)
Of course, I know AIGRETS (SATIRE + G), but never knew that it's really
an alternate spelling of the above.

Got any others to add?

OTTOMEN*

Don't know why I thought of this today, but I thought it would be funny
if the plural of OTTOMAN was the above phony. For good measure,
here's the four eights that end in MANS:



HANUMANS
OTTOMANS
OVERMANS
PULLMANS

What the?!

I can't figure out how this flashcard made it into my pile. It's not even like it's one letter off from a legit word. Luckily I didn't try and play it in a real game and have since erased it from memory. Reminds me of the other card I had which read GEODIAL* instead of the proper spelling. If you can come up with a possible word from SAIKEIS*, let me know.

YAWMETER

n. an instrument in an aircraft

stumbled across this one after I yawned and got curious about YAW words.
The other cool one I learned is YAWEY.

BIMNRUUV

Today's found word, brought to you by the cover of an Audubon magazine...and hey, November 30 is my birthday.

ADGIOOLS

Today's found word... the funny thing is, I've occasionally delivered mail to this foundation for years and never thought that it was anything other than a made up word. Then yesterday, I was walking past the flower shop in the same building and they were selling it.

AEMNPSU

I found this one after thinking about how much easier doing my brakes would have been if I owned a pneumatic wrench. Whoops, that probably gave it away.

Today's found word: AAGILTW

WAGTAIL  a songbird

 You never know what you might find on an international stamp...

Hey, if you have a 'found word', email me the image and I'll post it on here.

Here's the problem with blanks...

... you don't know what they are.

Seriously, though, here's an example: the other day I had AAGGNT? on my rack.

My mind naturally wanted the blank to be a vowel, since there were already 4 consonants.  Nope.

There are three answers, post any you can figure out.

Today's Link..

I like the simple layout of this site. It's not a blog, but rather a site with several different word learning and anagramming sections. I should note that I did think of the new podcast/blog title a few days before seeing the 'word up' button on this site. Though I can't say I would have been totally above borrowing it.

http://www.scrabblejunction.org/index.htm

Episode 50 notes

episode 50.. coming soon to an iPod near you..

extension series
mulligaTAWNIES a curry flavored soup

3 letter words
FER(en)  for
(t)REF(st) to referee

bonus blog list!: 2 letter words that take a T front and back hook:
HAE HEN HIN RAP REF WAS WEE WOS


NUDNICK NUDNIK an annoying person

zam words (note: all take an S except SHAZAM)
ZAMIA a tropical plant
NIZAM  a former sovereign of India
NIZAMATE the territory of a nizam
SHAZAM used to signify a magical occurrence (no s)
ZAMARRA a sheepskin coat
ZAMARRO a zamarra
ZAMINDAR(I) (zuh-meen-dahr) a tax collector in precolonial India ZEMINDAR(Y)


NAKFA monetary unit of Eritrea
JOUAL  a dialect of Canadian French

EUPHONIC (EUPHONY) pleasant sound
EUPHORIC (EUPHORIA) a feeling of well being
EUPHOTIC pertaining to the upper layer of a body of water



TOCSINS an alarm sounded on a bell
AZULEJO (ah-soo-le-haw) a type of ceramic tile

BIRD/HARE/LAMEBRAINED is good

BILNOR?

Fill in the blank quiz...

There's only one answer!

-KIAS words

By coincidence I learned CLARKIAS and FUNKIAS during the past week. I've been delivering mail to the Clarke School for the Deaf; hence the first discovery... I forget how I stumbled across the second one.
 
Anyway, there is just one other word that ends in -KIAS. It's an 8. Know it?

THUGGEE

This actually means 'thuggery in India', not 'one who has been thugged'. Here's a couple of other cool -EE words:

KOKANEE a food fish

WHANGEE an asian grass

ALOTTED*

Took me 10 minutes to figure out why this word wasn't good. *sigh*

Funny how a word can just look SO right.

There is a correct anagram, though.

NAPPING

So I had DOGNAP on my rack today and thought, what other NAPS are there?

CATNAP
KIDNAP
PETNAP

This led me to the following thought:

Do people associate cats more with sleeping than with a pet they'd actually want to steal, since that definition is first?

Anyways, there's also

CATNAPER CATNAPPER
DOGNAPER DOGNAPPER
KIDNAPER KIDNAPPER
PETNAPER PETNAPPER

and yes, I know that there is also UNSNAP and SCHNAPS/ SCHNAPPS (which incidentally, was the name of my cousin's dog, years ago.)

HENRIES HEAT

It's been a hot week, so I thought I'd look up words that start with HEAT...
Unfortunately, it yielded a pretty boring list. (HEATABLE, HEATEDLY...)

More useful was learning that HEAT takes an H hook..and HEATH has a lot of fun extensions. Not only do you have HEATHY and the rest of the superlatives, there's a whole bunch of other interesting ones. My favorite one consists of the title, but in reverse order.

Fill In The Blank quiz....

So, I have a bunch of random tiles and a rack on my '88 Volvo's dashboard. Every once in a while, I scramble them around, usually flipping one over as a blank, to see what I can come up with. (or not.) Stumbled across this combo, which only has one solution..

CEIOSU?

(In case you can't see the picture clearly.) I'll post the answer in a comment after a few days if no one else does...

Link of the day

There are a lot of scrabble blogs on livejournal...

I've added a link to jc3181's blog because he posts cool quizzes and strategy related items.

Scrabble links

I've added a links section on the bottom right. I'm starting off with the three most useful sites I know of, but will be adding more in the future...

ISC The best place to play a live game online. Based in Romania, and hasn't been shut down by Hasbro. *knocks on wood*

Quackle The best postgame analysis software. Repeatedly kick yourself for all those plays you missed.

Zyzzyva Best word study tool, or the best way to cheat in your facebook scrabble games. (kidding!)

Email me if you have any link suggestions and feel free to link to this blog from your site. That is, unless your link page is titled "scrabble sites that suck."

BBEEPPRO

This post is in memory of my grandfather, who passed away today. He was 95!

He was survived by seven children and dozens of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

His first grandchild dubbed him 'Bebop', and the name stuck with the rest of the children from there out. I guess that makes me a..


BEBOPPER def. one that likes bebop

PINTERS*

First off, for those of you who aren't scrabble nerds, the asterisk indicates that PINTERS* is a phony; that is, it isn't acceptable in a game.

Unfortunately, it's what I would always come up with when I saw EINPRST on my flash card. Until today, that is- hopefully from here on i'll see PINTERS* and think "no, PTERINS!" That's currently what I do with BANTERA*/ANTBEAR.

Got any of your own?

ANTISLEEP

Definition: my condition last night. (actually, it's an adjective. Therefore, no S back hook!)

Also, a good extension to know if you're not lucky enough to have the right letters on your rack plus AN or TI to play through...or the other two letter words contained in the..
Bonus Anagrams!
PENALTIES
TAPELINES

EMYD

Someone just played this against me on Facebook scrabble, and I thought, "whoa, cool word." Interesting facts: takes a hook of E as well as S; anagram is DEMY.

EMYD a freshwater tortoise
DEMY a size of paper (-IES)

gotta love those paper sizes!

Some of you may notice...

That I'm fiddling with the name as well as the layout of this blog- I may switch the name of the podcast as well. Let me know if you have any input. Stay tuned!

Episode 49 Notes

episode 49 notes...

NATIVES extensions
ALTERNATIVES
CARMINATIVES (a drug causing expulsion of gas from the stomach or bowel.)
DENOMINATIVES
DETERMINATIVES
DONATIVES
NOMINATIVES
NONNATIVES

3 letter words
PAH exclamation of disgust OPAH a marine fish
PEH pe (hebrew letter)
POH exclamation of disgust


FAUGH used to express disgust (no S)
(S)HAUGH a low-lying meadow
LAUGH
SAUGH(Y) a willow tree (alt spelling SAUCH)
WAUGH(T) damp (no S)
(W)AUGHT

KIAUGH trouble; worry
SHAUGH a thicket


OXIM(E) a chemical compound
JAGRA jaggery- a course dark, sugar


TEGUMINA plural of TEGUMEN or TEGMEN a covering
ZOMBIFY to turn into a zombie

STARBUCKS minus R

= SACKBUTS.

Learned that one on the road trip home yesterday... Here's a link to a SACKBUT solo!

TONERS + H

Every once in a while I use a mental picture or association to help me remember sets of bingos. For example, when I was working on the ARSINE set and got to M, I came up with the morbid but memorable idea of MARINES attending a SEMINAR about human REMAINS.

Anyway, the latest bingo stem for me is TONERS, and when I get to H: HORNETS SHORTEN THRONES, I just picture the height challenged king from Shrek (Lord Farquaad, actually he technically isn't a king, but I digress) jumping around like and angry bee, and voile, I have my three words.

While I'm on the topic of TONERS, does anyone know why the mnemonic is 'HARD PECKS OF BIG TOUGHMAN'? Not getting it.

On the road...

First of all, good luck to anyone playing in nationals! Here's a word I learned today playing scrabble on my phone:

JAWBONER

I know, hard to say out loud without snorting, but means one who jawbones. I forget what jawbone means exactly as a verb, so if you want to, leave the definition in a comment. Maybe you'll even get to play it if you're in Daytona this weekend. Stranger things have happened.

MOBLED

In honor of my first mobile blog entry, I thought I'd find a word similar to MOBILE...

Definition: wrapped in or as if in a hood (adj)

Episode 48 notes

episode 48 notes... leave a comment if you have a better word for COCKAPOO.

extensions
AUNTIES: FLAUNTIEST JAUNTIEST
SINUATE: (IN)SINUATED SINUATELY

ONION front hooks:
RONION a mangy animal or person
GONION goh-nee-on a part of the lower

INION a part of the skull
MINION a servile follower
PINION to remove or bind the wing feathers of to prevent flight (v.)

MAZ(O)URKA a Polish dance

COCKAPOO a hybrid between a cocker spaniel and a poodle

FUTHARC FUTHARK FUTHORC FUTHORK an ancient alphabet

EURYOKY the ability of an organism to live under variable conditions EUROKOUS (adj.)
bonus: alt spelling! EUROKY

RAPPAREE a plunderer

MOLYBDIC pertaining to a certain metallic element (I looked it up, it's actually MOLYBDENUM)

bonus list of 2x4 words:
APPEASES BILABIAL COUSCOUS FROUFROU GUITGUIT HOTSHOTS JIPIJAPA
MAHIMAHI MESOSOME MILLIEME MIMETITE PREPRESS RAPPAREE REAPPEAR
SHAMMASH TEAMMATE

Episode 45 Notes

Leave a comment if you'd like...


hooks
MONSTER(A)
(O)ECOLOGY

extensions
STEARIN the solid portion of a fat
STEARINE TRISTEARIN
STAINER
ABSTAINER SUSTAINER


-AMPION words

CAMPION an herb
LAMPION a type of light generating device
RAMPION a European plant
TAMPION a plug for the muzzle of a cannon
(MAINTOP, PTOMAIN(E), TIMPANO)

OID words

OBOVOID ovoid with the narrow end at the base
XIPHOID a part of the sternum
RHIZOID a rootlike structure
HYPNOID pertaining to hypnosis or sleep
ZINCOID pertaining to zinc

quiz answers
KOLHOZY (KOLKHOZ) a collective farm in Russia
VAVASOR (VAVASOUR, VAVASSOR) a high ranking vassal
SPINACH (Y)

Episode 44 Notes

extensions of INMATES:
CABINMATES, COINMATES


(f t) RET (e) to soak in order to loosen the fiber from the woody tissue
(b g) RIN to run or melt

J birds

JABIRU
JACANA
JACAMAR
JACKDAW

ALT SPELLING:
DOSSAL an ornamental cloth hung behind an altar
DOSSEL
DOSSIL a cloth roll for wiping ink

CHROMA the purity of a color
CHROME(D) to plate with chromium
CHROMO a type of color picture
CHROMY(L)

CONDYLES a protuberance on a bone
ANTISAG designed to prevent sagging (no S)

AGOUTIES a burrowing rodent

Episode 43 Notes

-JET words

FANJET
INKJET
OBJET
PROJET
PROPJET
RAMJET
RESOJET
TRIJET (JITTER)
TWINJET

???PT words
CHAPT
CLAPT
CLIPT
COMPT
DIPT
DRIPT
DROPT
GRIPT
SLIPT
STOPT
TRAPT
WHIPT
WRAPT

extensionS

ENTAILS: (A)VENTAILS adjustable front of a medieval helmet
DISENTAILS
SALTINE: BASALTINE (STAINABLE) a dark dense igneous rock
SALTINESS (STAINLESS, SLATINESS)


BAZAR a bazaar
GAZAR silky sheer fabric
LAZAR a beggar afflicted with a loathesome disease

$ of the week:
PAISA pl. PAISAS PAISE coin of pakistan
POISHA

AEQUORIN a protein secreted by jellyfish
ACTINON an isotope of radon
KLYSTRON a type of electron tube

Episode 42 notes

Ever make a flashcard and find out much later that it's a phony? Post a comment.


JET words

JETBEAD an ornamental shrub
JETFOIL a jet powered hydrofoil
JETLAGS
JETLIKE
JETPORT a type of airport
JETSA/OMS goods cast overboard
JETTONS a piece used in counting
JETWAYS a telescoping corridor between the terminal and aircraft

extension:
ASTHENIA lack of strength
MYASTHENIA muscle weakness
NEURASTHENIA nervous exhaustion
PSYCHASTHENIA a neurosis marked by fear, anxiety, phobias, etc.

bonus extension:
NAPR OXEN an anti-inflammatory drug

3 letter word:
UMM um takes front hook of M
MUM to act in a disguise

BAZOO the mouth
KAZOO a toy musical instrument
GAZOO wazoo
WAZOO the anus


ABOIDEAU type of dike
ABOITEAU (both take an X or S)


CHRONAXY the time required to excite a never cell electrically
PYRALID a long legged moth

Episode 41 Notes

episode 41

This week's pointless poll: word you've learned from TWS..

V words that take an E hook:

VENIN a toxin found in snake venom
VERST a Russian measure of distance
VITTA a streak or band of color

MALE NAMES:

ARGUS an east Indian pheasant (3 anagrams)
BENJAMIN/ BENNY benzoin/ an amphetamine tablet
CLARENCE a closed carriage (CANCELER)
DEXTER situated on the right (no S)
EDDY to move against the main current
FRANKLIN a medievel English landowner
GILBERT a unit of magnetomotive force
HENRY a unit of inductance

extensions:
EASTING BREASTING to confront OUTFEASTING
EATINGS DRUMBEATINGS

BONZE(R) a Buddhist monk BONZER very good (BRONZE)

SMARAGD(E) an emerald

ATHIRST having a strong desire
(B)RATTISH ratlike
TARTISH

Episode 40 notes

These are the show notes from the weekly scrabbler, a podcast about SCRABBLE. For more info, search for 'weekly scrabbler' on iTunes.

LAUAN a Phillipine timber

CIAO
CHAI
(C)HAO monetary unit of vietnam
CHIA(O) JIAO monetary unit of china

AJIVA inanimate matter
JAYVEE
VEEJAY
JARVEY driver of a carriage for hire -EYS
SVARAJ (see episode 37)

AEIOU 8 common letter words
DIALOGUE
EQUATION
EUPHORIA

alternate spelling:
HALLO HALLOA HALLOO HELLO HILLO HILLOA HOLLA HOLLO HOLLOA HOLLOO HULLO HULLOA

extensions of STAINED: AB- BLOOD- COUNTER- DE- DI- SUS- TEAR- UN-

HAW to turn left
WHA who

STOLONIC STOLON a type of plant stem
DONJONS the main tower of a castle

Episode 39 notes

This weeks poll: Do you respond to polls?

ANABAENA a freshwater algae

CEDI monetary unit of Ghana (DICE ICED)

ZAFFAR ZAFFER ZAFFIR ZAFFRE a blue ceramic coloring

FOY a farewell feast

ACETINS extension: PHENACETINS

CRAAL
KRAAL to pen in a type of enclosure
GRAAL grail (ARGAL ARGOL a crust deposited in wine casks)