Words are fun.

I'm getting a kick out of learning words lately-- even though half the time I don't even know what they mean! As many of you know, there's a common method of study in competitive scrabble which generally involves going through words by probability or length- a method which I've mostly ignored. Of course, I learned the two letter words first, and the Q without U words, and the TISANE + blank bingos, but after that I pretty much have picked up words randomly. These days, I add new words to my study list one of the following ways:

1. I'm going through all the four letter words- any I don't know, I add.

2. Any interesting fives that are made from adding a hook to a four from above.

3. Any bingo (or 5 or 6 letter word) I find I've missed after reviewing a game, regardless of its probability. 

4. Fun, though mostly useless extensions that I find myself wondering about after a particular play in a game.

5. Any other random word that catches my eye for any reason (i.e. strange letter distribution)

So here's a few words I've added recently:

MUSTH a state of frenzy occuring in male elephants (interesting hook for MUST)

CATHOLICON a universal remedy, REQUIESCAT a prayer for the dead (file under 'useless extensions')

BENZOYL a univalent chemical radical (just caught my eye, I mean, hey, it has a Z in it)

MINIMILL a small scale steel mill (was looking up extensions for MILL, and look at all those I's!)

VALVAL, VALVAR pertaining to a valve (missed in a game, nice double V words.)