6 things I learned from club tonight

1. Exchanging DHLV from an opening rack of DHLQTUV can go very badly (even though it actually sims high). I drew BTUW.

2. VIVES* isn't good, but VIVAS is. I knew one wasn't good, but couldn't remember which was which. It seems strange that one is an adjective and the             other a noun since the definitions are almost identical.

3. DURR is good, I think it's one of the 4's I haven't made it to yet. Yet I knew DURRA.

4. REMAILED is good. I held it, and it's sad that I wasn't sure since I work for the post office. I need some REMEDIAL study on eights.

5. ENDOSTEA takes an L, and not an S. It didn't come into play (though I'm happy I found the bingo), but good to know.

6. KAIN, KANE and CAIN are all the same thing. Not sure I ever made that connection.

 

8 Things I learned at club last night

1. FETTLES is good. And while I'm learning new _ETTLES words, you can put a P there too. (They're both verbs.)

2. KNAUR is another way to spell KNAR/KNUR. And speaking of K words...

3. VAS takes a front hook of K. I knew that, but when VAS was on the board, for some reason my brain was too busy making sure I didn't try and make it         AVAS*. Anyone have a tip for getting myself to find the possible hooks on the board, especially less ordinary ones? I have a bad habit of completely           whiffing on them, even when I know them.

4. I knew the other two _ELIC words, but not MELIC. (adjective, pertaining to a song)

5. Don't know if I knew BRIO. Challenged off BRIO/I(MAN)*. There's a Brio Cosmetology Academy here in town that I deliver to all the time, so it's ironic           that I didn't ever look the word up.

6. There are quite a few ordinary words I need to add to my cardbox, because I don't see them on a rack. PATIO is one of them.

7. DEOTUZ? has an anagram; I've seen it but never studied it. Missed it.

8. TRIFE* is not a word. I didn't play the phony front hook to RIFE, but was tempted. It may be because I've heard it in the song Bada Bing by                         DANGERDOOM, which is an album you should listen to if you like hip-hop and don't mind a little bleeped-out profanity.

Two spellings...

that are REALLY hard to remember. They're alternate spellings of the same vowel-heavy word, but the consonant/vowel orders are totally different.

Can you get it?

CDEIIOSU

CDIIOOSU

good luck...

 

Oh, and the definition is 'unisexual', whatever that means.

Some PHYL- words...

Some shorter ones (which are what got me started on this):

PHYLA, plural of
PHYLUM, a taxanomic division- also PHYLAR

PHYLAE, plural of
PHYLE, a political subdivision in ancient Greece- also PHYLIC

Of course, there's the delicious PHYLLO, very thin pastry dough (also FILO, FILLO)
but here are the cool extensions:

PHYLLOCLADE
PHYLLOTAXIS, PHYLLOTAXES, PHYLLOTAXIES, PHYLLOTAXY
PHYLLOGENETIC, PHYLLOGENY/IES
PHYLLOXERA(S)

That's not all of them, feel free to post your favorite that I left out.

Link of the day

Just added this to the 'helpful links' section:


'Polyorths' are words that have more than one spelling. Check this list out if you've ever said 'wait, I didn't know you could spell it THAT way, too!?'

And I thought to myself...

...As I tripped up the last step in a set of stairs today..."How many ways are there to spell DOOZIE?"

Only three.

DOOZER
DOOZIE
DOOZY

Alternate spellings to 'common' bingos, Part Three

It's really amusing to me that after playing this game for about 3 years, I can see a word (in this case, TRENAILS) played dozens of times, and not know that it has two alternate spellings. Ok, I already knew TREENAILS, but I didn't know TRUNNELS. Don't tell anyone, but it's going to be the 'missed 3x3' quiz in the next podcast. Luckily, I was able to play VENTAI(L)S for 149 in the same spot on my next turn. And later, ZOA/A(VENTAILS)! The downside is that I was playing someone who was at club for the first time. Hopefully I didn't scare her off.

Alternate spellings to 'common' bingos, revisited

The original post is here.

You would think that after playing competetive scrabble for the last few years and studying high probability bingos, that I would know that

PTISAN is another way of spelling TISANE.

But then, I've also been mispronouncing it for the last three years.  Of course, listeners to the podcast won't find this suprising. At all.

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?

FANO

01.31.08 6:59 PM

n. a cape worn by the pope

found: while trying to find a hook for 'fan' in a non-challenge scrabulous game (i get to try words and see if they work)

also: is an alternate spelling of FANON

notes: I love surprise hooks. Send me any good ones you have.

GERMANE

01.24.08 4:35 PM

adj. relevant

also: similar words: GERMAN an elaborate dance, GERMEN something that serves as an origin

found: while reading a paperback... I feel like I should know this word, but have to confess that I didn't. As a bonus, I learned three new words at once.

notes: I find that learning words in groups (that is, alternate spellings of the same word, or similar words) is an easy way to learn more than one word at a time....