a way with words

one cannot overstate how much my family loves scrabble.  my sister and i even incorporated this fact into our toast to my brother and his bride at their reception -- we warned laura that in the atkins bunch, no scrabble amateurs are tolerated.  learn your Q-without-a-U words, missy, or don't bother showing up to the table.  my parents have been meticulously recording their scores against each other in tiny print on the inside of the lid to their scrabble box, and when we looked at it this week, we realized that the list dates all the way back to 1974.  with a mother and father like that, we kids had no other option but to become scrabble enthusiasts ourselves.

of course, with modern technology, chris and i no longer drag out our box and plastic racks and bag of tiles.  instead, we wage war on each other over our iPhones, which has its distinct advantages.  for one, it allows us to play at our own pace (some games have taken us three weeks to finish.)  there's also a nifty chat log where you can talk smack to each other and boast of your scrabble prowess.  it calculates your scores automatically and tells you how many tiles are remaining.  but the best part is that you don't ever run the risk of playing a non-word and being challenged by your opponent.  if you're not sure, you just go for it -- if it's not valid, you simply receive a kind message that says "sorry, that is not an acceptable word."  (how nice the software developers were to design it to apologize to you.  what it really should say is, "all right, airhead.  i know it's almost the end of the game and you're just trying to get rid of your tiles, but surely you know that no word in the english language starts with JW.")

as with many things we do, liam has taken an interest in this pastime of ours and has now become obsessed.  as soon as he hears the chime on my phone alerting me that it's now my turn, he will race over, begging to see what word chris played, and then musing over my letters to help me find the Most Awesome Word Ever.  [side note, just because it's my blog and i can: in a game against my sister last week, i played a word that was worth 167 points.  yes, you read that right.  after you pick up your chin off the floor, feel free to resume reading.]  he's learned which letters carry the highest value, what a bingo is, and how you should always hold onto an S until you can use it to form two words.  and even though he understands that one does not have to know the meaning of every word one plays, he's become familiar with "xi" and "za" and all the other random two-letter combinations that every scrabble diehard must have in their pocket.  this whole endeavor has increased his vocabulary tenfold, which i'm especially grateful for after spending most of my summer listening to him howl with laughter whenever he says "poop", "underwear", and "hiney".

all was well and good until liam did the unthinkable.  he came running into the kitchen one day last week, pleased as punch with himself.  "i played HAZE!" he exclaimed.

"what do you mean, 'i played haze'?" i asked, fearful of where this might be going.

"on your game with daddy!  i spelled out the word h-a-z-e."

please, i thought.  please let him at least have put it on a double word.  or the Z on a double letter.  anything, please.

but no.  i stared morosely at the screen, forlorn to learn that the one and only Z of the game, which i had great hopes and dreams for, sat on a regular old space on a regular old row and earned me a very underwhelming 15 points.

and that's when i decided that liam needed to play his own game with chris, one that he could take pride and ownership in -- and thereby leave my games alone.  so chris started one.  back and forth they'll go, chris playing three- and four-digit words from work, and liam doing the same from home.  i've had to help him from time to time, but mostly, i just let him figure it out.  one syllable nouns are the most popular; their board is filled with "dog", "book", "car", and the like.

but occasionally, something new and different will be thrown into the mix.  like this morning.  i was drying my hair and liam burst into the bathroom, literally jumping up and down.  "i made a new word!" he said.  "i don't know what it means, but i put it on a triple word spot!"

"great job!"  i replied.  "what is it?"

and -- i kid you not -- he responded, "T-U-R-D."

amazing.  despite all the new words he's recently learned and all the letter combinations he could have come up with ... my five-year old boy somehow still manages to talk about poop.