Scrabble Peeve Filter
December 19, 2014 7:32 PM Subscribe
Is there some kind of discernible justification for the allowance of the word "em" (meaning, the letter "m") in Scrabble, and not, say for example, the "word" "ee" (meaning, the letter "e")? I mean, who the heck decided "em" was a word, and if it is, why aren't all letters "words"?!
Please explain the rationale so I don't freak out every time I play Bananagrams or Scrabble with two-letter-word players!
Thank you, and I'm sure my family and friends will also thank you for explaining this to me.
Please explain the rationale so I don't freak out every time I play Bananagrams or Scrabble with two-letter-word players!
Thank you, and I'm sure my family and friends will also thank you for explaining this to me.
Yup, the big brother of the 'en.'
posted by Scram at 7:36 PM on December 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Scram at 7:36 PM on December 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
Best answer: EE is allowable in the SOWPODS dictionary. In the version that I use (and there are many dictionaries) you can spell all the letters of the alphabet. So you can also play EF EL and ES also. Stefan Fatsis talks about the word lists a little bit here.
posted by jessamyn at 7:38 PM on December 19, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by jessamyn at 7:38 PM on December 19, 2014 [7 favorites]
The name for the letter m is "em" because the rules of English word formation require words to contain a vowel sound. The name for the letter "e" is simply "e" and not "ee" because the vowel is present already. The Wikipedia page on the English alphabet has a list of the names for the letters of the English alphabet. Some have variants, like zee vs. zed.
posted by drlith at 7:46 PM on December 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by drlith at 7:46 PM on December 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
Drlith's explanation is incorrect for scrabble. There are plenty of allowed scrabble words that do not contain vowels. Even among the two letter words, ch and st are allowed in sowpods and even the twl dictionary allows hm and mm.
posted by lollusc at 7:50 PM on December 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by lollusc at 7:50 PM on December 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
Drlith's explanation is incorrect for scrabble. There are plenty of allowed scrabble words that do not contain vowels.
No, I think Drlith is right. In general, a word needs a vowel. Thus, "em" needs the vowel, "e," and wouldn't be sufficient as "m." The fact that there are rare exceptions to the "every word needs a vowel" rule doesn't change that.
posted by John Cohen at 7:59 PM on December 19, 2014
No, I think Drlith is right. In general, a word needs a vowel. Thus, "em" needs the vowel, "e," and wouldn't be sufficient as "m." The fact that there are rare exceptions to the "every word needs a vowel" rule doesn't change that.
posted by John Cohen at 7:59 PM on December 19, 2014
I have always loved, and used to my advantage, the word 'cwm' - no vowels necessary!
In my experience, the scrabble dictionary has expanded more by popular demand, and less by formal rules or rationale.
posted by Dashy at 8:07 PM on December 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
In my experience, the scrabble dictionary has expanded more by popular demand, and less by formal rules or rationale.
posted by Dashy at 8:07 PM on December 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Apparently, according to the OED, the names of English consonants are all written with multiple letters ("bee," "(h)aitch," "jay," "ess," "wye" and so on) while the names of English vowels are written as a single letter ("a," "e," "i," "o," "u").
If TWL is following this convention, then that (plus the fact that single-letter words can never be valid Scrabble words) would explain why the names of consonants are valid TWL words, while the names of vowels aren't.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:33 PM on December 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
If TWL is following this convention, then that (plus the fact that single-letter words can never be valid Scrabble words) would explain why the names of consonants are valid TWL words, while the names of vowels aren't.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:33 PM on December 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: OK, I marked a couple best answers but the collective response is what's allowing me to finally accept what has always been, for me, an eye-roll-inducing move. Fine. "Em" it up, people!
posted by latkes at 9:27 PM on December 19, 2014
posted by latkes at 9:27 PM on December 19, 2014
The actual explanation is that "em" is not being played with the definition of "the letter M." As pompomtom said, it has a definition completely aside from being a letter, and is allowed due to the typesetting definition. Likewise, "en" is allowable as a unit of typesetting.
posted by DoubleLune at 9:52 PM on December 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by DoubleLune at 9:52 PM on December 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Per, "The Official Scrabble Dictionary", it means, the letter M.
posted by latkes at 9:57 PM on December 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by latkes at 9:57 PM on December 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yes, it is the name of the letter. And all letters have a word that names them (sometimes more than one). See jessamyn's comment above. EN, EF, ES, and EL are all acceptable in TWL, as well.
As for words without vowels that sometimes come in handy, I like BRR and BRRR.
posted by trip and a half at 10:07 PM on December 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
As for words without vowels that sometimes come in handy, I like BRR and BRRR.
posted by trip and a half at 10:07 PM on December 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
Pretty sure el is defined as elevated train in the Scrabble book.
posted by paulcole at 10:40 PM on December 19, 2014
posted by paulcole at 10:40 PM on December 19, 2014
We've always allowed EM - it's a unit of measure or some such
posted by mattoxic at 12:38 AM on December 20, 2014
posted by mattoxic at 12:38 AM on December 20, 2014
I have always loved, and used to my advantage, the word 'cwm' - no vowels necessary!
Between the few apparently vowel-less words in English and the celebrated "and sometimes Y" loophole, there is a lot of room for the crafty to maneuver in word games. I once was dragged against my will into a series of games of Hangman. My first play was 'rhythm', my second was 'syzygy', and my third was 'cwm'. They let me go after that.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:27 AM on December 20, 2014 [7 favorites]
Between the few apparently vowel-less words in English and the celebrated "and sometimes Y" loophole, there is a lot of room for the crafty to maneuver in word games. I once was dragged against my will into a series of games of Hangman. My first play was 'rhythm', my second was 'syzygy', and my third was 'cwm'. They let me go after that.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:27 AM on December 20, 2014 [7 favorites]
This question is why some of the best Scrabble players in the world come from non-English-speaking countries, and many of them only barely speak English: The Scrabble dictionary doesn't actually care about words. Scrabble is like spelling bees: what it rewards is memorization of words, not knowledge of words.
You know why "qi" and "za" are words but "zen" isn't? Oh, sure, there's a BS explanation about how "zen" is a proper noun, but really, it's because there weren't any good two-letter Q or Z words, but there are enough three-letter Z words.
So, why "em" and not "ee"? Because they don't want to have "ee" in the game. Everything else is window dressing.
posted by Etrigan at 7:30 AM on December 20, 2014 [12 favorites]
You know why "qi" and "za" are words but "zen" isn't? Oh, sure, there's a BS explanation about how "zen" is a proper noun, but really, it's because there weren't any good two-letter Q or Z words, but there are enough three-letter Z words.
So, why "em" and not "ee"? Because they don't want to have "ee" in the game. Everything else is window dressing.
posted by Etrigan at 7:30 AM on December 20, 2014 [12 favorites]
This page explains the official Scrabble dictionary process. While there's obviously room for argument about their process, arbitrary it is not.
posted by summer sock at 9:35 AM on December 20, 2014
posted by summer sock at 9:35 AM on December 20, 2014
Best answer: Yes, in general it is better to just accept the scrabble rules as they are and not look for logic and reason via english language rules and grammar, it will only end in tears.
i'm still mad about the inclusion of za as an acceptable word. it is unacceptable in all walks of life.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:39 AM on December 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
i'm still mad about the inclusion of za as an acceptable word. it is unacceptable in all walks of life.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:39 AM on December 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
I have always loved, and used to my advantage, the word 'cwm' - no vowels necessary!The w is a vowel.
posted by Flunkie at 10:03 AM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
As jessamyn mentions, "EE" exists in SOWPODS (the broadest English word collection), but the excellent Zyzzyva program defines it as "an eye", plural "EEN". So yeah...
As the topic has drifted, here's a full list of vowel-only entries from SOWPODS:
AA*
AE*
AI*
AIA
AUA
AUE
EA
EAU*
EE
EUOUAE (a name for a Gregorian cadence!)
EUOI
IO
OE*
OI*
OO
OU
* In the North American dictionary also
posted by sylvanshine at 7:01 PM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
As the topic has drifted, here's a full list of vowel-only entries from SOWPODS:
AA*
AE*
AI*
AIA
AUA
AUE
EA
EAU*
EE
EUOUAE (a name for a Gregorian cadence!)
EUOI
IO
OE*
OI*
OO
OU
* In the North American dictionary also
posted by sylvanshine at 7:01 PM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by pompomtom at 7:34 PM on December 19, 2014 [24 favorites]