I Love Compound Words
I can’t tell you why, but when I’m searching for words to play during a typical scrabble game, it is not uncommon for me to find a compound word. Last night at Club #350 I played ‘beachboy’. I got a snicker from my opponent who then challenged the play. The word was adjudicated as acceptable. Another of my proud moments was when I played ‘menswear’ for a triple/triple, through the ‘s’ and earned 213 points on the play.
Compound words are played frequently; words that begin with ‘over’ or ‘out’ are especially common.
Like everything else, finding compound words has everything to do with how you look at things. But you have to be careful because some words that seem to make sense are not in the OWL2.
Take the word ‘news’; when I see it I go beyond and think ‘newsboy’, ‘newspaper’, newsroom’, ‘newsclip’. 3 of those 4 words are acceptable, the other is not in the OWL2, the last one.
To my thinking it’s good. But there is never an argument with the word judge. The Official Word List always has the last word.
Consider the word ‘pig’. Which of these are acceptable compound words? ‘pigskin’ ‘pigstick’ ‘pigtail’ ‘pigweed’ ‘pignut’
They are all in the OWL2.
I was coaching a novice player yesterday and was reading her thoughts as she stared at each rack, searching for a word to play. (It is a bit intimidating when your teacher is sitting on your shoulder.) But like most new players, she usually settled for some small common word.
You may argue that it is a good beginning. But I suggest that it is developing a bad habit that will have her stuck at a low level of play for a long time. You may end up playing a small word, but to play well you have to begin by looking for the better play.
Compound words are just one way to have longer words that score more points. To see them, you have to be looking for them.
This is just one of many things that my students learn when they enroll in my online scrabble class, SCRABBLE 101. People who take this class always move up in the ranks. Are you ready to take the challenge? August enrollment is open. CLICK HERE.