The Popcorn Stand: Yowza, yowza, yowza — new words for Scrabble

Yowza, Yowza, Yowza — new words added to Scrabble.

Although I don’t play the game much I’m fascinated by the words allowed in Scrabble. And on Monday, there were 300 new words that were added to the list that can be used in Scrabble.

Merriam-Webster released its sixth edition of “The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary” four years after its last edition.

At first as a baseball fan I was disappointed the term RBI wasn’t allowed to be added until I found out that rib-ee, a slang term for RBI, is allowed. And as I understand the rules of Scrabble, rib-ee would be worth more than RBI.

But words that aren’t worth that much like OK and ew are now allowed. Again, I don’t know much about Scrabble but apparently the addition of those words mean a lot to Scrabble players. As one Merriam-Webster editor put it, “Basically two- and three-letter words are the lifeblood of the game.”

So to use a baseball analogy, evidently Scrabble is still an “old school” game in which players gradually score points in the same way Major League teams used to manufacture runs.

So unlike baseball today, apparently in Scrabble, players aren’t always looking to score with a “home run” of a word.

More good news for Scrabble players, the word qapik has become the 20th word that starts with q that can be used. A qapik by the way is a monetary unit in Azerbaijan as if it matters.

And also apparently, words with a q and no u are a really big deal.

Scrabble players, though, still like the occasional home run. You know, like baseball used to be.

Bizjets on an opening play is now allowed and can be worth 120 points.

Other words added you would expect to already be in but weren’t included zen, which I’m sure is considered another three-word gem for Scrabble players.

It also took Merriam-Webster nearly a 100 years to finally add the aforementioned yowza.

Aforementioned. My guess is that’s considered the grand slam of Scrabble words.