So at my first Ann Arbor Scrabble club meeting (Year 3 I think), I played an older guy named Chuck. One odd thing about Chuck was that people tended to use him instead of a Scrabble dictionary. So he was playing a game, and someone playing a different game would say something like, "Chuck? Is YAPPIER a word?" or even "Hey, Chuck? YAPPIER?" and ( Read more... )

So this happened last summer in Ann Arbor (year 5) at Scrabble Club. Steve - who I told you about - I know I did because I converted this LJ into a PDF just so I could search it and find out whether or not I told you about Steve - I have work to do today - so Steve and I were playing, and I was doing well. Steve kind of "hosts" Scrabble club, he ( Read more... )

The L and I disagree on this one, but this is my journal, and thus am under no obligation to present her incorrect view.

The phrase "popcorn movie" is stupid and annoying and nobody should use it, ever.

Thank you.

I'm mentioned this before...

Is there an actual WORD for the feeling or experience of when a friend tells you of a conflict and expects sympathy or agreement, and you TOTALLY wind up siding with her/his antagonist.

I'm proofreading my coauthor's work. The particular chapter is fairly basic - not his writing, just the material. Normally, when I would read this stuff, I would skim. It is proving quite difficult to read this actively, without skimming it. My brain keeps wanting to grab the lever and shift to "skim mode." Yeah, it is a lever. Chrome, and T- ( Read more... )

My friend Dave Sandborg, who also loves words, and I noticed that in comics and on TVs, bad guys describe their schemes as "schemes." Does anyone in real life say, "Let me tell you about my latest scheme?"

I'm going to make a point to find a way to say "scheme" in conversation, referring to my own. It may take a few weeks. I don't scheme much.

Some day I am going to organize my list of things I encounter that don't have a word for it but should. I forget them so often

The feeling you get when eavesdropping on some strangers' conversation and want to correct a factual error.

Scrabble with mother in law


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"One of the consequences of parenthood is it often causes otherwise rational adults to say things like, “If I told you once, I’ve told you one hundred times!” Assume that this was true, and a child was told something on a Friday. The parental rule means that the child was previously told that fact one hundred times, say on Thursday. Thus, on ( Read more... )

What's the word for horrified, fascinated, humiliated, impressed, and grateful, all at once ( Read more... )