New acceptable words have players abuzz

More than 3,300 new words have been added to the official dictionary.
By VIRGINIA LINN
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Italian Village Pizza in Squirrel Hill, Pa., does a brisk business in diverse neighborhood, but none of the workers there can ever recall anyone ordering a za.
"A what?" asked Cory Savit, who's now at his second pizza shop in a year.
You know, a za -- a slang term for pizza. What do they call pizza?
"Pizza," he said with a puzzled look.
No matter, the word za is now part of a new list of acceptable words for the crossword game of Scrabble that is "literally changing the way Scrabble is played," said John D. Williams Jr., executive director of the National Scrabble Association.
In fact, za and another newly accepted word -- qi, the ancient Chinese term (pronounced "chee") for the vital energy believed to flow throughout the body -- are a boon for modern-day Scrabble players who often grapple with how to play "z" and "q" on the board.
They're among more than 3,300 new words in the fourth edition of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. It's updated about every five years and includes more than 120,000 words.
A big first
This is the first time two-letter words with either "q" or "z" -- the two highest-value tiles at 10 points apiece -- have been acceptable. If players are stuck with either one at the end of the game, they have to subtract 20 points from their total score. ("Q" is particularly difficult to place without a "u.")
But neither Williams, nor Scrabble aficionado Linda Iannetti of Mount Lebanon, Pa., go as far as to say having qi and za in their arsenal are making the game easier.
"It definitely makes for a more high-scoring game," Williams said. "The game is 30 percent luck and 70 percent skill."
Iannetti is puzzled by the addition of some of the words.
"The za I don't like," Iannetti said. "Did you ever hear anyone call pizza za? I think it's kind of like a wacky word."
"It comes out of the West Coast," Williams explained.
Well, duh!
Actually, duh also is new to the list, as are fe, ki and oi, eek, fab, mic, zzz, blog, zine, jurassic, goth, def, perv, ziplock, snarfing, doodoo, doowop and realtor (which had always been a proper noun).
These all have been lively conversation topics for the roughly 30 members of the Pittsburgh Scrabble Players, who meet most Saturdays to play.
The founder of the club, established in 1987, has since moved to Las Vegas, but others such as Iannetti, who joined in 1992, have been playing with the group for years. Ages of the members range from 20 to more than 80, although at one time, a handful of young teens also were involved.
No surprise
For those most passionate about the game, the added words don't come as a surprise because they've already been added to reputable dictionaries because of their growing use in everyday language. The Scrabble Association updates its players dictionary in conjunction with Merriam-Webster Inc.
"We have people who read dictionaries," Williams said. "The novices or intermediates may learn just a few new words; the experts will learn all 4,000."
Some other new words you'll find on the Scrabble association's Web site as late entries that missed the publication deadline -- and many of these may surprise you -- are lycra, kleenex, buddha, popsicle, brillo, vaseline, mylar, kewpie, enuf, teflon, jacuzzi, tofutti and levis.