5000 new words in Scrabble...

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Not many game founders find their creation added to the common vernacular, but Groundspeak has played an important role in the creation and use of a word we all know - Geocache has been added to the Scrabble dictionary! Due to their being longer than the allowed eight letters (seven drawn tiles plus one on the board) variants geocacher and geocaching could not be added.

 

Youngsters who play Scrabble against the older generations - I loved to play my retired schoolmarm grandmother at least twice a month - now have a bit of advantage; five thousand new words were added to The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. Words not likely to be known to most oldsters.

 

Along with a love of reading I attribute my vocabulary to a curiosity to learn what new words mean but most especially to our Scrabble play. She was hard to beat. Our wager was one shiny nickel per game and after our last game, when she was in her nineties and I forty-eight, there was one shiny nickel left in the box. Almost a tie after a lifetime of hundreds of games. In the end she won... that last hard-fought shiny nickel was mine, she won it only three days before her passing. As always, we both spent a good bit of effort to polish our nickel before play.

 

Merriam-Webster didn't identify all 5,000 new words added to the new edition but released a list of about 30 that also include: Beatbox, buzzkill, chillax, coqui, frenemy, funplex, jockdom, joypad, mixtape, mojito, ponzu, qigong, schmutz, sudoku and yuzu. The 16-point word Geocache was also added, voted into the dictionary by the public during a Facebook contest in May. It has been ten years since words were added, when over four thousand words were added for the fourth edition in 2005. The new words can be found in the soon-to-be-released fifth edition.

 

Do you play? What word would you add? To be included in the 36-year-old book a word must be found in a standard dictionary, can't require capitalization, can't have hyphens or apostrophes and can't be an abbreviation, in addition to being two to eight letters, reflecting the seven tiles players draw plus an eighth already on the board they can attach a long word to for bonus points.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

After writing that post the idea of new caches comes to mind... perhaps a game where you find letters in geocaches and use them to play a larger game, perhaps a game board at events? Trackable Scrabbletags, one for each letter?

Edited August 5, 2014 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+wmpastor]

I predict that along about post #11 or 12 someone will make a comment about too much publicity being bad for caching. Let's see if I'm right. If I'm wrong, it will only be because this comment influenced subsequent behavior.

[+GeoLog81]

Not many game founders find their creation added to the common vernacular, but Groundspeak has played an important role in the creation and use of a word we all know - Geocache has been added to the Scrabble dictionary!

 

What role has exactly Groundspeak played in the creation of the world 'Geocache', taking into accout, it existed before even Groundspeak was grounded?

 

Scrabblers are very conservative when it comes to adding new words. They should react years ago. For me it's like someone 'discovering' that you can print text from text editor, you don't have to rewrite that on paper by hand, and announcing it to the whole world

[+Car54]

I predict that along about post #11 or 12 someone will make a comment about too much publicity being bad for caching. Let's see if I'm right. If I'm wrong, it will only be because this comment influenced subsequent behavior.

 

I see what you did there.

 

Mrs. Car54

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Not many game founders find their creation added to the common vernacular, but Groundspeak has played an important role in the creation and use of a word we all know - Geocache has been added to the Scrabble dictionary!

 

What role has exactly Groundspeak played in the creation of the world 'Geocache', taking into accout, it existed before even Groundspeak was grounded?

I can only express my opinion, but having watched the evolution of geocaching for most of its existence I think it is safe to say that geocaching, and the awareness of what a geocache is, and the popular use of the word geocache, would not be ubiquitous without the work of Groundspeak. The game would certainly exist, but not in the form and popularity of today. You can debate that, I suppose, but when you do please show me another site which would have done what Groundspeak has done.

 

"Create" is a nebulous thing. I don't know if Ulmer or someone else 'created' the word geocache... but I know who made it popular. Many inventors are credited with creating things which existed before their 'discovery'. It's all about who can make it work.

Edited August 5, 2014 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+wimseyguy]

Geocache was added to the Scrabble dictionary several months ago. The announcement was made on Good Morning America.

It was the first time in 9 years that a new word was added, and the first time that fans voted for the new addition.

Hrm, now I wonder if crowdsourcing is in that dictionary?

[Keystone]

Also, Groundspeak's social media outlets certainly helped spread the word to encourage people to vote in the Scrabble contest for the new dictionary addition. See the forum discussion here. It was also a hot topic on the official Facebook page. You can read the "thank you" and recap from Geocaching HQ here in the blog.

[Pup Patrol]

Not many game founders find their creation added to the common vernacular, but Groundspeak has played an important role in the creation and use of a word we all know - Geocache has been added to the Scrabble dictionary!

 

What role has exactly Groundspeak played in the creation of the world 'Geocache', taking into accout, it existed before even Groundspeak was grounded?

 

Scrabblers are very conservative when it comes to adding new words. They should react years ago. For me it's like someone 'discovering' that you can print text from text editor, you don't have to rewrite that on paper by hand, and announcing it to the whole world

 

Forum thread: Hasbro new word competition Vote for Geocache! Posted 07 April 2014

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=321178

 

Hasbro has been having an ongoing facebook competition to put in a new word in the Scrabble dictionary (this is the first time they've added a new word in 9 years). They've been narrowing down the words, day by day, starting with 16 words. They will announce the winner on April 10. Some of you have probably seen this posted on facebook.

 

Today's battle is between the word "Cosplay" and "Geocache". We thought it would be fun to post a thread to talk about this, and if you feel like chiming in on Hasboro's facebook page, here's a link: Facebook link. Vote for Geocache! But of course, if you like another word better, vote for the word you like best.

 

It's official! It was just announced on television (Good Morning America) that GEOCACHE will be the word added to the Scrabble dictionary! Thanks to everyone who voted. This is great publicity for our sport. I was happy that one of the TV show hosts, George Stephanopolus, knew about our game and gave a quick, accurate definition.

 

 

B.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

LOL, guess I am always behind the curve! I've been hiding out in OT and didn't see all that in this forum, so it was news to me to read about it today. The question in my OP still stands, however. I see most of the links in a Google search for "locationless" and "virt" have to do with geocaching lingo, but they don't fit the rules (locationless is too long and virt is an abbreviation). What words would you add?

Edited August 5, 2014 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+wmpastor]

I predict that along about post #11 or 12 someone will make a comment about too much publicity being bad for caching. Let's see if I'm right. If I'm wrong, it will only be because this comment influenced subsequent behavior.

 

I see what you did there.

 

Mrs. Car54

As a memorable forum-crawler from last week said:

Meaning what? NOWWWWWWWWWW what'id I say?

 

Edit: Hmmm...I see we're at Post #11. I wonder if all this publicity is good for the game? A sudden influx of new cachers could result in nails in trees, geotrash, etc. Right?!

Edited August 5, 2014 by wmpastor

[+cheech gang]

Post #12 goes on to assert that the publicity will.result in more practice for the bomb squad and the demise of Munzee-mania.

[+DragonsWest]

Well, there's the NEW Scrabble Dictionary and there's those of us in a radical faction, which will continue along with whatever old version we have (cuz we're too cheap to buy the new one).

 

Oh, and you kids stay off my lawn.

[+Harry Dolphin]

Well, there's the NEW Scrabble Dictionary and there's those of us in a radical faction, which will continue along with whatever old version we have (cuz we're too cheap to buy the new one).

 

Oh, and you kids stay off my lawn.

 

I agree. The only reason for adding all those non-words is to make more money selling new dictionaries. Those are not real words! I'll keep using my 1965 edition.

[+cheech gang]

I believe all "REAL" words were just made up at first. Over time they spread and then became generally agreed upon among a particular group of people. Is this so different?

 

Mawby grtyliffle perflynk?

[+wmpastor]

Well, there's the NEW Scrabble Dictionary and there's those of us in a radical faction, which will continue along with whatever old version we have (cuz we're too cheap to buy the new one).

 

Oh, and you kids stay off my lawn.

 

I agree. The only reason for adding all those non-words is to make more money selling new dictionaries. Those are not real words! I'll keep using my 1965 edition.

The last Scrabble game I played with my uncle was the one where I made the word "reboot" & he "successfully" challenged it because it wasn't in his (old) dictionary. That wasn't the only issue - if he was losing, he'd set up favorable board positions for his wife if her turn was next.

[+ADKer]

Not many game founders find their creation added to the common vernacular, but Groundspeak has played an important role in the creation and use of a word we all know - Geocache has been added to the Scrabble dictionary! Due to their being longer than the allowed eight letters (seven drawn tiles plus one on the board) variants geocacher and geocaching could not be added.

 

 

Wait, I only play recreational scrabble... Why can't words be longer than 8 letters? Suppose the word "cache" is played? Can't you add "geo" to one end and "r" to the other? Of if that's invalid tile placement, what if "geocache" is already on the board? can't you add an "r" to the end?

 

Just curious...is there some rule I don't know about?

[+TerraViators]

How about the geocaching version of a selfie? For example, when a geocache requires or requests a self photograph but you are alone...a geolfie. Pronounced GEL-FEE.