Scrabble to get new official word: Twerk? Derp? Photobomb?
Selfie, noob, lifehack, or bromance could be a new word in Hasbro's official Scrabble Players Dictionary thanks to the Scrabble Word Showdown. May the best word win!
Sneaking in a made-up Scrabble word and getting away with it is almost as much fun as playing a legitimate one that uses three Zeds -- Zyzzyva, anyone? Word nerds who attempt to sneak illegal words like "huzzah" and "bazinga" past their friends may be happy to know that they can now nominate a new word into Hasbro's official Scrabble Players Dictionary, which hasn't been updated in more than nine years.
Fans have the chance to chime in on the Hasbro Game Night Facebook Page comments section to suggest their favorite new word to be added, now through March 28.
Numerous words reflecting geek culture have been recommended, including photobomb, noob, lifehack, pwned, selfie, login, meh, blogger, wifi, doge, geocache, emoji, and cosplay. Even slang terms like bling, bromance, twerk, embiggen, and manscape are on the fan-submitted list.
After all, if words like zax (a hand tool), banzai (Japanese battle cry), and coryza (a head cold) can be legitimately used in a game of Scrabble, why can't derp and bestie become potential double-word score candidates?
So far, kwyjibo is the most proposed word in the comments section. Don't recognize it? Kwyjibo is the insulting word Bart Simpson attempts to convince his dad Homer Simpson means "a big dumb balding North American ape with no chin and a short temper" in "The Simpsons" episode "Bart the Genius." If it had been a real word, Bart would have scored 116 points!
On April 2, Merriam-Webster and Scrabble will reveal 16 words chosen from the Hasbro Game Night Facebook page for a Scrabble Word Showdown where fans can cast their votes until the final word wins. The winning word will be announced on April 10 and be included in the fifth edition of Merriam-Webster's Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.
