Digging deeper into the lexicographical side and details of
Scrabble, I have found that one crucial dimension to understanding the trends
and meanings behind dictionary usage and Scrabble itself comes from a
mathematical perspective as well as data collection in the contemporary
age. I was led to an interesting and
very recent interview conducted by the Chicago Manual of Style academic publication’s
online source with Peter Sokolowski. His
work as an editor at large for Merriam-Webster places him in a position not
only to attend professional and academic conferences about dictionaries but
also participate in how lexicographers deduce knowledge about linguistic trends
when individuals look up over a billion words a year on Merriam-Webster.com. Through the use of Google Analytics,
Sokolowski is able to locate academic, business and international traffic on
which words and language is being explored by people in the U.S. and abroad. Bringing it back to my topic, Sokolowski also
was able to find not only spikes in dictionary use on smartphones, which
possibility indicates trends in age group language use, but also when people
searched for words both fundamental and new to Scrabble specifically. In the broader sense, the interviewer also
inquired about the rate of change and permanent status of word additions to
Merriam-Webster and in turn the Scrabble dictionary itself as they are directly
interrelated. A central point he makes
that assures a growing understanding about current lexicographical and
linguistic flux of language came when he stated “the increase in volume of text
is more than matched by the speed of research”.
In addition
to the professional and academic research perspective of Sokolowski, the
reigning world champion of Scrabble, Craig Beevers, also provides a perspective
that adds to the meaning and understanding between common players and those in
positions of authority to recognize and validate the evolution of language used
in Scrabble. He asserts throughout his
article in the Guardian that the new influx of over 6,500 words including “shizzle”
and “twerk” in the most recent addition in May 2015 is as welcomed to him as
any in the competitive and general Scrabble community. Beevers also recognizes not only the novelty
of the new growth in the Scrabble/Merriam-Webster lexicon but also in its
diversity of origin. He locates many
words coming from advanced technologies and modern advances juxtaposed to more
societal and youth slang usage.
Another
Guardian article by Stephen Moss discusses where mathematics and love of
language create a separation which is meaningful to the growth and use of the
Scrabble dictionary. Such words as “AA”
or “MM” are words which Ross points out “you could go through several lifetimes
and never hear this collection of abbreviation, archaisms and Greek and Hebrew
letters in everyday speech.” This led to
his demanding if they were in fact words.
One of the top ranked Scottish women’s players in 2014 spoke to the
mathematics of focusing on memorizing more than understanding the meanings
behind the words themselves. Ross
contends that this is a problematic dimension of a word based game where
patterns and recognition are no doubt crucial, but his article questions
whether semantic knowledge should be required. This observation of the game speaks volumes
to the great questions Scrabbles arouse about linguistics, understanding
expanding dictionaries and the “integrity” of language use. A great deal of slang today, even as a member
of this generation, or even playing the stray technological term of which no
understanding is involved leads to the question of not only what should be new
words but how society is facing these new terms and a growing English language. Scrabble provides a forum where these greater
questions are faced in basements of Churches and Thanksgiving tables.
