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Here's the deal. Scrabble is fun, plain and simple, but only if you're not playing the guy that pulls "zax" (a tool for cutting roof slates) out of nowhere on a triple word score, then follows it up with "quire" (to arrange sheets of paper in sets of twenty-four). It's hard to like that guy.... that is until you become one. But for the uninitiated, don't get discouraged. You can make leaps and bounds in your scrabble score with this handy tip: learn all the 2-letter words you can, and use them to play next to - and not through - other words. Doing this is better than a double word score every time. And, if you get one of those, well... bonus! You may not know these words, but you should. Here they are:

AA rough, cindery lava
AD advertisement
AE one
AG pert. to agriculture
AH intj. expressing understanding
AI three-toed sloth
AL East Indian tree
AR letter 'r'
AW intj. expressing disbelief
AX to cut with an ax
AY aye
BA eternal soul in Egyptian mythology
BO pal
DO to execute/first tone of musical scale
ED education
EF letter 'f'
EL letter 'l'
EM printer's measurement
EN printer's measurement
ER intj. expressing hesitation
ES letter 's'
ET [eat-conj] (to consume)
EX letter 'x'
FA fourth tone of diatonic musical scale
HM intj. expressing thought (hmm)
HO intj. used to attract attention to something
ID part of psyche related to instinctual impulses
JO sweetheart
KA Egyptian spiritual self
LI Chinese unit of distance
MI third tone of diatonic musical scale
MM intj. expressing satisfaction
MO moment
MU Greek letter
NE born with the name of (nee)
NU Greek letter
OD hypothetical force of natural power
OE Faroean wind
OM mantra used in meditation
OP style of abstract art
OS orifice/bone/ridge of sand (esker)
OX hoofed mammal/clumsy person
OY intj. expressing dismay
PE Hebrew letter
RE second tone of diatonic musical scale
SH intj. used to urge silence (shh)
SI seventh tone of diatonic musical scale (ti)
TA thanks
TI seventh tone of diatonic musical scale
UN one
UT musical tone in French solmization system
WO woe
XI Greek letter
XU Vietnamese monetary unit

Now, if you can learn even half of these, you'll be right in there with the pros at the end of each game. Now vowels aren't worth just one point and you can get rid of a j, k or x in a pinch. And yes, you're welcome.

Learn more about this author, George Eddings.
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