National Scrabble Day



Today is National Scrabble Day, so David Bukszpan, author of Is That a Word?, shares a poem that will help you remember all 101 two-letter words that you can use.

The most important lesson for aspiring Scrabble nerds
is to memorize the whole list of two-letter words.

There’s one hundred and one, just like the Dalmatians,
but instead of pooches they’re pronouns, prepositions, exclamations.

you’ll play with them daily—it's your opponents you'll kill.

Some of these words are obvious, others uncanny
But master them all and you just might beat Granny.

the word's from Hawaii but you may find some in Java.

An AB is a muscle found on magazine covers,
an AD in the mag says Virginia's For Lovers.

AE thing is one thing, the word's oldish and Scottish;
AG means agriculture, the word's academic and oddish.

AH expresses surprise, like "Ah, look at those!"
an AI is a sloth who's just got three toes.

Catherine Pannier, and eighth-grader from Pembroke Pines, Fla., rearranges letter tiles while competing in the 2008 National School SCRABBLE Championship, Saturday, May 10, 2008 in Providence, R.I. (Stew Milne/AP)

AL is not just Pacino, it's an East Indian tree,
and AM is not just talk-radio, it's a form of "to be."

AN is an indefinite article, I just said it twice,
and AR is the letter that starts the word "rice."

and AT tells you where, such as "At Alcatraz."

We make the sound AW when we see kittens sneeze,
or when lumberjacks insensitively AX stately trees.

AY one might say, to say "I agree."
BA is the Ancient Egyptian idea of the soul, basically.

To BE is to exist, to have actuality;
a BI is a guy or girl with bisexuality.

BO is a pal, like "Meet my bo, Jackson."
"BY the way," one might say, "he's looking for action."

Video screenshot

DE, from the French, means "of" as in "from;"

ED is education, it's just shorter this way,
And EF is for F, like "What the ef word did you just play?"

EH…it's like…I don't an expression of doubt?
The EL train (think el tren elevado) is a pain to wait for when it's raining out.

EM refers to the letter; the same goes for EN.
ER is…hesitation; use ES to start "sen." (A former Japanese currency.)

FA is also sung as part of the scale. (Some folks think it's "far" but it's not.)


"HA!" blurted Adam, earlier in the Bible, when HE saw Eve evolve from his rib,
"HI," she replied, then "HM," because she couldn't ad lib.


IF, IN, IS and IT we pretty well know
But how about for sweetheart the endearing term JO?

Then there's a couple kay words that can keep back a conniption,
the first one is KA: the spiritual self—like ba, it's ancient Egyptian.


LA, a note to follow sol
LI, about five hundred yards
ME, a name a I call myself…

And—YO! —I almost forgot: there's ZA, which is pizza!

But in the song of course MI also a note meant.

At least compared to El Greco's real name—NE Dominikos Theotokópulos.


who came up with OD, a hypothetical life force,


But relax, my friend, take heart, you're doing so well,

try saying an OM to help counter confusion,


You might exclaim, "OW!" if like an OX,
you stub your big toe, wearing just sox.

"OY," you might cry, "come help me, PA!"
(Which reminds me to warn you not to try to play "da.")

PE, like fe, is another Hebrew letter,
tho Greek and math people prefer their PI better.

QI, Scrabble's most popular word, is just ki spelled with a kue,
and like qat (or your cat) it doesn't need U.

Back to the Von Trapps, let's not forget the tone RE,
and don't SH them yet—they have more to say:

there's also SI and SO from the scale diatonic,
and don't say TA, or thanks, to them yet, for their lesson harmonic

because we likewise have to make time for TI,

UH, UM…oh yeah, there's UN,
Juste comme
the French, it simply means one.


With the Greek letter, XI, we're near the end of our song.


So now you know your Scrabblish AA, BO, QIS,
next time won't you sing with MI?