Poll time!

[conuly]

We were playing boggle. One of us put in the word wabe, but was shouted down. That person uses the word wabe in her daily life. (The wabe is a word from Jabberwocky, the area around a sundial. That's the poem the word chortle comes from.)

[Poll #892202]

By the way, the person who put down wabe was me. Of course. And I do so use it in my daily life! Every time we go past Snug Harbor's sundial, I remind Ana not to trample any of the plants in the wabe. She can go up and look at the sundial, so long as the plants stay untrampled. No gyring or gimbeling for her!

Comments

[mayhemwench.livejournal.com]

I put 2 as my favorite number, but it's actually both 2 and 6, because they look the same to me. Only I couldn't check both. :-(

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Well, considering the OED's definition of "wabe" is essentially "a word that Lewis Carroll made up", I vote for it sort of being a word. I do love Jabberwocky, though. ^^

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

Don't the rules of Scrabble say it's a word if you can both give a definition for it, and use it in a sentence (clearly not one taken from the poem)?

That's how I base my decisions of whether things are words or not!

[staircase-wit.livejournal.com]

I thought the rule was that it couldn't be a proper noun, and needed to be in a dictionary to prevent for-points neologisms

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

...Maybe those were family rules then? I don't think I've ever actually read the Scrabble rules, come to think of it. I know the no proper nouns rule though.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

heehee, those sound like family rules. my great grandma was the star of scrabble, and we couldn't get away with ANYTHING when we played with her. :P

[conuly]

No, those are official rules - and the only allowed dictionary is the rather-pathetic Scrabble Players Dictionary.

Me, I always go straight for our Oxford English....

[leora.livejournal.com]

Family rules. I had uneeled in my hand.... all 7 tiles, and I could have played it. But it's not a word. Even though I know what it means, you know what it means, and I can use it in a sentence. Watch:

I threw eels at Connie and Eva, but Anna managed to get away uneeled.

See! When used in that sentence, it makes perfect sense. But no points for me, even so.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I've had this discussion about Jabberwocky words in Scrabble. I don't think they count because the point of the poem is to use things that were not words. If they become accepted words that people use and understand, you ruin a bit of the point of Through the Looking Glass for future generations. So, I think it's important to maintain them as non-words.

[conuly]

What about chortle, then?

[leora.livejournal.com]

I'd say technically it should stay a nonword, even though it's very hard to keep it that way. My point isn't that some of these words do make it into standard usage, just that we should try to keep them from becoming so common that they lose their charm as nonsense words, because it's a great book and a great poem, and I want future generations to enjoy it the way it was meant to be enjoyed. I may well be fighting a losing battle, but that's the battle I am fighting.

[mayhemwench.livejournal.com]

I put 2 as my favorite number, but it's actually both 2 and 6, because they look the same to me. Only I couldn't check both. :-(

[ciara-belle.livejournal.com]

Well, considering the OED's definition of "wabe" is essentially "a word that Lewis Carroll made up", I vote for it sort of being a word. I do love Jabberwocky, though. ^^

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

Don't the rules of Scrabble say it's a word if you can both give a definition for it, and use it in a sentence (clearly not one taken from the poem)?

That's how I base my decisions of whether things are words or not!

[staircase-wit.livejournal.com]

I thought the rule was that it couldn't be a proper noun, and needed to be in a dictionary to prevent for-points neologisms

[firingneurons.livejournal.com]

...Maybe those were family rules then? I don't think I've ever actually read the Scrabble rules, come to think of it. I know the no proper nouns rule though.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

heehee, those sound like family rules. my great grandma was the star of scrabble, and we couldn't get away with ANYTHING when we played with her. :P

[conuly]

No, those are official rules - and the only allowed dictionary is the rather-pathetic Scrabble Players Dictionary.

Me, I always go straight for our Oxford English....

[leora.livejournal.com]

Family rules. I had uneeled in my hand.... all 7 tiles, and I could have played it. But it's not a word. Even though I know what it means, you know what it means, and I can use it in a sentence. Watch:

I threw eels at Connie and Eva, but Anna managed to get away uneeled.

See! When used in that sentence, it makes perfect sense. But no points for me, even so.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I've had this discussion about Jabberwocky words in Scrabble. I don't think they count because the point of the poem is to use things that were not words. If they become accepted words that people use and understand, you ruin a bit of the point of Through the Looking Glass for future generations. So, I think it's important to maintain them as non-words.

[conuly]

What about chortle, then?

[leora.livejournal.com]

I'd say technically it should stay a nonword, even though it's very hard to keep it that way. My point isn't that some of these words do make it into standard usage, just that we should try to keep them from becoming so common that they lose their charm as nonsense words, because it's a great book and a great poem, and I want future generations to enjoy it the way it was meant to be enjoyed. I may well be fighting a losing battle, but that's the battle I am fighting.