rvpalliende (07/13/82)
In scrabble you not only have to decide in advance what is and what isn't a valid word (for example, by having a dictionary whose authority will be law) but also a given word must be known by the one who uses it. The temptation ov inventing new words is bigger in boggle. And even though I claim that "color", "colour", and "culer" are one and the same word, I would allow only one spelling when playing scrabble or boggle (preferably "color") Anyway, these games are more "letter games" than "word games". (Maybe you can learn some spelling while playing scrabble, but I doubt you can learn any vocabulary)
rlr (07/14/82)
After all the smoke has cleared, something is a word if it is (or was at some time----then it is an 'archaic' or 'obsolete' word usage) used by a significant number of people. If rvpalliende can get 2,000,000 or more to use 'ov' and 'culer' (hopefully over a large area, so as not to be a localized 'dialect'), THEN these may become acceptable usages of those words. Given that I believe in freedom of expression, anyone is free to say (and spell) anything anyway they want. Acceptable usage of a word in a language(!!!!) involves a significant portion of the people using that language understanding what the speaker (speller) is saying. 'Ov' might indeed be understood by vast number -s of people; it might even catch on as an acceptable spelling of the word *if enough people use it*!!!!!! But until then IT IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE SPELLING OF THE WORD THAT IS SPELLED 'of'!!!!!!! More power to you, rvp, in using that spelling, and good luck if you intend to spread its usage (I wouldn't use it on my resume if I were you, if indeed I wanted to obtain work from some employer who had never seen such usage). But don't think you are using a correct spelling of the word 'of'. (But 'culer'???????? Try and find ONE person who understands what word you are trying to use when you write 'culer'!!!!! This is what makes a word a word----people understanding what you say. Otherwise everything a one-year-old says when s/he really means something, even if noone else understands it, is a word.) Enough already. Rich pyuxjj!rlr