I suppose you think you know this game.
You’ve probably played it long enough.
But I can assure you that things will never be the same
when you’ve mastered stupid words like ETH or UGH!
You see, it is the little words that help you to win;
two letters long, no more than three at the most.
Nonsensical little words like HIN, LIN or RIN;
know them all and you have your opponents on toast!
We can thank the Scots for many of these,
and then Spenser and Shakespeare have done their bit.
C words like CLY, which means ‘to seize’,
or if a Scot wants ‘to block’ he will say ‘to DIT’.
A musical note is TE, but it can be TI.
There’s another word for it and that is RE.
You’re not going to believe this, but there’s also SI
and in the Pacific, TI is some form of tree.
But you don’t have to remember what these titchy words mean,
as long as you know they are there to be used.
Remember them all and you will be Scrabble’s queen
and your opponents will succumb, vanquished and abused!
For Pam Jenkins’ 80th birthday