I received a Kindle Fire for Christmas about ten years ago. Its proven to be a great gift. I enjoy downloading books and movies. I watch most of the movies while flying with airlines that offer no such option. It’s a good way to pass the time. Ruth doesn’t care for adventure films with a lot of violence, so I get my fix this way. We both win.
About a year after receiving my Kindle, I started playing an on-line game, Words With Friends. Words with Friends is a multiplayer word game where players take turns building words crossword-puzzle style in a manner similar to the classic board game Scrabble. The rules of the two games are similar. Up to forty games can be played simultaneously.
I’ve played games with my three children, daughter-in-law, Lindsay, and grandson, Brady. For a time, David and I had as many as seven games going at once. Recent years have seen all these players opt out for personal reasons. Other than Brady, most of these regulars beat me like a drum.
I did have one un-named opponent, a shirt-tail relative, who I held a spell over. Try as he might, I beat him nine times out of ten. I set an un-proclaimed challenge for myself with this opponent. If I could win sixty-four games in a row, I’d drop him like a hot potato. It took me eighteen months, but I finally hit my mark last Wednesday. Sixty-four in a row! Boom! I won each of our last two games by over two-hundred points. I’m not bragging, just reporting.
My point range peaked with a word worth one-hundred and forty-four points and hit rock bottom with a word that scored two. Most words land in the ten to thirty point range. In the process I’ve learned a few new words. It’s a good thing you aren’t required to provide a definition, or use the words in a sentence, because I’ve developed several words through trial and error. I don’t make the rules. I just play by them.
I’ve never tried to enter this next set of words, but they’d be fun if I had the opportunity. Brady and Eva probably don’t use them, and they may be totally obsolete by the time Jackson is able to play. Here’s a partial list. Just for fun.
Thingamabob, thingamajig, whatchamacallit, and mishmash are nouns used in reference to a person or thing.
A tchotchke is also know as a bauble or a doodad. Most such references are related to some little something lying around somewhere. Many are decorative.
Hyphenated words like willy-nilly, loosey-goosey, lickety-split, wishy-washy, topsy-turvy, and pell-mell are unacceptable in Words with Friends, but their use in everyday life can be quite colorful.
Collective phrases such as whole ball of wax, lock stock and barrel, whole shootin match, and kit and caboodle are totally out of bounds in Words with Friends, but I get a kick out of these overlooked descriptors.
Two of my personal favorites remain hotsy-totsy and hanky-panky. Once again, I’m not bragging, just reporting.