Will Thailand have yet another World Scrabble Champion?

[webfact]

Will Thailand have yet another World Scrabble Champion?

 

File photo

 

Thailand still has hopes of celebrating another World Scrabble Champion. 

 

Thai players Puttapong Moonsarn and Gerry Carter, originally from the UK, are lying in 12th and 11th places respectively after winning 16 and losing 10 of the first 26 games. 

 

The final 8 games are to be played Friday. The championships, sponsored by game makers Mattel, are being held in Torquay in southern England. 

 

Puttapong, who won the right to represent Thailand after winning a tournament and air ticket in Bangkok, is playing in his first world championships. He showed few nerves in taking on the best players of the world's most popular word game. 

 

Gerry, a long term Bangkok resident, started poorly with four wins and 8 losses but then stormed back to win 12 out of 14 including 8-1 on Thursday playing 50 point bonus words with all four "power tiles" (JQXZ). These were REJOINED, LIQUATED, SEXTARII and LATERIZE. 

 

After 34 games the top eight players will play quarter finals and semis on Saturday. The final will be screened to a worldwide audience from a London hotel on Sunday.

 

Next up for Gerry is a match-up with the greatest Scrabble player of all time, Kuala Lumpur based New Zealander Nigel Richards who is the favorite for this event and is currently in first place in the standings. 

 

Their game is expected to be live streamed to Scrabble enthusiasts around the world on Facebook starting at 3pm Thai time. 

 

Two Thai players have been crowned World Scrabble Champion in the past - Panupol Sajjayakorn won as a teenager in 2003 and architect Pakorn Nemitrmansuk won in 2009.

 

The game in Thailand enjoys patronage from the Thai Royal Family and sponsorship from big business. There are thousands of rated players in the kingdom where the game is particularly popular among youth as a tool for learning English, game play tactics and strategy and mathematical skills. 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-10-26

[Fex Bluse]

40 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thai players Puttapong Moonsarn and Gerry Carter, originally from the UK

Oh, I see! When it is something that makes Thailand look good, Farangs are accepted as Thai (think Tiger Woods). But, in ALL other cases, Farangs cannot understand Thailand.

 

Gerry Carter represents the UK unless he was educated and raised in Thailand???

Edited October 25, 2018 by Fex Bluse

[Damrongsak]

Is there a Thai version of Scrabble where you could get more points by spelling "Men Hee" (pu$$# stinks) rather than "Hen Mee" (see a bear?) with the same English letters?  I suppose it depends on the starting letter, unless they get extra points for cleverness.  I always admire their sense of humor ...

[JAG]

I think I understand why Thais are so good at scrabble.

 

Many schools have a policy of requiring pupils to memorize half a dozen or so English words a day. The words are usually selected at random from a vocabulary list, often by teachers who don't actually speak English. Suggestions that they be in any way linked to English lessons taught that week are regarded as dangerously subversive. The meanings of the words are not memorized, only the spelling, and, after a fashion, the pronunciation!

 

An exercise, as one rather perspicacious pupil (with an American father) once pointed out, was jolly good training for scrabble.

[mikebell]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

LIQUATED, SEXTARII and LATERIZE. 

I was an English teacher for 39 years; these words are outside of my vocabulary.

[SEtonal]

World Scrabble players have high-level math skills (not English/language, spelling, or verbal like many people think). 

 

In 2015, Nigel Richards (New Zealand), who does not speak French, won the French World Scrabble Championship after spending nine weeks studying a French dictionary.  He is currently the 2018 French World Scrabble champion and won the English-language World Scrabble Championship in 2007, 2011, and 2013.  Richards has been described as a reclusive person with high mathematical abilities.

Edited October 26, 2018 by SEtonal

[SEtonal]

"Gerry Carter, originally from the UK"

 

https://www.word-grabber.com/word-board-games/playing-scrabble-with-gerry-carter

 

Quote

Gerry was born in 1961 in South London. He caught the travel bug while visiting a friend in Australia in 1980. He dropped in on a stopover to Manila. When he got back to London, where he was a journalist, he promptly quit and flew to Kabul. His first time in Thailand after that was love at first sight! Since 1985 he has lived in Bangkok continuously and has worked as a Thai teacher.

Quote

 

Are there differences between Thais and native English speakers when it comes to playing Scrabble?

Thais don`t usually think about meanings. It is more about math. We talk about the game in Thai, which I speak fluently. Thais have a very great strategic and tactical approach which I share.

 

 

Quote

 

Is it possible to learn a new language with Scrabble?

I don`t believe that Scrabble the game will help you learn to speak English. But Scrabble the experience and Scrabble the community will help you practice English in talking about the game. I learnt to speak Thai better by talking about the game, especially to Thai men in the early nineties. Maybe Scrabble can teach some vocab, but most of it is pointless in speaking. I think there is more to learn in mental preparedness, strategy, tactics, psychology, and math in Scrabble than English. The patterns of Scrabble create neurons that improve brainpower and make players smarter in a variety of other areas.

 

 

 

[Dexlowe]

No biggie that Carter is English. But if he wins, I'll bet he'll crow like a rooster.

[Old Croc]

6 minutes ago, Dexlowe said:

No biggie that Carter is English. But if he wins, I'll bet he'll crow like a rooster.

We would never hear the end of it on Dominicus.

Edited October 26, 2018 by Old Croc

[leddie]

I think someone got away with a fast one, as that word "biten" showing in the main picture is not a valid word.  All games affected by this should be replayed.

https://1word.ws/biten

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, mikebell said:

I was an English teacher for 39 years; these words are outside of my vocabulary.

I thought the middle one was a TV vet ????

[evadgib]

49 minutes ago, leddie said:

I think someone got away with a fast one, as that word "biten" showing in the main picture is not a valid word.  All games affected by this should be replayed.

https://1word.ws/biten

In Norfolk its a bird ???? (both posts tongue in cheek!)

Edited October 26, 2018 by evadgib

[nahkit]

5 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

Oh, I see! When it is something that makes Thailand look good, Farangs are accepted as Thai (think Tiger Woods). But, in ALL other cases, Farangs cannot understand Thailand.

 

Gerry Carter represents the UK unless he was educated and raised in Thailand???

Gerry Carter has permanent resident status in Thailand and regards the country as his home.

 

"For me Thailand is home and has been since I first stepped foot in it"

 

 

[Small Joke]

Go Rooster! Of course with your cover blown, some nut job from Trumpville could send a pipe bomb, Ah! The perils of fame. 

[Dexlowe]

22 minutes ago, Small Joke said:

Go Rooster! Of course with your cover blown, some nut job from Trumpville could send a pipe bomb, Ah! The perils of fame. 

Nah. Where Gerry's from they usually nut 'em and kneecap 'em. And that's when Spurs win!!!  

[Justgrazing]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

These were REJOINED, LIQUATED, SEXTARII and LATERIZE. 

My bird cant even say Sextarii  pronouncing it as Sektarly and wondered initially if it was a bedroom toy .. And asking her to pronounce the ( completed ) below sounds more like liquorice .. So its all well and good putting these words together on a scrabble board but knowing what they mean and pronouncing them is another thing altogether and just as much part of the deal .. 

[overherebc]

My brother, who is well known in concentric circles, tells me when I was very young I would ask for scrabbled eggs and kippen for breakfast.

Edited October 26, 2018 by overherebc

[Fex Bluse]

3 hours ago, nahkit said:

Gerry Carter has permanent resident status in Thailand and regards the country as his home.

 

"For me Thailand is home and has been since I first stepped foot in it"

I don't care what he thinks or feels. He is not Thai. And, neither would 99% of Thais consider him Thai - unless they can use him to gain face. Surely you know this about Thailand? 

 

R Keli believed he can fly. But he cannot actually fly 

Edited October 26, 2018 by Fex Bluse

[wgdanson]

7 hours ago, mikebell said:

I was an English teacher for 39 years; these words are outside of my vocabulary.

I was playing online Scrabble with various apps, but they all used the American Dictionary....so I quit, and just play with myself now !   Even Countdown's Susie Dent is offering US, Oz and other slang words. Don't they know The Queen's English...............................................Is she?

[overherebc]

6 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

I was playing online Scrabble with various apps, but they all used the American Dictionary....so I quit, and just play with myself now !   Even Countdown's Susie Dent is offering US, Oz and other slang words. Don't they know The Queen's English...............................................Is she?

Playing with yourself is a bad habit.

Sorry, ????????????????????????

[Dexlowe]

3 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Playing with yourself is a bad habit.

Sorry, ????????????????????????

Yeah, but you get to use a lot of four-letter words, though. 

[wgdanson]

14 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Playing with yourself is a bad habit.

Sorry, ????????????????????????

Someone had to grab the bait. Cheers.

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, Justgrazing said:

My bird cant even say Sextarii  pronouncing it as Sektarly and wondered initially if it was a bedroom toy .. And asking her to pronounce the ( completed ) below sounds more like liquorice .. So its all well and good putting these words together on a scrabble board but knowing what they mean and pronouncing them is another thing altogether and just as much part of the deal .. 

Isn't that the plural? As in a tin of beans.

[wgdanson]

All genuine.