YOWZA or EW!? FARANG makes it into the latest Scrabble dictionary

 

 

The controversial Thai word FARANG has made it into the latest edition of the Scrabble dictionary out yesterday.

 

The word - ubiquitous in Thailand - is usually taken to mean Caucasian foreigner.

 

Some see it as vaguely racist while others just accept it as an ordinary term that implies no offence. 

 

Much has been written about the word and its questionable origin but such is its frequent use that few travelers or residents of Thailand will be surprised that it now joins the Japanese term "GAIJIN" in the 2019 Collins Scrabble Word List. 

 

An S can be added to the word making FARANGS that would then mean a 50 point bonus for playing all your tiles - it could be worth 80 points on an opening move!

 

Some 2862 new words have been added and the new list - now containing 279,496 words - will be used by professional Scrabble players in Thailand for the first time at the upcoming Brands' International in Bangkok in July. 

 

Many new words in the dictionary reflect the modern computer and social media landscape with DASHCAM and SUBTWEET (a negative message on Twitter) now acceptable. 

 

Other quirky vocabulary - and perhaps higher scoring than FARANG - include CHEMSEX (sexual activity under the influence of psychoactive drugs), QAPIK (money in Azerbaijan) and YOWZA (an interjection expressing surprise).

 

Scrabble players will be most interested in the small words, however, with OK and EW (an interjection expressing disgust) making it in for the first time. 

 

Scrabble - the world's most played word game - is very popular in Thailand. Apart from high profile and valuable tournaments the game enjoys the patronage of the Thai Royal Family and sponsorship from big business. 

 

Bangkok has the highest concentration of top professional Scrabble players of any city in the world and most of them are Thai playing in a foreign language. 

 

The Thai capital has been called "The Home of Scrabble" though Thais call the game of interlocking words played for points Crossword Game for contractual reasons.

 

"Now many locals will legitimately be able to play "FARANGS"", quipped Bangkok resident and Scrabble player Gerry Carter.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-05-04

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I'm honoured!

Phooey on the Scrabble folks and others who accept farangs as the plural of farang.

I wonder if they except the "N" word too ?

1 hour ago, johng said:

I wonder if they except the "N" word too ?

The dictionary does not list exceptions, only inclusions.

22 hours ago, mahjongguy said:

Phooey on the Scrabble folks and others who accept farangs as the plural of farang.

As there are no plural nouns formed by the Western addition of the letter "s" in Thai and farang originated in Thailand, "farangs" shouldn't be acceptable. Just as many English words are both singular and plural in their spelling: sheep, music, money, furniture.

https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/language-lab/improve-your-english-words-without-a-plural/

 

The plural of Farang, is Farangi, we come from Farangistan.

 

Unlike the Feringi, we do not have 'Rules Of Acquisition'.

 

14 hours ago, Srikcir said:

As there are no plural nouns formed by the Western addition of the letter "s" in Thai and farang originated in Thailand, "farangs" shouldn't be acceptable. Just as many English words are both singular and plural in their spelling: sheep, music, money, furniture.

https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/language-lab/improve-your-english-words-without-a-plural/

 

Do you think you can have an S on BACTERIA or GRAFFITI or both? The Scrabble dictionary is a little different to smaller word lists. Besides the inclusion of FARANG says this is now an English word. So why not put an S on it.

 

 

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