The Andrew Extravaganza

On my best day of Boggle, I probably couldn't compete with Jeff. In fact, it took a clutch effort in the last round just to make it into double digit points. I can accept that my Boggling skills are inferior to most of the assembled Bogglers in the room (modesty prevents it, but dare I say a room full of geniuses?) What I can't accept is getting hosed because my competitors harbor deep word prejudices. Damn you sticklers, give me my points.

Some lingering Boggle issues:

reb: Dictionary.com (D.C) slaps it with the dreaded 'informal' tag, but Merriam-Webster (M-W) doesn't. Short for rebel (Johnny Reb was my defense at the time), I think reb must hold up. It's equivalent to gook, kraut, jap, chink, or any other slur that allows for dehumanization and less hesitation when pulling the trigger in combat.

sim: Short for simulation and it apparently carries a connotation nothing short of nerdy. I got robbed on this one. The next pair of words were accepted, but are in fact no different than sim. Lexicographers need to get their shit together because they cost me a point with their negligence.

sax & bra: Both are now legitimate nouns (Funk and Wagnall's had them as informal in the 1984 edition) and were used in the game. My case for reb and sim depended on the acceptance of this pair. These two were accepted because they've entered the vernacular over the course of time. Would doc have been okay?

tix: Short for tickets; this one didn't have a prayer.

hoss: "What's up hoss?" That, of course, didn't fly; I'm not sure why. Hoss is a southern colloquial nickname, probably derived from horse. Just because you can hear it on The Dukes of Hazard doesn't make it any less of a word.

foo: This one is complicated, but I think I have a strong case. If jeep is acceptable, foo should be as well.

oof: Most definitely not a word, I was really grasping at straws after three rounds of the big nada; however, woof will do just fine. For the record, oof is the sound you make when hit in the stomach.

dino: Pure bollocks. In a perfect world, dino would be to dinosaur what sax is to saxophone, but we're not there yet.

nig: You can renege, but you cannot nig. In order to nig, you'd first have to invent the meaning of the word. The fact that Jeff finally had a word shot down provided a badly needed moral victory.

feta: As in the cheese. Gouda is a capitalized cheese, while feta is listed as lowercase on both sources (although M-W says it is "often capitalized"). Verdict: screw you guys. The argument over feta made me feel like Clevinger in a room full of Yossarians. I had to finish the rest of the game under protest and I expect and demand the addition of this point to my final score.

I think that about covers the major disputes. Have I forgotten any?

I think this is hilarious.

So in short, you are mad because you could only come up with words that were arguably acceptable at best. Jeff threw one by us with nig (I think it got accepted) but the rest of his were rock solid. You said it yourself, sax is a NOUN. Meanwhile you were over there playing grabass with words that are SOMETIMES capitalized or SOMETIMES labeled "informal." Just because you can butcher the word "horse" doesn't mean it has to be accepted as a word. By that rationale I should have been able to submit "dogg" and have it accepted.

Abbreviations that may someday be accepted as true words (sim, dino) are not the same as words that were once abbreviations but are now the real thing (sax, bra).

Way to suck at Boggle.