Tut, Tut

Tut , tut, Mac! Don’t worry about the Boggle tournament with my fourth-graders. I know the three-letter-word handicap seems daunting, but I’ve changed my mind. You can have your three-letter words. To level the playing field, I have a different plan. I’m going to arm my kids with words like these:

keb: a ewe that gives birth to a stillborn calf

mon: a Japanese family crest

orf: a viral infection of sheep

mor: a humus layer formed by slow decomposition in acidic soil

fid: a conical wooden pin used to splice strands of rope

lac: a dark red transparent resin used to make shellac

tej: Ethiopian honey-mead

yex: to hiccup, belch, or spit

zho: a cross between a yak and a cow (I’m surprised it’s not a “yow” or a “cak”)

They can pore through online dictionaries finding these gems, make lists, study them if they want. Heck, they don’t even have to memorize the words. All they have to do is guess, and we can just check online when we’re adding up points. See—they have a distinct advantage over you and your vast vocabulary. Since they know so few words to begin with, they won’t selectively perceive only the words that make sense, because they learn new words at school on a daily basis anyway. Instead, they’ll make a stab at it, even if it’s unfamiliar, and go on to the next word. You, on the other hand, will automatically eliminate three-letter-words that seem unfamiliar. Ironic, isn’t it?

So you can climb an ivi looking for keds, walk through a col looking for ceps, or wrap yourself in a kip until you’re in a kef.

The three-letter-words belong to ewe.