The SCRABBLE Nazi
March 1, 2007
In my continued love of “enjoying” the characters on board the ship I am amazed that they just seem to get better and better….like I’ve said so many times before, you just can’t make this stuff up!
On “sea days” at 1PM you will probably find me in the Hudson Room playing SCARBBLE with Jane Young, aka “The SCRABBLE Nazi”. Another SCRABBLE player, Shane, introduced me to her and our initial conversation went something like this:
“Oh hi, Charles” Shane said as I spotted him and Jane playing….”meet Jane Young”. “Jane, this is Charles….you should play with him sometime”
“I don’t play with beginners” Jane snarled!
“Oh, Charles is far from a beginner” Shane came to my defense.
“Well”, Jane retorted, “Do you know these words” referring to some very obscure words she had scribbled on her score pad….words that only someone that sleeps with the SCRABBLE dictionary would ever know
“No!” I replied…”Don’t know those words!”
“Well!” Jane quickly retorted…”If we do ever play and you don’t know those simple words, then there’s no question that I will beat you”. Shane looked at me, almost embarrassed that he had introduced us. I smiled and left letting her enjoy her bravado.
A couple of days later, I found a note awaiting me when I returned to my cabin. Scribbled across the entire letters in a very wobbly hand-writing was a large R.S.V.P. Jane, the SCRABBLE Nazi, was inviting me to play. My first reaction was to write her a note graciously declining her kind invitation. I went to dinner failing to take the note with me. When I returned, I had second thoughts and decided that I would not be intimidated by this crazy old woman…so I tore my original note up and penned a new one agreeing to meet her the next day. The battle was on!
When I arrived at the appointed time, there she was….her own board all set up…plain paper and two pens…it seems that she insists on keeping her own score and her opponent must likewise keep their score.---- I was soon to learn why!!!!! Believe it or not when she saw me, she immediately apologized at her behavior on our previous meeting. I suspect that my friend Shane had told her how soundly I had always beaten him and had convinced her that I was indeed NOT a beginner. I smiled and graciously said something like, “I don’t even know what you are talking about”….right! I knew…and she knew…EXACTLY what we were talking about. The woman had been rude to me and finally realized it.
Well, she went over the rules of how we could use the dictionary to check on words we already had in mind as well as some silly rule that she likes to turn in more than three letters of the same kind and to always try and maintain a board with three vowels….I said, OK…I will play by HER rules! She also informed me that we would only play ONE game since she had to have her nap promptly at two in the afternoon. She drew the letter closest to A and thus was OFF and running….making some big score and beginning her constant chatter about how good she is and about this is a word and that is a word and if I play this or that in that place it will block you and you will never beat me because I know all these words and on and on and on. I was soon to learn that this chatter is one of her techniques…after all who can think with all that nonsense going on. We continued to play….and I held my own. Yes, she beat me…but only by one or two points…I held my own! So, as I got up to leave since she had to go for her nap, she looked up and said “Where do you think you are going!” “Are you a sore loser, or what?” “No”, I said, “it’s time for your nap”. “Nap…like hell” she yelled, not when I can beat someone in SCRABBLE”…I had her attention and we played another game…and again, it was a very very close score.
After a couple of days of playing…and not winning, I got lucky! I had two seven letter words back to back…she was running scared! To her credit, she got busy and at the end of the game we had tied! Amazing that she caught up to me! In our second game, I had another lucky draw and actually beat her…wonder why…two or three times during the game I counted her score realizing that she was adding a point here and a point there….I am convinced that I won that first game although the score didn’t reflect it. I don’t think she is cheating…I just think in her haste to impress me with her big obscure words and her enthusiasm gets in the way of her accounting skills.
I play her again today…and this may be the last of our games. She is impossible. As my friends walk by and see us playing, they stop to say hello and observe….Jane can’t stand it! She snarls something rude to them, embarrassing me. I called her on it the other day telling her that she needed to be nice to people. “Why?” she snapped! “Because”, I said, “God is watching!” She waved me off mumbling something about how an old woman like her didn’t have to take foolish chatter from strangers who know nothing about SCRABBLE. So, I told her...”Maybe, I should take a break from playing….I don’t like the uncomfortable feeling of being around someone so grumpy” “She said, you just don’t like losing” drawing yet another high scoring letter and using yet another unknown word!!!!!!!!
March 1, 2007
In my continued love of “enjoying” the characters on board the ship I am amazed that they just seem to get better and better….like I’ve said so many times before, you just can’t make this stuff up!
On “sea days” at 1PM you will probably find me in the Hudson Room playing SCARBBLE with Jane Young, aka “The SCRABBLE Nazi”. Another SCRABBLE player, Shane, introduced me to her and our initial conversation went something like this:
“Oh hi, Charles” Shane said as I spotted him and Jane playing….”meet Jane Young”. “Jane, this is Charles….you should play with him sometime”
“I don’t play with beginners” Jane snarled!
“Oh, Charles is far from a beginner” Shane came to my defense.
“Well”, Jane retorted, “Do you know these words” referring to some very obscure words she had scribbled on her score pad….words that only someone that sleeps with the SCRABBLE dictionary would ever know
“No!” I replied…”Don’t know those words!”
“Well!” Jane quickly retorted…”If we do ever play and you don’t know those simple words, then there’s no question that I will beat you”. Shane looked at me, almost embarrassed that he had introduced us. I smiled and left letting her enjoy her bravado.
A couple of days later, I found a note awaiting me when I returned to my cabin. Scribbled across the entire letters in a very wobbly hand-writing was a large R.S.V.P. Jane, the SCRABBLE Nazi, was inviting me to play. My first reaction was to write her a note graciously declining her kind invitation. I went to dinner failing to take the note with me. When I returned, I had second thoughts and decided that I would not be intimidated by this crazy old woman…so I tore my original note up and penned a new one agreeing to meet her the next day. The battle was on!
When I arrived at the appointed time, there she was….her own board all set up…plain paper and two pens…it seems that she insists on keeping her own score and her opponent must likewise keep their score.---- I was soon to learn why!!!!! Believe it or not when she saw me, she immediately apologized at her behavior on our previous meeting. I suspect that my friend Shane had told her how soundly I had always beaten him and had convinced her that I was indeed NOT a beginner. I smiled and graciously said something like, “I don’t even know what you are talking about”….right! I knew…and she knew…EXACTLY what we were talking about. The woman had been rude to me and finally realized it.
Well, she went over the rules of how we could use the dictionary to check on words we already had in mind as well as some silly rule that she likes to turn in more than three letters of the same kind and to always try and maintain a board with three vowels….I said, OK…I will play by HER rules! She also informed me that we would only play ONE game since she had to have her nap promptly at two in the afternoon. She drew the letter closest to A and thus was OFF and running….making some big score and beginning her constant chatter about how good she is and about this is a word and that is a word and if I play this or that in that place it will block you and you will never beat me because I know all these words and on and on and on. I was soon to learn that this chatter is one of her techniques…after all who can think with all that nonsense going on. We continued to play….and I held my own. Yes, she beat me…but only by one or two points…I held my own! So, as I got up to leave since she had to go for her nap, she looked up and said “Where do you think you are going!” “Are you a sore loser, or what?” “No”, I said, “it’s time for your nap”. “Nap…like hell” she yelled, not when I can beat someone in SCRABBLE”…I had her attention and we played another game…and again, it was a very very close score.
After a couple of days of playing…and not winning, I got lucky! I had two seven letter words back to back…she was running scared! To her credit, she got busy and at the end of the game we had tied! Amazing that she caught up to me! In our second game, I had another lucky draw and actually beat her…wonder why…two or three times during the game I counted her score realizing that she was adding a point here and a point there….I am convinced that I won that first game although the score didn’t reflect it. I don’t think she is cheating…I just think in her haste to impress me with her big obscure words and her enthusiasm gets in the way of her accounting skills.
I play her again today…and this may be the last of our games. She is impossible. As my friends walk by and see us playing, they stop to say hello and observe….Jane can’t stand it! She snarls something rude to them, embarrassing me. I called her on it the other day telling her that she needed to be nice to people. “Why?” she snapped! “Because”, I said, “God is watching!” She waved me off mumbling something about how an old woman like her didn’t have to take foolish chatter from strangers who know nothing about SCRABBLE. So, I told her...”Maybe, I should take a break from playing….I don’t like the uncomfortable feeling of being around someone so grumpy” “She said, you just don’t like losing” drawing yet another high scoring letter and using yet another unknown word!!!!!!!!
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