2 ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ
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4 The NSA updated "Tournament Word List" (TWL98) is the official reference
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5 for tournament and club Scrabble (tm) play. It is available only to
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6 members of the NSA. Some time ago, a list purporting to be the TWL98 list
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7 appeared on the web. Because the TWL98 is not available to non-NSA
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8 members, we are unable to verify that the posted list is in fact identical
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9 to TWL98. However, Mendel and I believe it is likely that this list is
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10 in fact TWL98. It includes the publicized differences between TWL98
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11 and earlier lists, and also contains some of the same errors that
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12 characterized the DOOM list, from which the TWL98 list was supposedly
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15 When we downloaded the purported TWL98 list, we immediately compared it to
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16 the original ENABLE list, discovering two errors in ENABLE, and five
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17 judgment calls where we felt that TWL98 had made better choices than
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18 we had. Accordingly, the words "discontinuaton" and "discontinuations",
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19 which were erroneously omitted from ENABLE, were added. Additionally the
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20 words "antidiabetics", "nonabstracts" and "overbreathings" were added.
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21 These are all inflections of words given in MW10 without a part of speech.
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22 However, all are plausible. Further, "antidiabetics" is listed in the
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23 MW Medical Dictionary, and "nonabstracts" in RH Unabridged. Whether to
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24 include these words is a judgment call, and we decided to add them.
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25 Finally, as part of the "plural reform" effort for ENABLE2K, the plural
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26 "salpiglosses", for which there is no evidence, was removed and replaced
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27 by "salpiglossises", which was the only plural listed by the purported
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28 TWL98. The omitted plural "tsutsugamushis", present in TWL98, was added
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31 The remaining differences between ENABLE (without signature words or new
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32 MW10 words) and the purported TWL98 can be classified into three groups of
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33 words, two being systematic differences, and then a small set of
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34 miscellaneous differences. These differences are described below.
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36 The single biggest set of differences between purported TWL98 and ENABLE
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37 is the result of the ENABLE2K "plural reform" (see PLURALS.DOC). Through
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38 this effort, many questionable plurals in the earlier ENABLE (and in the
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39 purported TWL98) were deleted, and a few new plurals were added. The
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40 following plurals are present in the purported TWL98, but we can find no
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41 convincing evidence of their validity:
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129 Similarly, the following plurals were added to ENABLE, but are not present
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130 in the purported TWL98:
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138 The other systematic source of differences between the purported TWL98 and
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139 ENABLE has to do with the "also called" words (see DOOM_ENA.DOC). When
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140 ENABLE was first released, one of its innovations was to add all the words
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141 from MW10 referenced from other entries using a phrase like "also called
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142 elliptical". These words are generally present in the purported TWL98 as
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143 well as in ENABLE, but the purported TWL98 tends to omit the plurals of
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144 "also-called" words which are nouns. Accordingly, the following plurals
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145 are present in ENABLE, but left out of the purported TWL98:
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156 Finally, we have a collection of miscellaneous differences between the two
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157 lists. An annotated list of these differences follows. A word preceded
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158 by a + is present in ENABLE but not in the purported TWL98, and the
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159 opposite for a word preceded by a -.
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161 +anticolonials - "anticolonial" is listed by MW10 without a part of
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162 speech. Random House Unabridged calls "anticolonial" a noun,
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163 justifying the inclusion of a plural.
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164 +antisubversives - MW10 lists no part of speech for "antisubversive".
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165 While there is no evidence one way or the other, we find the
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166 existence of a plural very plausible.
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167 -antitakeovers - Again, no part of speech is listed. We find this plural
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168 implausible, and chose not to include it, despite a citation by RH
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170 -bassett - This word was added to ENABLE as a result of the TWL98
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171 announcement, as an "also called" word, referenced from the MW10
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172 entry for "basset hound". The extra "t" was always a little
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173 puzzling. The most recent edition of MW10 corrects the entry to
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174 refer to "basset". We have therefore removed "bassett" and its
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176 -bassetts - See above.
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177 +chlorenchymata - There are a number of "-enchyma" words in MW10, none of
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178 which is given an explicit plural. TWL98 uses the plural form
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179 -enchymata for some of them but not for others. In the absence of
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180 hard evidence, we have chosen to list this form for all such words.
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181 +grandstanded - The correct past tense of "grandstand".
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182 -grandstood - An absurd past tense of "grandstand".
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183 +hypoglycemics - "hypoglycemic" is listed as a noun in MW10.
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184 +interwrought - An implied past tense of "interwork".
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185 -kafkaesque - This word is capitalized in MW10, and is rightfully not
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186 present in ENABLE2K.
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187 +mediterranean - Listed in MW10.
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188 -nonconcurrents - "nonconcurrent" is listed by MW10 without a part of
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189 speech. We consider this plural unconvincing and have chosen to
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190 omit it, despite a citation by RH Unabridged.
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191 +parenchymata - Another -enchyma plural (see above).
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192 -potshotted - A ridiculous past tense for "potshot", directly contradicted
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193 by both the MW10 entry and by OSPD (tm).
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194 +predischarged - "predischarge" is listed in MW10 without a part of speech.
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195 We have given it verb tenses, based on the entry in RH Unabridged.
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196 +predischarging - See above.
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197 -preluncheons - This is plausible, but "predinners" was removed from the
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198 acceptable word list by the official TWL98 changes. If "predinners"
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199 is invalid, then "preluncheons" is as well.
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200 +premarketings - "premarketing" is listed by MW10 without a part of
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201 speech. We believe it to be a noun, and have included a plural.
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202 The situation is confused because the original TWL98 announcements
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203 claimed that "premarketing" should be removed, despite its inclusion
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205 -schmaltzier - We believe "schamltzier" and "schmaltziest" to be valid
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206 words. However, they cannot be justified on the basis of MW10. We
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207 therefore omit them from the ENABLE list proper, and have added them
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208 as "signature words".
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209 -schmaltziest - See above.
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210 -superheavies - "superheavy" is listed by MW10 without a part of speech.
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211 We see no reason to suppose it should be considered a noun.
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212 -superjumbos - Similarly, we have no reason to imagine that "superjumbo"
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213 is considered a noun.
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214 +trapeziums - Listed in MW10.
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215 -ultrarights - Removed from ENABLE by analogy with the official TWL98's
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216 rejection of "ultralefts".
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217 -uncoatings - "uncoating" is listed by MW10 without a part of speech. We
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218 find this plural quite implausible, and can find no evidence that
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219 "uncoating" is accepted as a noun.
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222 [It should be noted that the TWL98 addition of "starfruit" and
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223 "starfruits" was based on an error in the definition of the word
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224 "carambola" which has been corrected in the most recent editions of
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225 MW10. These words will be removed from the ENABLE2K list the next time
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230 Scrabble is a trademark of the Milton Bradley Co., Inc.
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231 The OSPD is a trademark of the Milton Bradley Co., Inc.
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