Friday, April 25, 2008

Scrablivion

Today I heard a student complaining that it's not her fault she drinks so much--she can't help it if there's "nothing to do here but drink."

Whenever I hear that complaint, I'm tempted to hand over a list of things a student could do instead of drink. Homework, for instance, or pulling the weeds from the flower beds behind the rec center. But I suspect that the student really wants to do something that will help her forget the fact that she's in the weeds vis-a-vis homework. If it's oblivion she's after, then drinking is one way to find it.

But what if she seeks an activity that does not necessarily result in oblivion? I recommend a portable Scrabble board. A student with a Scrabble board is never at a loss for something to do.

Not that anyone asked.

2 comments:

Jessica said...

Or she could ... dare I suggest it ... read a book. I learned two great new words while reading Ex Libris this week: concatenations and claudications. They're a little long for scrabble, but great words nonetheless.

p.s. Have you clicked on the little wheelchair symbol next to the word verification? Yeah, it didn't clear anything up at all!

jaywalke said...

I despise Scrabble. My older brother has a photographic memory, so he memorized the Scrabble dictionary when he was about nine. After losing dozens of challenges, I gave up and he felt free to make up his own words.

Scarred, I tell you . . .