For the R-E-C-O-R-D

I know, I know, you were thinking that Scrabble was just a little cardboard board with a bunch of letters on top, but prepare to be enlightened ... Scrabble in English, Scrabble in French, Scrabble in Spanish, Scrabble in German ... it's not just the box that makes 'em different, it's the freakin' letters.

So next time you're looking for a little weekend entertainment, try shelling out 50 buckaroos for the French version... then play in English. Heaven only knew that consonants hardly exist in French ... try making a word out of four Es, two Is and an A. I bid thee good luck.

Oh, and if you DO succeed in making some sort of sense out of all the thoroughly overrepresented vowels, try seeing how it feels to realise that your incredible word is worth, oh, about ZERO points. Indeed, the linguistic differences cover both the quantity of letters and the freakin' points. Go Scrabble.

So with the voice of my grandmother ringing in my ears as we attempted to slip by with

acronyms, abbreviations and the occassional proper noun ("No, no, no! You can't DO that!!") we finally slipped into multilingual mode ... English, French, German, Spanish ... it all flies so long as you can fully explain the word and its meaning.

En fin, au revoir brainless indulgence, hallo new educational tool ....