Thusly Spoke Zarathustra

Fun word from a student's history paper: "thusly." According to the American Heritage Dictionary: "Thusly was introduced in the 19th century.... It appears to have first been used by humorists, who may have been echoing the speech of poorly educated people straining to sound stylish."

Improper Nouns -- The Brouhaha over Mattel's Scrabble Knockoff

Turns out the release of a Scrabble knock-off that allows the use of proper nouns (and words spelled backwards) is sending the diehards into a tizzy. The tizzifying of the diehards seems to have excited the blogosphere, who appears to delight in the democratization of the game.

Mattel, everyone's favorite maker of serious toys, hopes (quoth the BBC) that "the change will encourage younger people to play." Ha! Younger people. Have we no values? No standards? Are the youth really so shallow, so difficult to please?

It turns out that it is all an overblown media story. Hasbro, the real maker of Scrabble, has no relation to this knockoff, and has no plans to change its rules, assures Slate, which asks "how did this latest games marketing gimmick turn into a global foofaraw?" Apparently, simply a few reporters who didn't check their sources.

Sigh of relief, but reflections on the excitable nature of word lovers.

By the way: foofaraw is a new word for me. It can mean
1. a great fuss or disturbance about something very insignificant.
2. an excessive amount of decoration or ornamentation, as on a piece of clothing, a building, etc.