`Word-nut' ready for world event

ZA is one of the more obscure words that New Plymouth woman Lynne Butler has had to learn in preparation for the World Scrabble Championships in India next week.

American slang for pizza, za is one of 3300 new words included in the Official Scrabble Dictionary, which the 58-year-old has been cramming ahead of the Mumbai tournament.

Maori and text messaging words are also included in the Scrabble enthusiast's Bible.

Mrs Butler, who has had a lifelong love affair with the classic board game, says to do well in competitive Scrabble takes "a love of words and a lot of hard work".

"I've played Scrabble right from when I can remember and I would read the dictionary as a kid."

Mrs Butler is the 6th highest ranked player in New Zealand and took part in her first ever competitive game of Scrabble in 1982 in Australia.

More than 100 international players will contest the world championships from November 9-12 and the winner will walk away with $US15,000 ($20,000).

A self-confessed word-nut, Mrs Butler has a personal high score from a single turn at play of 149, "but unfortunately I can't remember what the word was".

Theoretically, the highest single word score is 1778 for Oxyphenbutazone. The highest single word score recorded in an actual game under the two internationally recognised sets of rules were 392 for Caziques and 365 for Quixotry.

Mrs Butler, who was second in the New Zealand championships this year, will be hoping her study helps her improve on her 56th placing in the 1997 world championship.

For serious fans who wish to follow Mrs Butler's progress, a live streaming of the event is at www.wscgames.com/2007.

KELLY HOWARD is a Witt journalism student.