Latest news with #Scrabble
Axios
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
4 newish rooftop bars in Denver
The sunset views. The creative cocktails. And the city skyline at night. This is why Denver's rooftop bars are the place to be when the weather warms. If you go: We have four soaring spots for you to visit. Kisbee on the Roof (Jacquard Hotel, Cherry Creek) The vibe: Think elevated nightlife that matches the luxury hotel's sophistication. Enjoy live DJ sets Fridays and Saturdays and a pool where you can reserve cabanas. Rook (Catbird Hotel, RiNo) The vibe: The former Red Barber space is transformed into a social clubhouse that blends "curated chaos with irreverent energy." Try daily riddles to unlock drink specials, join 9-ball pool parties and play popular games like Scrabble or Gin Rummy to keep the mood playful. Hey Kiddo (Tennyson Street)
West Australian
a day ago
- General
- West Australian
WA researchers find parents who teach kids to write through imaginative play make for better writers
WA researchers have good news and bad news for parents who want to turn their kids into better writers. The good news is that mums and dads have more influence than they realise. The bad news is that they need to make it fun — and not just for the child. Edith Cowan University research suggests that parents who make writing fun through imaginative play and creative activities produce better writers. That might look like parents and children playing a game of 'restaurant', where children construct menus and take orders, a round of Scrabble or writing birthday cards together. Those who try to help their children with writing out of a sense of guilt or make it into a negative experience are less likely to have a positive outcome. Lead author Bronte Kelso-March said the research looked at the connection between parents' motivation for and method of helping children with their writing at home and compared it to the quality of their child's writing and how they felt about it. 'What we found is when parents enjoy getting involved in writing activities with their children, they have a positive impact on their child's enjoyment of writing, and in turn, how well their child can write,' she said. 'Parents should avoid being involved in their children's writing due to their feelings of shame or 'parent guilt', or simply because they have to or should. Instead of treating it like a box ticking exercise, embed joyful writing activities in your family life.' She said treating writing like a game, not a chore, was 'key'. 'Our message to parents is don't underestimate the positive influence you are,' she said. 'You don't have to be an expert. And it doesn't have to feel like homework or be a high-level task.' Kelly Ye tries to keep writing at home fun with her six-year-old, Christian. He writes birthday cards for friends, enjoys scrawling on a whiteboard and does activity books for fun — and gold star rewards. 'Christian really likes writing family and friends names while drawing pictures to give to us and his friends,' she said. 'One of his favourite is helping write and draw our shopping list together. 'I find the more we spend time with Christian each day the better and more confident he is in writing and spelling. It is a challenge when juggling two kids while being on my own most days as my partner is away for work a lot.' Even Christian's little sister Saskia, 1, is starting to take an interest. 'Saskia loves scribbling and attempting to draw pictures and getting a hold of pens, crayons and all media she can get her hands on when she sees her brother,' Ms Ye said. 'We try to get her involved in some ways every time and her smile says it all.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Which is the most commonly misspelled word in each state?
(NEXSTAR) – The 97th Scripps National Spelling Bee took place this past week, showcasing the orthographical talents of the best and brightest youngsters in the nation. And unlike us, none of them were using Google to doublecheck their spelling. In honor of this year's Bee, — an online resource for wordsmiths and Scrabble enthusiasts — has attempted to determine the most misspelled word in each state by studying the volume of Google searches containing phrases like 'How do you spell [X]' or 'How to spell [X].' The site's analysts also enlisted the help of Ahrefs, a marketing and SEO company, to determine the volume of searches and the variations of possible spelling queries for the analysis. The results, according to are indicative of 'America's most misspelled words.' Spelling bee champ wins by visualizing words typed on keyboard A representative for the site said many of the commonly misspelled words shared similar attributes, such as silent letters, tricky vowel sounds, or foreign etymologies. Having autocorrect on our phones and computers may also be contributing to poorer spelling ability, the spokesperson noted. 'We simply forget things that we delegate to technology,' the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement obtained by Nexstar. 'Misspellings might be on the rise not because we know less, but because we need to know less.' Which words do Americans often misspell? On a national level, the results of the analysis determined that Americans misspell the word 'definitely' more than any other, with 33,500 searches for the word's correct spelling recorded from January 1 through May 16, 2025. 'Separate' and 'necessary' followed behind with 30,000 searches and 29,000 searches respectively. America's most misspelled words, according to Definitely – 33,500 searches. Separate – 30,000 searches. Necessary – 29,000 searches. Believe – 28,500 searches. Through – 28,000 searches. Gorgeous – 27,000 searches. Neighbor – 25,500 searches. Business – 24,200 searches. Favorite – 23,000 searches. Restaurant – 22,500 searches. When it comes to individual states, many of those same words appear to be most difficult for residents to spell. Some of the notable outliers include: residents of Hawaii, who often appear to have trouble with 'luau'; residents of Tennessee, who aren't so sure how to spell 'broccoli'; and Google users in Vermont, who more often request the correct spelling of 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.' America's most misspelled words by state, according to Alabama – Different Alaska – Tomorrow Arizona – People Arkansas – Quesadilla California – Appreciation Colorado – Sergeant Connecticut – Schedule Delaware – Beautiful Florida – Compliment Georgia – Necessary Hawaii – Luau Idaho – Definitely Illinois – Congratulations Indiana – Taught Iowa – Through Kansas – Different Kentucky – People Louisiana – Through Maine – Pneumonia Maryland – Character Massachusetts – Beautiful Michigan – Scratch Minnesota – Successful Mississippi – Beautiful Missouri – Temperature Montana – Appreciate Nebraska – Beautiful Nevada – School New Hampshire – Protective New Jersey – Congratulations New Mexico – Appreciate New York – Different North Carolina – Secret North Dakota – Daughter Ohio – Crochet Oklahoma – Patience Oregon – Business Pennsylvania – Scissors Rhode Island – Cancelled South Carolina – People South Dakota – Beautiful Tennessee – Broccoli Texas – Protect Utah – Definitely Vermont – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Virginia – People Washington – Appreciation West Virginia – Beautiful Wisconsin – Different Wyoming – Beautiful Scripps spelling bee celebrates a century of testing young learners The results of the analysis were released just in time for the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee, which itself came just in time to make Americans everywhere feel slightly worse about their own spelling abilities. Faizan Zaki, 13, a student from Allen, Texas, won the competition after correctly spelling the word 'eclaircissement,' which Merriam-Webster defines as 'a clearing up of something obscure.' He then fell to the floor as confetti rained down upon the stage. 'One thing that differentiates him is he really has a passion for this,' a friend of his told the Associated Press. 'In his free time, when he's not studying for the bee, he's literally looking up archaic, obsolete words that have no chance of being asked.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Spinoff
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Watch live: the 2025 NZ Scrabble Nationals
The biggest event on the New Zealand Scrabble calendar brings players of all ages and experience levels together over three days this King's Birthday weekend. Day one – Saturday (stream starts 9am) Click here for live results and standings. What's all this then? Nationals is the biggest tournament on the New Zealand Scrabble calendar – this year 69 players are competing over 24 rounds across three days. This is the 45th edition of the tournament, and the first one that's being live streamed. Unlike previous live streamed tournaments (the Trans-Tasmans and the Masters) Nationals is open to all, with players split into six grades based on their ratings, so for the first time we'll get to see a range of skill levels on the stream. What's the format? This year's tournament is double round-robin (22 games, everyone plays everyone else in their grade twice) followed by two rounds of 'king of the hill' (first plays second, third plays fourth etc). This should make for some mouthwatering match-ups come Monday. Who are the players to watch? It's shaping up to be very competitive at the top of the pyramid this year, with 2024 Nationals champion Howard Warner looking to defend his crown, 2025 Masters champion Dylan Early out to dethrone him. Their game at the Masters earlier this year was a classic for the ages: But it's certainly not a two-horse race – top five rated players Chris Tallman, Blue Thorogood and Australia-based Joanne Craig are bound to be be in the mix, with plenty of other dark horses lurking. And the focus won't just be on the A Grade, either! This weekend will showcase match-ups from all grades, offering a chance to see plenty of Scrabblers who've never played in front of an online audience before, from Scrabble documentarian Alexander Gandar (B Grade) to the tournament's youngest player Maheu Papau T-Pole (12, F Grade). Even I (E Grade) might get a game on stream. Who's commentating? Good commentary plays a huge part in making Scrabble so much fun to watch, and we will be in the safe hands of some of the best in the game all weekend, including world champion New Zealander Alistair Richards, Canadian Scrabble rock star Josh Sokol and more. What dictionary are they using? NZ Scrabble adopted the CSW24 lexicon at the start of the year, bringing us in line with most of the rest of the world. The update means a handful of potentially offensive slur words are no longer valid and introduces modern lingo like ADORBS, CHONKY, and WOKERY. (See the full list of new additions here.) How do I play? There are Scrabble clubs scattered around New Zealand, and they welcome new players of all ages, abilities and competitiveness levels. There's also a weekly on Tuesday nights where you can test yourself against other keen Scrabblers around the country.
USA Today
2 days ago
- General
- USA Today
Which word does your state struggle to spell? This list definitely will tell you.
Which word does your state struggle to spell? This list definitely will tell you. Show Caption Hide Caption Chippewa Local speller Zach Yeager prepares for national bee Zach Yeager, a student at Chippewa Junior/Senior High School in Doylestown, is busy preparing for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Oddly, "misspell," a not-particularly easy word to spell, is not on a recently released list of words Americans most often misspell. But as the Scripps National Spelling Bee gets underway, a study by an online tool for Scrabble players and others who play word games, finds that Americans have a hard time spelling a host of other words. Using Google Trends search data from the start of the year through May 19 for "How do you spell ..." and "How to spell ...," analysts found that we definitely can't spell "definitely." We can't separate our impulse to misspell "separate" from search engine inquiries. And we somehow find it necessary to Google the spelling of "necessary." Those are the top three hard-to-spell words, respectively, according to WordUnscrambler's analysis. You won't believe what else is on the list. Or maybe you will. What does a Google analysis reveal about spelling miscues? At least two words with the challenging i-e combination made the list of most-misspelled words: "believe," which came in at No. 4, and "neighbor," at No. 7. There were 33,500 searches for "definitely," 30,000 for "separate" and 29,000 for "necessary." "Through" seems to be a troublesome word, with 28,000 searches. But maybe we can also take some solace in a polarized nation in some other words on the list: We may be complimenting one another a lot, because "gorgeous" is No. 6 on the list. And we obviously care about our "neighbors," even if that e-i-or-i-e thing gives us fits. Google took root with a misspelling Google's own origin story includes a misspelling: Creators Sergei Brin and Larry Page originally called their search engine Backrub. But Page had a better idea (it might have been hard to think of a worse one): googol, or a "1" followed by 100 zeroes, or, if you're into exponents, 10 to the 100th power. Page misspelled it, and Google, the search engine, was born. The search engine's ubiquity, though, has made "google" a verb as well as a proper noun. And that popularity comes in large part because of its utility in helping us find some of our "favorite" (No. 9 on the list of most misspelled words) things. The things we search for most may be some of the things we misspell most often: "business" is No. 8 on the list and "restaurant" is No. 10 for misspelled searches. What do people in your state misspell the most? Alabama, Kansas, New York and Wisconsin all want to be "different," while Arkansans just want a good "quesadilla." Colorado, home to six U.S. military bases, seems to search "sergeant" a lot, and Delaware, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming are all looking for someone or something that's "beautiful." Californians and Washingtonians (of the state variety) are looking for "appreciation," and people in Montana and New Mexico want to "appreciate" whatever it is that they appreciate. Contrary to their prickly reputations, New Jerseyans like to say "Congratulations," as do the folks in Illinois. Floridians like to "compliment" people. And in Arizona, Kentucky, South Carolina and Virginia, they're just looking for, well, "people." Maine is concerned with "pneumonia," and who can blame them? In Alaska, they can't stop thinking about "tomorrow," and in Connecticut, they're apparently on a strict "schedule." North Carolinians are keeping a "secret," while they're merely "protective" in New Hampshire (and in Texas, where the spelling of "protect" is searched most often). They're evidently practicing their "crochet" skills in Ohio, but practicing "patience" in Oklahoma. No one should be running with "scissors" in Pennsylvania. But folks everywhere, including in Tennessee, should eat their "broccoli" to stay strong. Some states contributed to the top words on the list, including "definitely" (Idaho and Utah), "necessary" (Georgia), "through" (Iowa and Louisiana) and "business" (Oregon). In Indiana, they're wondering what's being "taught," while Nevadans are concerned with "school." Maryland is searching for "character," and Minnesota wants to be "successful." In Michigan, they're starting from "scratch" but feeling the heat in Missouri, where the "temperature" gets warm. Rhode Islanders are curious about what's been "cancelled" and in North Dakota, it's all about the "daughter" (because "son" is pretty easy to spell). It's hard not to envy the people of Hawaii, though, who are thinking about the next "luau." And what's up with you, Vermont? You just want to know how to spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Don't we all? Do you want to share a slice of Americana with USA TODAY? Contact Phaedra Trethan by email at ptrethan@ on X (formerly Twitter) @wordsbyphaedra, on BlueSky @byphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra
