Hardscrabble Scrabble

Spruik (sprook) To give an elaborate speech, especially to attract customers.

Our daughter Raleigh implored us to buy a Scrabble game at a yard sale, so of course we plunked down 50 cents. This purchase has unwittingly led to a war at our house. My husband Harvey has refused to play me for the first 19 years of our marriage, and our son Daniel(who hates to spell) had never shown the slightest interest in Scrabble. Raleigh and Harvey sat down to play, and it was funny how well she was doing. I sat down to help her about halfway through the game, and we clobbered him. My son, who was watching, said, "I think I can play this." So he and I squared off (sorry about the pun), me thinking, "How can I win gracefully?"

You all know what happened--he SLAUGHTERED me. It turns out he can spell when triple-letter scores are involved, and he has a huge vocabulary. The next match, I brought my A game, got all the good letters and some crucial blanks--and he still won by a narrow margin. (Remember, this is his first night of Scrabble).

All this spiel is preface to the above--I am on the prowl for new words and maybe with "spruik" he'll go down.

And isn't that a great word?