Olof and I have been playing Scrabulous, Facebook’s Scrabble application, for the past several days, and it’s with a certain sense of shame that I report that he beats me most of the time. I went in thinking that I had an obvious advantage, being a native speaker of English and fancying myself a pretty clever wordsmith, but the statistics speak for themselves: 4 games to 2, in his favor. Clearly I was mistaken.

Annoyingly,  his not being a native speaker actually gives him a bit of an edge, I think. He often doesn’t see what to me are obvious words, and tries, instead to use up his high-score tiles in bizarre combinations that the program accepts as often as not. Say I play “horded” for 13 points. That’s respectable, right? Only until he counters with “jee” for 20. I give you “league” for 12, and he spells out “soh” for 22. My “unquiet” yields me 16 points, and he parries with “jut,” adding 30 to his score. I am so very–and so very obviously–overmatched.

I assure you, however, that though my spirit may be bowed, it’s not yet broken. As of this moment, I stand in good stead to win our current match. I’ve taken a leaf from my opponent’s book and started playing letter combinations that I can hardly bear to think of as words. Not long ago, for instance, I played “jeeped,” a move that pains me anew every time I see those letters arranged on the board. On the other hand, the 72 points it garnered are like a cool, soothing balm. Adding another notch to my wins list might just take the hurt away altogether.