Yeah, two-letter words are extremely useful. There's only 101 of them, most of which are obvious, a lot of which are not.

blindwatchmaker

Knowing your two-letter words really helps. The trick, of course, isn't to put down a single tile, but rather build parallel to an existing word, using a two-letter word to "hitch off of".
Although its not a great example, in this game, laying down V, I, A to form VIA & FA.

therethinker

Hahaha, I love that there are scrabble nerds out there. :)

cbiggins

Adz is pretty easy - it's been featured on "Home Improvement."

My favorite was the time I walked up to a friendly game to find my wife losing by a lot of points on her last word. I gave her "equus" for a come-from-behind win that my in-laws talked about for a looong time.

Auld_Lang_Ziety

@auld i don't believe that "equus" is scrabble legal.

altgrave

Wish I had had this list two nights ago. We were playing a game and I was sooo bad that night...

The Amazing Ant

Qi is a word used a lot in my family. I rarely use it simply because I dare not play scrabble or any word game against my mom, uncle or aunt. They will whip me!!

manicsoprano

Other things that help:
- Keep your rack balanced (2-3 vowels, the rest consonants).
- Save the S for big plays.
- X can form AX, EX, XI, OX, and XU.
- Get rid of high-value tiles ASAP.

dsevil

I haven't played scrabble since my brother destroyed me by playing quetzals on a triple word score with the Q on a double letter.

soggy_cheerio

I find that the following two-letter words are used a lot in our games (and since my friend and I regularly score over 400 each, we're pretty decent players). I've added after each the list of "add-ons" you can play which can help you recoup some points after your opponent cripples you with a devastating two-letter on a triple letter score.

XI(S), XU, ZA(G,P,S,X) [newly added], KA(B,E,F,S,T,Y, also OKA and SKA are legal), KI(D,F,N,P,R,S,T) [newly added], JO(B,E,G,T,W,Y)

CWW

Cwm ???
That's Welsh. It means 'valley'.
Surely that can't be allowed in Scrabble ?

RedEye

cwm yes:
[thepixiepit.co.uk]

equus no:
[thepixiepit.co.uk]

jacobsee

Beware, if you're playing with a Serious Scrabble Nerd, you need to agree on which dictionary to use before you start. The British version of the Official Scrabble Dictionary has a LOT of words that the American version doesn't allow. That in turn omits a lot of words familiar to those with a decent education, and includes a lot that one might otherwise think are totally bogus.

davearonson

Cecil Adams of "The Straight Dope" was once asked if he could list all the legal two letter words in scrabble. His response? "Oh, no, me no do it! If so, it do me in."

@soggy_cheerio: I haven't played scrabble since my brother destroyed me by playing quetzals on a triple word score with the Q on a double letter.

I once did something similar, adding panzoni onto an "s" for a triple word score. Music appreciation class finally paid off.

P_Smith

On vacation last week, I saw some people playing Bananagrams. It looked like a lot of fun, and I think I will be buying it for our household soon.

Ryan Fisher

Of course, if you play obscure words like this in a friendly game of amateurs, you're more likely to get slapped than to get admiration.

Vertigo50

Quone: To quone something.
If a patient gets difficult you quone him.

Troy F.

I like "zoeae," a larval form of crabs and other decapod crustaceans, characterized by one or more spines on the carapace and rudimentary limbs on the abdomen and thorax.

Priscellie

I love Qat, i get challenged and win everytime :)

itrogers