It's How You Play the Game.

A True Story in a Word Game

One of my favorite true happenings has to do with a word game, a Thanksgiving Day years ago, and younger brother I’ll call Skip.

My parents raised six of us and I am the oldest. With the exception of Skip, who had just graduated from high school, and one even younger sister, the rest of us were all married with children.

Most of us had a long drive, so it was rare when we could all be together for Thanksgiving dinner at Mama and Daddy’s. That year, Mama had begun her fight with cancer and we were all concerned whether we would have another Thanksgiving with her.

That night, after our children were in bed, we decided to play one of the word games we loved as kids. The game had to be an easy one that would also give us a chance to talk and catch up. We found one, although the name escapes me at the moment.

We each had to come up with a word we didn’t think anyone would easily guess and put the letters face down in front of us. Then we took turns asking a letter each player might have. If a letter was guessed, the letter was turned over and left visible.

If a player didn’t have the letter you asked about, it was the next player’s turn. If you got a yes, you were allowed to ask another letter or guess what their word might be. The game continued until there was only one player left with an unguessed word —-that would be the winner.

We went around the table again and again finally guessing everyone’s word. No one could guess Skip’s word, even with most of his letters turned up.

The rule was, each player had two last turns to choose a letter or make a guess. If no one guessed it, he would be the winner. Well, when our winner, Skip, finally revealed his word, it was, ‘fisticated’.

Fisticated? What? There is no such word! My brother insisted there was, so we brought out a dictionary to prove it. He couldn’t understand why such an important word wasn’t in the dictionary, because everyone says it.

Skip’s example: “That girl is really pretty and she’s … so fisticated.”

Please join me in a facepalm moment ...

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