Scrabble adds 5,000 new words including 'selfie' and 'hashtag'

'Hashtag', 'selfie' and 'bling' are among the 5,000 new words that will appear in the new edition of Scrabble's official dictionary.
According to the publisher Merriam-Webster, the fifth edition of the game's dictionary includes 5,000 new words.
It is the first new edition in nearly a decade. Other new words include 'emo', 'bling', 'mixtape', 'beatbox', 'geocache' and a handful of two letter words such as 'po' (meaning "by mouth").
'Hashtag' and 'selfie' weren't around when the dictionary was last updated in 2005. 'Geocache' was selected through a social media contest, 'CNN Money' reported.
The additions "go a long way towards bringing us closer to the language as it is currently spoken," said John Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA).

The dictionary had other improvements with inclusion of words and spellings used by Canadian and British speakers of English.
The additions "will make for more scoring opportunities and add much more to the thought process in terms of both offensive and defensive strategy," said Chris Cree, also co-president of NASPA.
The fourth edition of the dictionary included more than 100,000 words, the report said.