After our discussion about dictionaries being the books most requested by those who are incarcerated, a former prison inmate calls to report that dictionaries are so popular in prison in part because they’re used to settle debates in Scrabble games. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Prisoners Use Dictionaries for Scrabble”
Following up on our conversation about prison book programs, these programs that distribute books to people who are incarcerated, and the fact that prisoners most often request dictionaries while they’re in prison, we heard from a former inmate named John who called us to say that when he was in prison, he used dictionaries for taking classes and for writing letters because he didn’t have access to computer spell check and he wanted to make sure that his words were spelled correctly.
And he also said that in every quad, in every cell block, there were Scrabble players. A lot of times you couldn’t get the official dictionary. You had to wait months to get it and get approval. So the easiest thing to do is just use a regular dictionary and agree that if a player’s word isn’t in that dictionary, it’s not a word.
And we also heard from Carolyn,
Who left us a voicemail saying that she donated National Geographics to a prison. It’s a cool way to get rid of old dictionaries that you might have around the house.
And again, what’s preferable is paperbacks. A lot of times they won’t take hardcover dictionaries.
You know, you’ve answered some questions for me because after we talked about it, I got to thinking, I wonder if there.
Or other uses, like using the pages for rolling papers or, you know.
Oh, let’s hope not.
As husks to light cigarettes, that sort of thing.
I don’t know.
