Scrabble

If it wasn't for a recent A-Hed piece in the WSJ about an I.T. guy from Ottawa, Canada who returns to his ancestral life as a camel herder, I wouldn't know there was a word in the English language that started with the letter "q" and didn't have "u' as the second letter that was officially acceptable as a Scrabble word. The word? Qat.

Turns out, Mohamed Isaaq wearied of being a computer network administrator and opted for the life of his father, grandfather and even great-grandfather in Somaliland, a self-declared independent state within Somalia's borders. In fact, camel herding runs so far back in his family you have to go through 15 layers of ancestors before you find the family member who did something else.

Mohamed is not in it for the money, despite owning 78 camels. He clears a small sum after expenses selling camel milk. If he needs to file a tax return it would reflect $150 a day in sales.

But where does the word qat come in? When I read it in the piece I had to first check the OED, then Google, where I learned it really is a word and is an acceptable word for playing Scrabble. Imagine the advantage you might have over your opponent if you can drop that three-letter word on the board without needing a "u".

The OED tells us qat is a noun variation of khat, with khat being the leaves of an Arabian shrub that when chewed, or ingested, is a stimulant that can also produce a bit of a high.

Turns out one of Mr. Isaaq's employees, after a dispute with another worker, abandoned the herd to go off and buy some qat.

It seems no matter where you are, it is tough to get the right people to work for you.

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