Stefan Fatsis

Stefan Fatsis

@stefanfatsis.bsky.social

Author: Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary Also: Word Freak, A Few Seconds of Panic, Wild & Outside Ex: Hang Up and Listen, WSJ, NPR, AP, Daily Pennsylvanian, Pel Mel

1,726 Followers 566 Following 235 Posts Joined Nov 2024
3 days ago
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Competitive Scrabble Is A Lexical Shitshow | Defector This piece originally appeared on Unabridged, a newsletter about words published by Stefan Fatsis. If you enjoy this story, and want to read more like it, please consider subscribing to Unabridged. Un...

My piece about Scrabble's dictionary dysfunction is now up on @defector.com

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2 days ago

Oh but put it with the U and it’s Jags-Saints in a downpour at Wembley

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2 days ago
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Don’t blame Scrabble!

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2 days ago

The Q has personality. The W is the real problem

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2 days ago

Bleh. Keep the C and the V pure

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3 days ago

ZO! OO! KY! YU!

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3 days ago

Beats the hell out of me

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3 days ago

Just don't be a jaker man

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3 days ago
Preview
Competitive Scrabble Is A Lexical Shitshow | Defector This piece originally appeared on Unabridged, a newsletter about words published by Stefan Fatsis. If you enjoy this story, and want to read more like it, please consider subscribing to Unabridged. Un...

My piece about Scrabble's dictionary dysfunction is now up on @defector.com

24 9 2 2
4 days ago
Preview
JAKE, JAKER, JAKEST Competitive Scrabble is a lexical shitshow

“If the whole point is, ‘We need a lexicon that people can trust, you’re going to get in trouble when you start including words that aren’t explicitly listed in a dictionary.” My new piece on Scrabble's dictionary chaos and who gets to decide what's a word.

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4 days ago
Preview
JAKE, JAKER, JAKEST Competitive Scrabble is a lexical shitshow

“If the whole point is, ‘We need a lexicon that people can trust, you’re going to get in trouble when you start including words that aren’t explicitly listed in a dictionary.” My new piece on Scrabble's dictionary chaos and who gets to decide what's a word.

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4 days ago
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293: How Do Words Get into the Dictionary?

@stefanfatsis.bsky.social, author of ‘Unabridged,' shares with Bob Garfield a little-known, rigorous process — that has no guarantee of success.

🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...

#lexiconvalley #podcast @groveatlantic.bsky.social

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1 week ago

It’s true

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2 weeks ago
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One of the first things we were taught at Quantico was that there is never a moment in which you are not representing the Bureau; but, then again, we earned our place there, and weren’t granted its directorship as a sinecure for partisan malfeasance and a willingness to disregard the constitution.

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3 weeks ago

ICYMI from yesterday: Rev. Jesse Jackson had an athlete’s swagger and confidence and he expected to win, which explained so much about his life and life’s work. I wrote about some of that here.

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1 month ago
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This is 18-mo-old Amalia waving to me when she was detained.

She was hospitalized with a respiratory infection while at ICE’s Dilley facility for immigrant families.

She’s one of dozens of detainees who I spoke to via video and phone calls, letters and an in-person visit. 🧵1/

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1 month ago
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1 month ago

Quick kick always an option

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1 month ago

Unintentional brilliance

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1 month ago

I wish the typo was intentional!

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1 month ago

you have wonder if the problem was “world,” “facts,” or “books”

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1 month ago
cover of The Washington Post on Wednesday Feb 4, 2026. Headline on bottom, right: Musk wanted to hook users; his chatbot got more sexual

My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power

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1 month ago

I was there (for the WSJ) and Dan’s work was crazy groundbreaking. He doesn’t get enough credit!

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1 month ago
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I am part of the mass layoffs at the Washington Post.

I am sad and angry. We all want to keep doing the work.

But for now I want to document a reality of being in journalism today.

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1 month ago
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lizzie johnson
@lizziejohnsonnn
·
Aug 19, 2021
Almost three years ago, my editor called me early one November morning. A wildfire had sparked near a town called Paradise, he said. Could I go? (1/13)
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lizzie johnson
@lizziejohnsonnn
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47m
I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated.
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lizzie johnson
@lizziejohnsonnn
·
Jan 25
Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) 

But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil — pen ink freezes — by headlamp.

A publisher who lays off a reporter whose pen is freezing because she's covering a frigid war zone while dodging missiles is not an editor you want to work for, in a more perfect world

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1 month ago
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Death of a Sports Section The Washington Post sports department was dismantled before its leaders gave it a chance to change

Anyway read @bryancurtis.bsky.social on what happened and why it didn't have to but for management indifference and incompetence

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1 month ago

...and everyone who was working until this morning on a section that routinely produced complex, deeply reported, important, fun, relevant, interesting, explanatory, investigative, well-written work

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1 month ago
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Death of a Sports Section The Washington Post sports department was dismantled before its leaders gave it a chance to change

Me on the death of the Washington Post sports section.

This isn't a day to be nostalgic. It's a day to be angry.
www.theringer.com/2026/02/04/m...

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1 month ago

You know who covered sports at the Post as a "cultural and societal phenomenon"? Thomas Boswell, Sally Jenkins, Michael Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser, Jane Leavy, Shirley Povich, Christine Brennan, Mike Wise, Dave Kindred, John Feinstein, David Remnick, David Aldridge, Jerry Brewer, Dan Steinberg...

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1 month ago

I feel equally for the many great journalists at the Post fired today and the great journalists who survived and continue to do important work despite how horribly the owner and publisher have tarnished the reputation and integrity of the paper.

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