Explanation [ edit ]

The first eight goals on this to-do list feature one or more strange words containing an excess of the last three letters of the alphabet (X, Y and Z), often using several of them in the same words, even several of the same rare letter in a row. (See Table of life goals below).

All of these words can be looked up in the English version of Wikipedia, but only a few are common nouns, three of them weird animal names, the rest being proper nouns, i.e. persons names (fictional or artist) or obscure names for places or video games. The first goal is the one with fewest of these letters, only using two x's, and only the first word is strange, Skrillex being the artist name of a musician. All later entries have at least three of these letters, which are most often used in very strange, often unpronounceable, words.

The punchline, in the final and ninth goal, expresses that the writer of this list often uses these unexpected and bizarre words in Scrabble games, which exasperates his opponents to such a great extent that he has yet to finish a game without getting punched. All of these words would theoretically earn a player many points in Scrabble, but outside of casual play it is not allowed to use proper nouns (see Scrabble points below).

In the title text, a reference is made to the fact that none of these goals have been checked off yet. It also turns out that it is indeed Randall's list, since the writer of the list did (at least) manage to check off the goal Make something called xkcd early. Sadly there are neither y's nor z's nor even more than one x in that four letter combo.

This comic was published the week after the what if? Flood Death Valley, which referred directly to the city Zzyzx in one of the pictures. It's the second comic in that week after the what if? post that references it more or less directly, the previous one being 1748: Future Archaeology. It seems likely that Randall created this comic after doing research for this what if? post, and came across the city Zzyzx as the shortest way to dig a channel to flood Death Valley.

Table of life goals [ edit ]

The number of letters X, Y and Z is in the entire sentence.

The total is the total number of these three letters in the entire sentence.

Scrabble points [ edit ]

All of these strange words would theoretically earn a player the prize of many points in Scrabble (Go to the table of words below). However, most of them would not be found in SOWPODS (the combined list of all words valid in either British or North American Scrabble tournaments). Also, many include too many X's, Y's or Z's (there's 1 X, 2 Y's, 1 Z in a standard set), meaning at least one would have to be substituted for a blank (which is not worth any points). Some words would also be very difficult to play in reality, since there are only 7 letters in a Scrabble hand, so they could only be played in extremely rare circumstances (there are only a couple of ways to play MUZQUIZOPTERYX: for instance, from MU and OPTER; or MU, QUIZ and ER; or an astonishingly unlikely set of crossing letters). Many are long enough that, in theory, they could net the player the additional 50 point bonus for using all seven letters in a hand if played right.

Table of words [ edit ]

Explanation of the columns: Word: With xyz Definition: Of the word Notes: Part of speech (noun or proper noun) and origin of the word In SOWPODS?: Is the word a valid Scrabble word. Enough tiles (...): Are there enough tiles in the standards English version of Scrabble to write the word? Score: What would the maximum possible score in Scrabble be for this word. (Without any bonuses.) Score (with blanks): What would the maximum possible score in Scrabble be for this word, taking into account the fact that some words need extra blank tiles, which aren't worth points. 50 points possible?: Is it possible to use all seven letters writing the word? If so it will give 50 points extra.



Word Definition Notes In SOWPODS? Enough tiles (in English version)? Score Score (with blanks) 50 points possible? Skrillex A dubstep musician Proper noun, stage name No Yes 19 19 Yes Phoenix A city in Arizona (or the mythological bird) Proper noun (but noun for the bird) Yes (but only because of the bird) Yes 19 19 Yes Zymurgy The study of fermentation. Noun Yes Yes 25 25 Yes Axolotl A kind of water-breathing salamander which lives on the bottom of lakes. Noun, name of animal species Yes Yes 14 14 Yes Hexxus An evil spirit from the animated movie FernGully Proper noun, fictional name No Yes, with a blank as X 23 15 No Syzygy An astronomical event where three celestial bodies form a straight line. Noun Yes Yes, with a blank as Y 25 21 No Zzyzx An unincorporated community in California Proper noun, name of city. No Yes, with both blanks as Z 42 22 No Zzyzzyxx A 1982 arcade video game about navigating a labyrinth Proper noun, name of game No No 64 26 (assuming four blanks) Yes Xexyz A 1988 game for the Nintendo Entertainment System with platformer and shoot-em-up gameplay. Proper noun, name of game No Yes, with a blank as X 31 23 No Xbox A series of home video game consoles developed by Microsoft. Proper noun, name of game console No Yes, with a blank as X 20 12 No Zzzax A Marvel comic book villain. Proper noun, fictional name No Yes, with both blanks as Z 39 19 No Mister Mxyzptlk A DC Comics villain. Proper noun, fictional name No Yes 42 (8 for Mister, 35 for Mxyzptlk) 42 Yes Xhafzotaj A village in Albania Proper noun, name of city No Yes 38 38 Yes Qazaxbəyli A village in Azerbaijan Proper noun, name of city No No, because it's spelled with a schwa (ə, upper case Ə) and a Turkic dotted i (i, upper case İ), this word would be impossible to spell in English-language Scrabble, although you could put an E tile down upside down (Ǝ) for the schwa and an I for the İ or use blanks. It can alternatively be spelled "Kazakhbeyli". 38 (at least, unclear)

36 for Kazakhbeyli 39 Yes Azerbaijan A country in the Caucasus Proper noun, name of country No Yes 28 28 Yes Archaeopteryx A famous small feathered dinosaur Noun, name of animal species Yes Yes 30 30 Yes Muzquizopteryx A pterosaur Noun, name of animal species No Yes, with a blank as Z 55 45 Yes xkcd From title text. See 207: What xkcd Means. Proper noun, name of web comic No Yes 18 18 No

Transcript [ edit ]

[A to-do list with a caption above:] Life Goals ☐ Meet Skrillex in Phoenix ☐ Study zymurgy ☐ Get a pet axolotl named Hexxus ☐ Observe a syzygy from Zzyzx, California ☐ Port the games Zzyzzyxx and Xexyz to Xbox ☐ Publish a Zzzax/Mister Mxyzptlk crossover ☐ Bike from Xhafzotaj, Albania to Qazaxbəyli, Azerbaijan ☐ Paint an archaeopteryx fighting a muzquizopteryx ☐ Finish a game of Scrabble without getting punched





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