Today In Mildly Interesting Trivia

Mattel announced yesterday that they are changing the rules of Scrabble. Proper nouns such as place names will now be allowed.

Mattel said there would be no hard and fast rule over whether a proper noun was correct or not. A spokeswoman for the company said the use of proper nouns would "add a new dimension" to Scrabble and "introduce an element of popular culture into the game". She said: "This is one of a number of twists and challenges included that we believe existing fans will enjoy and will also enable younger fans and families to get involved." However, Mattel said it would not be doing away with the old rules altogether. It will continue to sell a board with the original rules.

Scrabble purists are already flooding Mattel's forums to complain. In other news, there are Scrabble purists.