Northerners won't be stuck for a word or two during a game of Scrabble now that words such as 'wazzock' and 'chelp' have been allowed onto the scoreboard.

Dictionary publisher Collins has included thousands of regional words in its latest edition of Collins Scrabble Words.

Words from Yorkshire include 'chelp', meaning to chatter, 'mester', referring to the head of a household, 'pize', meaning to strike, and 'wazzock', meaning a foolish or annoying person.

And now competitors from Ireland can make their opponents look like 'eejits' while computer whizzkids can create a 'cyberwar' over the game.

But the move has caused consternation in Scrabble circles, in which professionals regularly memorise up to 90,000 words in advance of tournaments.

Collins has conceded not all players will be happy with the 45,000 new additions.

A spokesman said: "Some Scrabble addicts have learned up to 90,000 words of the 140,000 estimated to be in the English language. To some, the opportunity to use the latest words from all over the world will be a welcome addition to the game, but to the purists it may come as something as a shock.

"In the past a word had to be in use for five years before it could go into Scrabble Words.

"The new Collins and Mattel partnership means that words will be regularly added and taken away. This will mean players will be expected to learn and unlearn words much more frequently."

The publishers are hoping the move will introduce new players to the game. They say introducing words such as 'kewl', 'skanky' and 'nethead' will make the game more accessible to younger players and reach out to a new generation.

Scrabble champion Joyce Cansfield, of Otley, said she could not see how the production of a new dictionary would encourage more players. She said the move would not make much difference to professional players at the moment, as they abide by a different dictionary.

She said the Association of British Scrabble Players was still debating whether to change from Chambers dictionary to Collins, after game makers Mattel declared the latter the new official Scrabble dictionary.

Mrs Cansfield said: "What concerns players is if we move over to Collins whether all the words we have been using will be in the new dictionary.

"We are more concerned about unlearning words rather than learning new words."