Word Wars

Boyfriend Matt and I engaged in quite the epic game of Scrabble on Saturday evening. Technically, the game is not finished as yours truly got quite sick right in the middle of it. In fact, the board is still sitting on the kitchen table, just waiting for us to resume the game.

The game itself raised a few questions:

Is zoot a word?
(Matt: of course it is! As in zoot suit.) (Me: okay.) (Result: Matt puts down word, gets a kazillion points. I don't challenge it.)

Is zoots a word?
(Matt: of course it is! As in zoots suits.) (Me: this is like the times out thing. To pluralize the phrase zoot suit, only 'suit' should be plural. Hence: Zoots isn't a word.) (Result: Matt, already ahead by a kazillion points, gets a kazillion more. I don't challenge because I'm so far behind I'm scared to lose a turn.)

Is "fi" a word?
(Me: maybe? You know, semper fi? And fee fi fo fum?) (Matt: semper fi is a different language. And it is fee fie fo fum.) (Result: I wimp out and don't put it down. It doesn't matter when you're down by two kazillion points.)

Though we resolved the word questions post-game, I think there is a deeper problem. I might be too lax with made up words (see, e.g., zoots). Also, I may be too easily deterred from using my own made-up words. I mean, would he really have challenged fi? What would you have done?