this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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Scrabble players quit game after 400 offensive words banned from list (www.news.com.au)
submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 61 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)
  1. I don't think the competitive Scrabble scene (of which there is a very intense one) really needs to be in charge of the game for everybody. But I get why that contingent is incredibly upset. The set of allowed words is locked in stone, such that people practice and optimize particular memorizations around the particular set of words, and they are barely words at that point, just random collections of letters that form the stepping-stones in their grand strategic endeavor. There are Scrabble experts who do not speak the language, just have memorized the words and are good at the strategy. I get why they're upset.
  2. They're not releasing the exact list, which is automatically a red flag of some fuckery to me.
  3. Nonetheless it has been confirmed that “Paki,” “fenian,” and “shiksha” are all on the banned list. Bro what?
  4. "Bitch," "faggot," and "slut" are all still in the game. 👍

Deciding the list of officially banned words was always going to be a hopeless task, but even within that it looks like they've been doing a bad job.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/uproar-over-scrabble-words-that-can-no-longer-be-used/news-story/bb72350938e787cf5566c01109c98dd0

Edit: Uncapitalized

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Is "jew" still on the list? That one didn't make a damn bit of sense.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, that's weird.

JEW
JEWED
JEWING
JEWS

All removed.

On the other hand, quite a lot of the list does make perfect sense for them to remove. "Jewed" probably needs to go. The next word is"jigaboo", also. 😬 😬 😬

Full list: https://ia903406.us.archive.org/31/items/csw21/CSW19-removed-words.txt

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago 
FAGGOTRY
FAGGOTY
FAGGY

So close, yet so far.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Those 3 would already have been banned for being proper nouns, wouldn't they?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"Paki" maybe. The other two I don't think are.

I think it's especially hilarious that "fenian" is a slur. For any Irish person for whom it would become relevant at all, I feel like if you called them a "fenian" they would swell with pride.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

a pakistani woman I knew explained to me that Paki was deeply offensive and that I should never use it, but she knew I probably didnt know that. she did suggest I never use it again unless I was trying to upset someone

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Yes, but presumably if avoiding that situation was the goal they would have removed "faggot." I can't even really understand what is the reasoning which might have led them to be extremely aggressive about finding weird slurs that very few people use to root out and remove, while leaving the ones that are actual issues alone. In some way, I think the impotence of the final decision set is somehow connected with the performative nature of it all. Maybe? I have no idea.

Ultimately it seems like they're just trying to fit in with the times as their clueless executives understand them. I think they're a few years behind the times, though, actually. Maybe if they were a little more hip they would be trying to release a "free speech" Scrabble with a bunch of new words added and with "liberal" and "woke" removed, now that the 2010s' brand of stupid performativeness is being replaced with a new type of performativeness that's different and much darker.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Faggot is a real word with actual, non offensive, meanings, 'paki' is not.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

No. It absolutely is not. Historically it did sure, but I challenge you to go to any corner of the English-speaking world and use it in any sentence at all and have any single person hear you and assume that you mean a bundle of sticks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

The last time I was in the UK they still called cigarettes fags, so who knows

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Faggots can also be meatballs, you can walk in to a supermarket and buy some faggots, or make them yourself.

The use to mean "a bundle of sticks" is definitely more rare now-a-days though, you're correct.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

"'cigarette' is short for 'meatball'" is certainly a sentence.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Like I said, using the UK is cheating (I guess I should have specified that). I can take a walk down Butthole Lane, look up the bus schedule from Shitterton to Twatt, and then I can go pick up 6 faggots for £1.60. It's all just part of the nature of the place.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm sorry, using the place where English came from as an example of modern English usage is somehow against some imaginary rule of argument? What a take.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Pretty sure George Washington invented English, it was right about the time he was teaching the Wampanoag about thanksgiving and the Iroquois about federal democracy.

😃

(I am joking don't get all upset. Here, here's Al Murray to soothe the English pride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x2ovlPr2IE)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

My dude, I'm in america.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I am clearly just talking nonsense. I actually didn't know that meatballs were called that in the UK, so I guess it's perfectly legit. There actually was a big rift in the Scrabble community, decades ago, about using the British official word list versus the American official word list, and apparently they've more or less standardized on a combined list that includes all the words on both. So anything in British English is completely fair game, which may to be fair explain why some of the words that aren't real friendly in the US are still on there.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm not able to see the removed word and my mind is running wild with imagination. Can you give me the first letter?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

B*lg*um

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Only thing I can think of with faggot is that on the UK at least that's a organ based dish

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago

The UK doesn't count man. If that's the metric for obscenity then everything is allowed.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Butthole+Ln,+Shepshed,+Loughborough,+UK/@52.776606,-1.2752399,17z

[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Here in the uk , the P word is probably the most offensive word you could use against a person of Indian descent. Up there with the n word. removed (f word) is also probably the most offensive slur you can use in reference to gay people. It's correct that they banned them.

Guessing you're from America where being offensive is cool. Historically people used to justify the n word based on the origins rather than the highly offensive connotations.

UK ain't woke, just has some acceptance that people from different backgrounds have some value rather than pandering to grumpy white folk who care about nothing but themselves and how inconvenient it is to possibly consider other words.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

UK ain't woke, just has some acceptance that people from different backgrounds have some value

Lmao. Of all the countries to say this about.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Guessing you don't live in the UK. Accepted we have many issues we need to address and further progress to make, but certain slurs ans language are unacceptable and can rightly land you in hot water. Meanwhile in America and some other places, folk are like "lol, n word".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Even if we ignore all the dark shit the UK did to other races in the past in the name of imperialism, we're still talking about a country that voted to divorce itself from a mutually beneficial economic alliance because it didn't want to be forced to let brown people move there. They may not talk about it like the Americans do but the UK is still plenty racist.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

UK did some dark shit in the past. No debate.

Brexit is a whole different topic. Norway isn't part of the EU, does that mean they are racist? You can hopefully see how weak that point was. Part of the debate was about sovereignty and economic decline. Whether valid, your implication that because 17m voted for that, they are all racist, is wholly wrong, shallow and child like black and white thinking. Some are, yes. I do know folks from right or left year voted for it who don't have a racist bone in their body. You have to be able to handle nuanced debates though.

You've completely changed the topic from slurs and what isn't acceptable to a whole piece on racism and I think every country can do an awful lot more to improve, UK included. The point was, slurs in there that some are finding acceptable in other countries isn't here. You'd get banned from football games for them or fired from jobs.

If you just want to go down the "UK all bad!" You can carry on the whatabouttery/kitchen sinking on your own to make yourself feel better to protect your country and feed that nationalist indignation you got going on. If you want to go back to discussing slurs and acceptability, happy to welcome you back to the debate.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Norway isn't part of the EU, does that mean they are racist?

Norway wasn't a founding member that voted to leave primarily to avoid taking in immigrants

You have to be able to handle nuanced debates though.

Easily the smuggest thing I've read in weeks

You've completely changed the topic from slurs and what isn't acceptable to a whole piece on racism

I laughed at someone using the UK as their example of race relations done right. I laughed because it's funny, because the UK is one of the most racist countries in the world. Slurs are not the only form of racism.

If you just want to go down the "UK all bad!"

Where are you getting this shit from? It wasn't from my post, that's for sure.

to make yourself feel better to protect your country and feed that nationalist indignation

Wasn't doing that. This was all about you picking one of the worst possible countries as your example of the alternative.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

You have missed the point completely. UK isn't good but even given how bad you think it is, doesn't tolerate the slurs mentioned (the whole point of the post). I speak about it because I live here and I'm shocked people even debating that these words are fine.

What miraculous country are you from that is so free from racism?

In a nutshell, I've said these words not cool here and your contribution is effectively "your racist country is so bad. Don't talk". Not the most helpful contribution ever. Who hurt you?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

given how bad you think it is

I didn't say the UK was a bad country. Please stop making things up.

What miraculous country are you from that is so free from racism?

I didn't say my country was free from racism. Please stop making things up.

"your racist country is so bad. Don't talk"

I didn't say that. Please stop making things up.

Who hurt you?

Nobody. Please stop making things up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

As long as they don't ban antidisestablishmentarianism or pnuemonoultramicroscopicsilicovolvanoconisis I'll be okay.

If I can get just one of those on the board, I automatically win.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 days ago

My grandma, a very sweet, timid small old lady, once threw down a "C U N T" then innocently said, "What? It's a word."

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

  1. This article is 3 years old.

  2. Good luck finding the actual list. This redditor apparently compiled one themselves. https://www.reddit.com/r/scrabble/comments/my5tie/the_419_words_erased_from_csw/

  3. Like all censorship: this is ineffectual and incomplete. Do enjoy digging around the list of words still allowed "because they have secondary nonoffensive definitions" like bitch, cunt, asshole, suckhole, sonofabitch, and of course....

FUCK FUCKED FUCKER FUCKERS FUCKFACE FUCKFACES FUCKHEAD FUCKHEADS FUCKING FUCKINGS FUCKOFF FUCKOFFS FUCKS FUCKUP FUCKUPS FUCKWIT FUCKWITS

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Holy shit, my sides.

ASPIE
ASPIES

...

BUBBA (?)

...

BULLDIKE
BULLDIKES
BULLDYKE
BULLDYKES
BUMBOY
BUMBOYS
CHINKIE
CHINKIES
CHOLO
CHOLOS
COCKSUCKER
COCKSUCKERS

...

DAGO
DAGOES
DAGOS
DARKEY
DARKEYS
DARKIE
DARKIES
DARKY
DIKEY
DIKIER
DIKIEST
DOGAN
DOGANS
DYKEY
DYKIER
DYKIEST
FAGGERIES
FAGGERY
FAGGIER
FAGGIEST
FAGGOTIER
FAGGOTIEST
FAGGOTRIES
FAGGOTRY

Okay, on some of these, they have a point lol.

Also, I got curious and scrolled down to "N", and all I can say is holy holy shit man. I get it. People cherry-picked out some stupid decisions, but it honestly makes a lot of sense now that I can see the list. I also understand why they didn't publish the list...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

TF is a dogan?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Canadian slur for Irish Catholics, apparently.

🤷

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Interesting. I didn't know Canada had their own racial slurs, I figured they imported them from the US and UK.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Unacceptable tbh

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

It’s in urban dictionary. It means “to be honest”

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"scores" = groups of 20

so somewhere between 40 and 100 players quit the game because they couldn't say a racial slur. In a game with apparently 2.5 million daily players. That can't be right. In a playerbase that size I'd expect the percentage of bigots with no life to be somewhere in the tens of thousands.

Guess it was a slow news day

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

I feel like the amount of bigots in a game that requires knowing lots of words is below the population average.

But not THAT far.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Well that sure is of them.

[–] brian 1 points 3 days ago

So I get why they didn't, but I'm very irked that they don't have a list of the banned words. I'm just curious how they came up with 400 inappropriate words.

[–] humanspiral -1 points 3 days ago

But those are the only ones I know, asswipes.