War over words: U.S. Scrabble leader overrules panel to ban slurs

What happens if a black person uses the epithet?

It's called "empowerment."

What happens if a black person uses the epithet?

Is that allowable?

They often do with a high level of frequency!

Should we ban country names in Africa or Latin translations for black as having similarities with epithets?

And where does the censorship end?

StrangerlandToday  12:38 am JST

They should leave in the words, and players should ostracize anyone who uses them.

In the 5th grade our teacher who was married to a Ukrainian Holocaust survivor, during one class period wrote on the board a whole slew of ethnic, racist, xenophobic, etc. slur words ('N-word', slur words for whites, everything) and she explained to us what they are, who they are aimed, why they are bad and why we shouldn't be using them in our eveyday speech.

Some TV shows at the time like 'All In the Family' and even the 'Jeffersons' had characters using these words but they were meant to show how ignorant and stupid these characters were. A lot of boneheads in America didn't get it. They don't now.

Nonetheless, Scrabble is a game where everyday words are to be used and that means ethnic slur words don't belong on the list. Only stupid people use those words in their ordinary language and they have no place in a game like this.

1984

They need to change the name of the game from Scrabble to Newspeak.

North American Scrabble competitors will no longer be able to play racist and homophobic slurs from the "N-word" to "bumboy" and"poofs"

I looked up poof in my North American dictionary, and it gives two definitions; (1) used to convey the suddenness with which someone or something disappears; once you've used it, poof - it's gone and (2) used to express contemptuous dismissal; "Oh poof," said Will. "You say that every year".

No mention of any racist or homophobic slur there.

I do know the British English term poofter is considered offensive, so I looked that up too; it gives British informal, offensive: another term for poof (second meaning).

Which of course is incorrect; poofter does not mean an expression of dismissal, contemptuous or otherwise.

There seems to be no reason for banning poof, part from an over-eager desire to appear woke or PC.

What's wrong with the rules we've always played by? If it's in the dictionary, it's OK.

I had a look at the NASPA website and it actually lists the banned words, divided into categories (anatomical, political, profane, etc) - but it coyly lists the words with the letters in alphabetical order, presumably so that your maiden aunt Agatha won't be unnecessarily shocked. No doubt teenagers with time on their hands can spend a pleasant afternoon or two deciphering the words, perhaps with the help of their Scrabble tiles to sort out the letters, and a dictionary to help them learn the meanings of the more obscure ones.

https://scrabbleplayers.org/w/Slurs

Next thing we know they'll be banning Monopoly on the grounds it glorifies economic inequality.

Invalid CSRF

They should leave in the words, and players should ostracize anyone who uses them.

SouthPark has another Comedy Sketch to play...

The straightjacket fits!