Revision as of 11:27, 10 July 2020

A slur is a word that is used to degrade what it describes. Beginning in June 2020, NASPA had a discussion about why and whether slurs should be part of the official lexicon, the NASPA Word List (2018) Edition.

To avoid repeating contextually offensive language, the public communications did not list the words in question, identifying one of them only as the N word.

See also our Media relations page for mention about this story in the media, and for our contact information.

Timeline

2020-06-11

Jim Hughes asks if NASPA can remove the N word from the playing lexicon.

2020-06-13

John Chew asks Advisory Board to vote on removing all offensive slurs by 2020-09-01.

2020-06-18

After deliberating by email, the AB convened by Zoom to discuss the issue further, deciding to solicit more public feedback in the form of a poll.

2020-06-20

original letter is sent out inviting people to participate in online polling.

2020-07-05

Poll remains open, but statistical results are tabulated from over 1,000 responses are tabulated.

2020-07-07

Chew announces that he had had a meeting with Hasbro, and reported “I personally agreed with them that all the slurs should come out of our lexicon. It’s the right thing to do, and I will make sure that it happens. I have asked the Advisory Board to vote their consciences, because I think this is an important moment in the history of our association. Everyone should know how their board represented them on this weighty issue.”

2020-07-08

Hasbro announces that slurs will no longer be permitted in any SCRABBLE play, and that NASPA has agreed to remove them from NWL2018

2020-07-09

AB met by Zoom from 8:00-10:45 PM ET to vote on Chew's original motion, defeating it by a vote of 6 to 4.

2020-07-09

Chew consulted with the Board of Trustees by phone, and agreed to honor his commitment to Hasbro, overturning the Advisory Board's ruling.

FAQ

Who decides which words are offensive?

Our word list is composed of words that are found in any one of several college-level dictionaries. If the word appears in our source dictionaries only in senses that are tagged as being offensive, then we consider it offensive.

Who decides which offensive words are slurs?

The initial selection was made by Dictionary Committee chair John Chew, and it has since been revised based on public input.

Who decides which words will be deleted?

The words in the proposed list will be individually checked against Merriam-Webster's current online word list to confirm that they are labelled in all lower-case senses as at least sometimes disparaging, offensive, obscene or vulgar. All that meet these criteria will be deleted.

How long will the poll run?

When the rate of responses drops down enough to suggest that most interested parties have responded, a statistical summary will be presented to the AB (this happened on 2020-07-05); the poll will continue indefinitely.

Are the poll results a binding vote?

No, the poll is just to solicit public input into the process.

Can I respond to the poll twice?

Yes. We can usually tell when you have done so, and will combine your responses.

Do I have to be a NASPA member to take the poll?

No, we are interested in everyone's opinion on this subject.

Does it matter what race I am as a poll respondent?

If it is important to you, please let us know in the comments field in the poll.

I find a particular word offensive. How can I get it added to the offensive word list below?

If you find a word in one of our source lexica that should have been deemed offensive according to our rules, please bring it to our attention. We will review it and make sure that it is in the next edition of our offensive word list and not in the next major release of the NASPA School Word List.

Why did you start talking about this now?

Cesar Del Solar asked on the NASPA Member Concerns Facebook group what were doing as an association about Black Lives Matter. Jim Hughes suggested that we could show solidarity with BLM by removing the N word, Cesar agreed, and a spirited discussion ensued.

Offensive Words by Category

In response to requests from our community, we list all the words in our lexicon that have been labelled as offensive (and with no inoffensive senses) by our lexicographical colleagues, divided into draft categories according to the nature of their offence.

On 2020-06-22, this categorization was refined, with slurs being subdivided according to which Code of Conduct category(-ies) pertained to the slur; some offensive words were also reassigned categories.

Each word in each category is then listed alphabetically, but with its letters rearranged into alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order in order to obfuscate it from the casual reader. We welcome media inquiries at info@scrabbleplayers.org for a plain list of words.

If the Advisory Board decides to remove slurs (and/or any other category of offensive words), the category assignments will be reviewed.

ANATOMICAL: aers aeehlors aeehlorss aehloss aehlosss aabdss aabddess aabdesss abbellrstu abbellrsstu abckllos abeillrs abeillsst abeillnsss abeeillnssss abllsy abmooz abmoosz bcklloos bbeioo bdeioos bdooy bbbuy cilt cilst cejnoos cntu cnstu cddeik acddehik acddehiks cdgiikn agooz agoosz egiilrs egiloo egiloos glooy aadhrss aadehrsss aeijssv hjnnoos hjnnooss bmnnstuu bemnnsstuu acdeeehkpr acdeeehkprs ehilopss ehilopsss cghlnos cghlnoss ghlnos ghlnoss effiist effiisst ffisty attw asttw aoowz aooswz eiillw agginnyy agginnsyy

POLITICAL: aabeiorrstu aaborrtuy cmmopsy cmmopssy aefiimnz aefiimnsz bbeilr bbeilrs aaehmrstu aaehmrsstu

PROFANE: addegmnost addgmo adddegmmo addggimmno addgmno adddegmnost adddegmno adddeegmnost addggimnno addgmnos addgmos

PRURIENT: bbjloow bbjloosw bdeffo bffgino bikno bdeikno bgiiknno biknos acckmnos ccekmnos acceekorst acceekorsst cgimmnu cmsu effgin fgiinsst abfru cfku cdefku cefkru cefkrsu acceffku acceffksu acdefhku acdefhksu cfgiknu cfffkou cfffkosu cfksu cfkpuu cfkpsuu cfiktuw cfikstuw aabiijlt aabiijlst ijms ijmss ijzz eijszz cdfikmnu cdefikmnru cdefikmnrsu cdfikmnsu fmoo fmoos ceefhkmorrtu ceefhkmorrstu cefghikmnortu ahmtu ahmstu eiknoo eiknoos knooy agnnoopt agnnoopst chpstu cdehppstu cghinppstu chpsstu aegghrs aegghrss hpstu dehppstu ghinppstu hpsstu acefkrrstu acefkrrsstu cehklosu cdehklosu cehklossu cghiklnosu aknw adeknw aeknrw aeknrsw agiknnw aknsw

SCATOLOGICAL: abhistt abhllstu bhillstu bhillsstu bdehillsttu behillrsttu behillrssttu bghiillnsttu abdmuw abdmsuw ccehhiiknst ccehhiiknsst chinoost chinoosst acepprr acepprrs dhiipst dhiipsst afrt adefrt afginrt afrst beghiost beghiosst ehhiorsst ehhiorssst deemr deemrs deep eeginp ipss deipss eiprss eiprsss eipsss eiiprss eiipssst giinpss ipssy ahst hist abghist abghisst achinst acdehinnst acghiinnnst achinsst ehist ehisst acefhist acdefhist acefhisst adehhist addeehhist adehhisst eehhilst eehhilsst ehhilost ehhilosst ehhiosstu ehhiossstu cehiikkrst cehiikkrsst ehilssst hiilsstt hiilssstt adhilost adhilosst hisst himorsstt himorssstt dehistt ehirstt ehirsstt ehiirstt ehiissttt ehiinssstt eehiinsssstt ghiinstt histty hikorstw hikorsstw drtu drstu

SLUR (race or color): oba soba abckru abckrsu cdeloors cdeloorsu chinoost chinoosst adekry adekrsy adeikr adeikrs adkry agginr agginrs gginor gginors aehlo aehlos beeh beehs ehknoy ehknosy ehikno ehiknos hknoy ehknuy ehknsuy ehiknu ehiknsu abgijoo abgijoos almottu aelmosttu almosttu egginr egginrs cehiint cehiinst afoy afosy aceiiinnnps aciinnnpy acceiiinnnps acciinnnpy aceiiiknnnps aciiknnnpy ceiknpy ceiknpsy acehrstvz acehrsstvz acehrstwz acehrsstwz aehrstvz aehrsstvz ikmos ikmoss aqsuw aqssuw demmot ehistwy ehiistw gow gghiosw gosw

SLUR (creed or religion): adgno adgnos yog gimoy ghiosy eghiosy gosy eijstu ceiijstu aceiijlstu aceiijllstuy eiijmsstu eiijmssstu eeiijrsstu eijrstuy eijsstu ejw deejw egijnw ejsw ainnoppst ainnoppsst aimpps aimppss aippst aciippst aeiipprsst aipprsty aippsst eeehnsy eeehnssy eeehins eeehinss eeghstz achikss achiksss ahikss ahiksss ehikss ehhikss ehhiksss ehiksss hikmostz gimmnot diy disy

SLUR (sex or gender): cntu cnstu soh agnnoopt agnnoopst

SLUR (sexual orientation): bdeikllu bdeikllsu bdeklluy bdekllsuy bbmouy bbmosuy cccekkorsu cccekkorssu deiky dekyy aefggir aefggist aefggiorst afggorty afggoty afggy els belos beloss eelss elz eelszz eeilzz eeilszz elyzz acenn acenns aceinnr aceinns aceinnst acnny efioopr efioopst foops afhoopt afhoopst efooprt efooprst foopy eoopv eoopsv

SLUR (gender identity): bcehstu

SLUR (national origin): bceho bcehos begoorrttt begoorrsttt bhknou bhknosu achlo achlos chloo chloos ccehilu ccehilru ccehilsu ccehilstu adgo adegos adgos ginoz eginosz aaakkn aaakkns eikk eikks cikm cikms eipps eippss acklop acklops eimmop eimmops mmopy aadeghr aadeghrs cips cikps cikpss cipss ikps ikpss denuv densuv abcektw abcekstw opw opsw

SLUR (age): bceilmrsu aabdegrry aabdegrrsy abdeegrry abdeegrrsy eiiklnrw eiiklnrsw

SLUR (disability): cipr ciprs apsz apszz aepsszz

SLUR (gender conformity): cenopy ceinopr ceinopst cnopy aeehlms aeehlmss

SLUR (physical characteristics): abdeil afost aefosst afosst

SLUR (not in a Code of Conduct category): abopwy abopswy abbbu abbbsu adegj adgjo cehiikllsv cehiikllssv cdeeknr cdeeknrs

VULGAR: ainpsst ainpssst bchimstu bcehimsstu