Very true, Tom.
What a great thread. You folks have shined a beacon of understanding on this topic!
Thank you.
How about a TWO letter derogatory word? Just found "HO’… bottom row, second letter to the right, going up.
(this is the most fun I’ve had reading a thread slowly in some time.)
I found:
BRAT
DONK
ANAL
It’s not, as mentioned earlier. Also Yid is simply the Yiddish word for Jew. But I guess if “Jew” is offensive maybe “Yid” is too. Hmm…
In a similar manner, a lot of Blacks seem to be under the impression that the Yiddish word “Shvartzeh” is a derogeratory term for Black people. Actually, Shvartz means black in Yiddish (e.g. the name Shwartz). A Shvartzeh simply means a Black.
I guess anytime people hear an expression about themselves that they don’t know the meaning of, there is a tendency to assume it must be something nasty.
For the record, this page has a copy of the actual puzzle:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/phillyword1.shtml
See what words YOU can find!
Thanks to Smack for providing an actual copy of the puzzle in question. After a look at that puzzle, I’m pretty certain that any and all ethnic slurs were unintentional, and due to random chance.
And some of the words cited as offensive are ridiculous! “HO”? For Pete’s sake, if THAT’s verboten, then NO word in which the letters H and O are juxtaposed can ever be used in a puzzle! Are “hot dog” and “hockey” and “chocoloate” now unacceptable words, just because they all contain “ho”?
It also contains “pom,” as well as a bunch of nonoffensive words like “poor” and “maze”.