# Scrabble and Illegal Real Words **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485 "2006-04-05T22:34:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/1 "2006-04-05T22:34:58Z")
In Scrabble there is an official dictionary of acceptable words, I think and then there are tournaments. Are there words that are not allowed becasue of what they represent: like swear words or racial epithets? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/2 "2006-04-05T22:43:09Z")
Pretty much from what I can tell. I posted a thread about this [incident](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3542570.stm) when it happened. A player played LEZ, which is normally acceptable but for puroposes of the televised finals was on a list of temporarily disallowed “not safe for TV” words. I kept hoping that someone would post the rest of the list online somewhere but I never saw it. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/3 "2006-04-06T03:19:05Z")
A number of years back, a friend of mine was in the World Scrabble Chmapionship which was held in Washington DC that year. Since I’d never been to DC, I decided to visit the city at the same time as the tournament. I didn’t do much spectating at the tourney, since they wouldn’t let spectators stand next to the tables, but at the end of one game he showed me that his opponent had played “fuck” against him. Good word, scores 12 points. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/4 "2006-04-06T03:20:24Z")
IIRC, they did take racial epithets like “Nigger” out of the Scrabble dictionary; they used to be in there but aren’t now. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/5 "2006-04-06T14:56:36Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > IIRC, they did take racial epithets like “Nigger” out of the Scrabble dictionary; they used to be in there but aren’t now. Yep, we play with the older version and the new expurgated edition so we have the greatest range of words to choose from (the new one has “bad” stuff removed but also some additions). ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/6 "2006-04-06T15:23:30Z")
I recall an article in the Boston Globe about a rule change in ‘official’ tournaments prohibiting obscenities. One of the quotes that stood out was a tournament contestant (who disagreed with the new rule) commenting “If there’s an F on the board, I want to use my U, C and K.” ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/7 "2006-04-06T15:34:14Z")
Nitpicker didn’t used to be in the Scrabble Dictionary. Nitpick, nitpicked, nitpicking- yes, but nitpicker- no. Maybe that’s changed. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/8 "2006-04-07T02:40:55Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > [H]is opponent had played “fuck” against him. Good word, scores 12 points. If a blank tile is used for the “u.”😃 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/9 "2006-04-07T06:33:07Z")
> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#): > > If a blank tile is used for the “u.”😃 Oops! In my defense, I note that I am not a Scrabble player and looked up the scores for the letters on line. I somehow managed to misread the score for a C as 2 instead of 3. The World Championship uses a combination of the US and British official Scrabble dictionaries as the official reference. Even if the naughty words are not in the American dictionary (they were taken out in the Third Edition), they are still in the British dictionary. Or at least they were back then. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/10 "2006-04-07T21:12:46Z")
Note also that, in non-tournament play, the official rules don’t specify which words or dictionaries are allowed. Before a game, the players agree on a dictionary or dictionaries, and whatever they agree on is what rules for that game. So in principle, the players could agree to use a slang dictionary, or a word list containing nothing but dirty words, and they’re still playing by the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/11 "2006-04-07T21:24:37Z")
Note also that there’s a difference between the Official Word List – now in its 2nd edition – which is often (always?) used in professional North American tournaments and which contains all of the “bad” words, and the Official Scrabble Players’ Dictionary – now in its 4th edition – which is intended for school and recreational use and is bowdlerized (and has been since – I think – OSPD2). ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/12 "2006-04-07T21:24:52Z")
> [@PatriotX](#): > > Nitpicker didn’t used to be in the Scrabble Dictionary. Nitpick, nitpicked, nitpicking- yes, but nitpicker- no. > Maybe that’s changed. The Scrabble Dictionary only has words up to eight letters long. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-and-illegal-real-words/351485/13 "2006-04-07T21:27:53Z")
> [@](#): > > The Scrabble Dictionary only has words up to eight letters long. …But it indicates appropriate prefixes and suffixes in its entry that will sometimes make the word longer than eight letters. (And, of course, non-prefixed or -suffixed words that are longer than eight letters are often good as well; they’re just not explicitly signified as such in the dictionary.)