OFFENSIVE WORDS FACE PURGE FROM SCRABBLE IN U.S.

Scrabble looks set to ban the use of hundreds of offensive words in professional tournaments in the united States, amid a reckoning on racism. The North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) is preparing to vote this week to remove some 226 “offensive” words from its official lexicon for judging and believes the move has enough support to pass. The game, sold by hasbro which owns the rights to Scrabble in North America, has not included the slurs in its dictionary since 1994, but the NASPA continued to allow them as they are “part of the English language.” The offensive words have been separated into seven categories: slur, anatomical, political, profane, prurient, scatological, and vulgar. The decision will probably impact online versions of the game too. John Chew, chief executive of NASPA, admitted members of the professional Scrabble community are split over the purge. But he added: “This is just a game we are playing and we have to do what we can to make things right, just in our little corner of the world.”