In a game of Scrabble, how many points is the verb “plane” worth? As revealed by L’Express on Tuesday, December 20, Mattel, the American operator of the game outside North America, has requested the removal of several words from the Scrabble Official. This “bible” of French-speaking competitions, published by Larousse and based on the official list of terms authorized by the Fédération Internationale de Scrabble Francophone (FISF), should be amputated by a good thirty terms in its ninth edition, scheduled for June 2023. The deletion follows a previous decision by the company, which, while rejuvenating the packaging of Scrabble boxes last year, also added a new rule: now excluded are “all incitement to hatred and discrimination”.
In total, according to the latest version of the list consulted by L’Express, 62 words (about thirty terms, plus their plural and feminine variants) should be banned from the ninth version of The Scrabble Official. Included in this inventory in particular: “asian”, “boche”, “chicano”, “fucker”, “wife”, “gogole”, “goudou”, “dyke”, “lopette”, “nabot”, “nègre”, “queer”, “poufiasse”, “romano”, “schleu”, “sidaique”, “tafiole”, “tantouse”, “tarlouze” or “travelo”.
A list decided after long negotiations with the members of the editorial board of The Scrabble Official. Before stopping on the current list, the brand had proposed to the editorial board of the FISF more than a hundred words to be removed from the dictionary. The initial file provides a better understanding of the criteria and objectives of the company Mattel, determined to remove from the game of Scrabble all terms that may prove offensive to a community, whatever it may be. L’Express, which had access to the document, reveals these 109 words deemed “sensitive” by the American brand, divided into several categories: terms deemed xenophobic, sexist, homophobic, racist, or related to a profession or physical of somebody.
Words considered xenophobic
In the file arranged in alphabetical order, accompanied by both the comments of a linguist and those of the brand itself, we first find words considered insulting against nationalities. “Amerlo”, “Rican” or “Amerloque”, for example, can “be heard as contemptuous of Americans”, writes the linguist recruited by Mattel. The same goes for “rital”, “viet” and “boche”. This is also the case of “caldoche”, which “is said of the Whites of New Caledonia, of colonial stock”, or of “kanak” (a native of New Caledonia). “Romano”, “romanichel”, “zarabe” (used in Réunion to designate a Muslim Indian) or “zoreille” (used colloquially to speak of an inhabitant of the metropolis who has recently settled in overseas territories) , such as “fritz” and “fridolin”, two antiquated expressions which designate German soldiers, are also in the list.
Regional expressions are also questioned, such as “bourbine” (the nickname given by French-speaking Swiss to German-speaking Swiss), “velche / welche / welsche” (which designates the French-speaking population in Moselle). The words “kanaque” (a word used pejoratively in New Caledonia to designate Melanesians) or “capre” (designating in the West Indies, a half-breed descending from a black person and a mulatto), are among the terms judged sensitive by Mattel.
racist slurs
The words of which one of the insulting meanings can have a relationship with an ethnic group or a religion are concerned: this is the case of “asian”, of “negro/negress” and its derivatives (negrille, negrillon, etc.), of ” noiraud”, from “toubab”, from “chicano” and its feminine “chicana”, from “gringo”, from “mulatto” and “mulatto”, from “moricaud”, from “signare” (a term used in Senegal from the 16th to 19th century to designate black or mixed-race women) from “chleu” or “shleu”, from “octavon”, “bamboula”, “feuj”, “reubeu” or even “beur/beurette” and “black”. “Even though (this term) is used by the community to define itself,” writes Mattel for these last two examples, “some may feel offended to be called this way by third parties – without tacit agreement related to the proximity of ‘a relationship, or humor’.
The word “manouche” is also concerned, like “goï” and “goy” (which designate, in the Jewish community, one who is not Jewish). The same goes for the words “gadjé/gadji/gadjo”, used among gypsies to describe someone from outside, or “kafir” or “roumi” among Orthodox Muslims and “giaour” (which designates Christians in Turkey). Verbs related to communities or nationalities are also indicated: “chinoiser”, “chinoiserie”, “enjuiver”, “juiverie”, or “kinoiserie”, a rare and pejorative word attributing a “character specific to the inhabitants of Kinshasa”, in Congo.
Sexist insults
Among the terms deemed possibly sexist, we find “bimbo”, “blondasse”, “bobonne”, “cagole”, “bonasse” or “catin”. “Pouffiasse”, “bitch”, “grognasse”, “lorette”, “greluche”, “guidoune” (a prostitute, in Quebec), “harangère”, “moukère” (a sexist term in the Maghreb), “radeuse” and all variants around the term “whore”, are also cited by the linguist, without comment from Mattel. The word “cougar” is considered “to be deleted” by the company. There is also the trace of the word “fatma” (“often used pejoratively to designate a veiled woman”, notes the linguist) or even “virago” (a woman with a tough, masculine look) or “routure” . For men, “gigolo” is also present, as well as “salopard”, declined in “bitch” for women.
homophobic slurs
Homophobic insults also appear in the file. We thus find “fifi” (an offensive way of designating a homosexual person in Quebec), “fiotte”, “inverted”, “faggot”, “tafiole”, “tantouse”, “tarlouze” or “travelo”. The terms “goudou” and “gouine” raise questions from the linguist, who warns: “be careful, the lesbian community sometimes claims it (same thing as black, beur, etc.)”. The word “fucker” and its derivatives “fucker” and “fucker/se” are present, as well as “sodomite” and “sidaic”.
The other insults
These categories are not the only ones to worry about Mattel. The nicknames given to the police alert the brand, which sees a point of attention in the words “cop, cop, cop” or even “keuf”. This is also the case of insults on the physical like “nabot” to designate people of small size, or on age, like “vioc”, or “koufir”. There remains one last insult listed in the table, against the weak-minded: “gogol”. Seven points in Scrabble, unless you get a double or triple count word.
