The Word That Could Get Scrabble Cancelled 

Just spent 8.5 minutes watching some sht until the topic that I clicked for came up. You need to change that. Never spend more than a minute explaining rules. Especially if the only thing to see is an unemotional face.

When I looked at the thumbnail, I did not realise that the word was blurred and it looked to me as if someone ridiculously played "redialing" out of bounds. That would have been a far funnier controversy. :P

This video reminds me of how I got cheated once out of a bingo when I was playing against a computer. My word was ASSHOLE. The computer wouldn't allow it.

Every Scrabble player has a "I misdesignated the blank" story, and it's always painful. An opponent once played a double blank bingo against me, designated correctly, then changed the order of the letters to increase the score for the play. This moved blank #2 ahead of blank #1, and made it an invalid word. Yes, I challenged it off.

In an expert-level game played in Atlantic City against Randy Greenspan, some time in the 1990s, my outplay, to win, was the N-word, pluralized. Randy commented, "Nice play," and we wrote down the scores. Later, he said, "You also had GINGERS," and I was surprised that I'd missed that.

A few minutes after you told the story of writing “Z” instead of “N”, I feared the absolute worst (intended word: one who zigs when they should have zagged; actual word: [REDACTED]). I was downright _relieved_ when it was “only” as bad as it actually was. This was interesting even for me as a non-Scrabble player. Thanks!

I remember when I played MUCK when my highest scoring play was actually the F word…

Gosh, what an insane story! (Also the introduction of blanks + blank designation and other Scrabble explanations throughout the video were appreciated!)

I've always wondered why the Scrabble tiles don't have a dry erase coating on them. Not just the Blank since you don't want it to feel different in the bag, but all the tiles. Then, when a Blank is played, you just write your intended letter on the tile. Zero chance there's a question of what the tile is. Once the game is over, you wipe off the surface. This would likely be overkill for your basic set, but make it an option on some of your nicer boards.

I was definitely interested in Scrabble as a word game, but I never really got super deep in the game because I had a bad experience trying to play with family. In the game I was able to play DINOSAUR which made me so excited because its so rare in casual play to be able to make an 8 letter word. Instead of being excited with me and continuing the game, everyone else just started cooperating against me and started spending their turns looking through a dictionary to try and figure out the best possible word they could make. Which held up the game and made me frustrated with them playing really obscure words until I got too heated and then the game ending got blamed on me.

There’s definitely a disconnect in thinking between competitive Scrabble players and the general public. Like you said, strings of letters become essentially no different than strings of numbers. Then you have to think…oh yeah, this means something. And the definition isn’t just a study aid to remember if it takes an S.

My mythology and English composition teacher in college used to say "when you're spelling words, you're casting spells, that's how powerful words are"

and then players go back to playing bundle of sticks

I love this video, mainly because when I tried to explain to my friend that its ok for scrabble to have weird words in its dictionary, to which my friend responded “but a word game has to have only normal words in its dictionary” to which I responded “Scrabble isn’t a word game!”, my friend did NOT understand, this video made my friend understand, thank you for making this!

Could they have a double set of "blank tiles" that you replace on the board after playing your blank, to avoid mistakes like this?

An interesting and unfortunate situation! Just want to add your video craft is rapidly improving - keep working on it!! This video had a lot of really good storytelling and foreshadowing, and you're clearly getting more comfortable on camera!

Great video, Josh! I love this story-telling style of video. I can tell how much work you put into this one.

Easy enough to put S instead of D, they're right next to each other on the keyboard

Some great twists in that story! I found even at 1.25x speed it was kind of unbearably slow though, and I had to skip a lot of bits to get to the juice.

16:15 onwards, the no-no word is a near anagram of "ragging"

Definitely a step up in editing, really makes the video enjoyable to watch! Super interesting as well :)

There was one time when I had the tiles A, C, E, L, and a blank, and I was going to play the word "bleach" with a H that was already on the board, with the blank as a B. I had thought of this play when it was my opponent's turn after I had drawn the tiles after my previous play. However, I messed up and accidentally played "bleach" with a B that was already on the board instead, but accidentally still played the blank as a B instead of a H, making my play "bleacb" instead of "bleach", which was challenged off the board the next turn.

There's another subtle point that can be made by this story. It's that there can be a disconnect between the spirit of a rule and the application of a rule, and in my opinion (which is not common), good sportsmanship should dictate that when they conflict, both players should yield to the spirit of the rule rather than jumping on a technicality. Regardless of how that game unfolded, if it were me, I would never jump on the technicality brought forth by the obvious error in circling the wrong letter, any more that I would conflate the use of an unrelated word with a similar offensive one. The actual intent here is 100% innocent AND the circling of the wrong letter is 100% clearly also a simple mistake. Charitably-minded good sports should overlook both. As for people being offended by even incidental similarities to the offensive word, I don't criticize them for that. After all it is a very powerful word and is still used by awful people to propagate the ugliest form of racism. It's ok in my mind for an incident such as this to be totally dismissed as innocent and yet to still acknowledge that the unfortunate result could be hurtful. Should the word that was played be banned? I don't think so, but I'd understand if it was. I'm annoyed almost every day when Boggle with Friends doesn't accept a certain four letter word starting with R and ending with a word related to monkey. That IS a real word and also has innocent meanings. Yet I'm sympathetic to those for whom the word is especially poignant. ...just an unfortunate consequence of playing games with words that have meanings and evoke strong feelings.

one of the most insightful scrabble videos i've ever watched

"The word that every scrabble players knows" Should be interesting "Niggards" Not what I expected lmao, wouldnt catch me saying that

uuuugh 'canceled' is not a thing. People have always, and will forever more, avoid that which they don't agree with. This is clickbaity, which is a shame because otherwise I woulda been interested in more of your stuff. This is an interesting topic with a terrible frame. e: oh come on. There is no risk here, and unless I missed something, the letters you blurred out would not spell the word that rightfully should be blurred. You are taking no risk by posting this that I can see.

"10 seconds Mr. Marsh."

The latest revision of the North American lexicon seems to be headed in the wrong direction. Introducing monstrosities such as HORSEFEATHERSES, reinstating potentially offensive words---what were they thinking?

I've played Scrabble but not on any serious competitive level. It was interesting to hear about the game from the prospective of the pro scene and stories like the one you presented here.

Something in my brain is just wired differently, when it comes to how “the general public” reacts to a word, and how I do… I guess I go more on the intent that I perceive from someone, versus the “scary/bad” word itself. And in a game like this, like you said, there is no intent, the definitions don’t matter… a binary of “is word” and “is not word” - so you’d hope TGP would understand and not overreact. But I know that’s not how it works. 😏 I’m disabled, and I’ve often referred to myself and my damaged areas as “g*mpy” and “cr*ppled up” (etc) and I’ve legit had folks tell me that I shouldn’t say that. 😅 To me, that’s laughable… but for others, it’s time to get big mad. 🤷🏻‍♂️😏 The same way my wheelchair-bound friend calls handicapped parking spaces “Wheelie Spots” Honestly, I’m surprised they are still called handicapped spaces, I realized, as I typed this. 🤓

Hi there, love your channel! One suggestion and a request would be to raise the video volume as it still sounds a little soft and I can't seem to make out some words, even with max RU-vid volume and speaker settings, not a headphones user. Not sure if it is because RU-vid has loudness normalization functions that lowered the audio but I have to raise volume for the videos here to the max and then get jump-scared by other videos' loudness.

How are legitimately offensive (e.g. word portion you blurred) or vulgar (e.g. 4-letter) words handled in Scrabble tournaments? Are they even listed in the Scrabble dictionary? I know the source dictionaries (Collins, Merriam) list such words with usage notes.

Awesome story and video :) keep up the great content Josh!

Subscribed. The ending was a great shocking twist, but also the whole 17 minutes leading up to that were incredibly engaging and interesting, as somebody who doesn't play scrabble.

huge fan of this kind of video - you deserve so many more subs!!

I can understand how a typo/mistaken formation of a word that closely resembles an existing offensive word can be genuinely offensive to some, but it still feels like a bit of a reach. Not denying that it can be offensive and should be avoided, but that's just not the word.

I don't get why a word _sounding similar to_ an unrelated offensive word is a bad thing. btw, was SUGARING not valid for some reason?

Words meaning irrelevance is very true. A guy in Belgium won a Scrabble competition in French without being able to speak French 😅

Before finding wills channel I thought exactly that. Scrabble is about knowing words, and the word list is riddioulus. Now I understand and love the game way more, it's way closer to a game like chess than to crossword puzzles, but the general public is completely unaware of that.

Oi, do you have a license to have a visual representation of a word that looks similar to another word that people don't like?

Thanks for video and content. One thing that is missing from the conversation is the 10-point oversight of JM...Normally players report scores to each other late in the game to see if there is "agreement". Did this not happen? Did JM not ask for a "score check" prior to making his play? There is no mention of a recount at the end of the game (unless I missed that tidbit of info). it is not clear to me how the score was corrected. Can you provide clarification? Thanks!

If there were playing NWL lexicon, Joey should have blocked it with ELD, or if CSW, then TWP at the top right would be denying his opponent of the triple2. In North American penalty rule, a loss of turn would be a result for successful challenge or what you called double penalty. Since that was the last turn of Jesse, Joey should have challenged it.

The story starts 10 minutes into the video 👍

Dude talks in 0.5x speed

I think everyone knew exactly what word would be the problem. Might want to make similar plays illegal in the next version of the rules since the word list is arbitrary anyway.

Was not expecting that to be so dramatic. But yeah, let's hope on a public broadcast something like that doesn't happen

Would it be a good idea to instead of the paper slips have a set of clear plastic and transparent tags with the different letters on them. When you use a blank just place one of the clear tags over it, the tiles being clear prevents players from slight of handing the tags ontop of nonblank tiles sice you can always see the tile under it. Would also save on paper waist

e-ink displays are small enough now that we could use one for the blank tile!

Cheers, keep em coming

Someone once played EXQUIZITE against me, across two triple word scores, with the Z on a double letter score, and the X making another word, and using the triple word score twice, and I didn't challenge it. I thought it was one of those words that's spelt with a Z in American English, and an S in British English, both of which would be valid. It's not. EXQUISITE is always spelt with an S. It was an invalid word, worth somewhere around 700 points, and I didn't challenge it.

okay but this is really incredibly funny. i understand that this is bad. but this is very very funny.

Nice “oh no my 👑” hoodie

Why not havetoken letters that are different color to denote blank after declared replace blank with the token

Just write on the blank tile 😂

If I were to conjecture why it wasn't challenged had it been noticed, I'd say it was out of sympathy. It would go down as possibly the worst blank tile slip-up of all time, and no one would want to be remembered for that instead of their accomplishments, hence why it may not have been challenged. P.S. Gauri says hi

Gotta wear my headphones 🎧 Dude the room is dead quiet. I can hear the room.

How much would using a dictionnary like Woogle's ECWL make the game too trivial for Expert Players? Your point about us viewers watching a Scrabble Game and thinking "That can't be a word" every 2 plays does massively reduce the appeal of the game as a viewer sport in my opinion! I wonder if there could be a "juste milieu" in that regard? But I understand this is not really in spirit of the Competitive Scrabble Tradition.

That's uh... that's not how that other word is spelled. I think you're fine lmao.

Ouch! Goes to show: on the out play, hold, then confirm the score with your opponent, and then (usually) challenge.

A full turn is too much penalty for a challenge and 5 points is too low

very interesting video as a person that does not play scrabble at all really one thing i have to ask tho: while i assume all offensive slurs are banned from tournament play, what about normal "swears" like f**k or sh*t or even asshole; which aren't very offensive at all nowadays, are those banned too to keep the game family friendly or are they perfectly fine in competitive play?

Your words seem to melt into each other and your tone and intonation made this video unlistenable. However the content is still pretty good and reading the captions was good enough for me.

#SUNGAZING just sent me spiraling. How that could be a word just blows my mind. STARGAZING is good, but if #SUNGAZING is valid, I would assume *MOONGAZING would be as well. 🤷‍♂️ Thanks for the content, Josh. 👍

why did it take almost 9 minutes to get to the point of the video?

Why didn't he play OP in the bottom left corner, or UP/PA nearly the top left corner?

I had a really hard time following this. Still not sure if I understood

The easier solution to all of this would be for people to stop being so ridiculously overly sensitive.

no hate, I'm impressed at how slow you can talk

Why is someone who spends so much time with words afraid of one? Blurring it and everything, when it didn't even properly spell the word. Weak mindset.

Why don’t you just use dry erase marker if they’re tiles?

For those who don't care about the story: 16:20 But it's a wild story and i'd recommend watching all the way through personally!

I don't know why you had to blur out the "offensive" word. It was a misspelling of the actual offensive word. And clearly there was no intention of offensiveness to begin with. Political correctness has trumped common sense (as is the case so often nowadays).

Bring back PDQ!

... I have never even heard of tiles having positive or negative scores. I may not be familiar enough with this game to understand

Interesting set of circumstances. Obviously totally innocent and unrelated to the offensive word it brought to mind (a word that I hear hundreds of times almost every day played in the jukebox of the bar I frequent, but that's another tangent). Also ironic that the GOAT's name is also close to that same word. And one of the top African players hails from a country that also nearly spells that same offensive word. No comment how just a close inexact match with that powerful word is enough to trigger people. It is what it is. But gee, when our ancestors decided to go around kidnapping people of other races as forced laborers, not only do they fail to recognize it as morally and ethically wrong, they totally overlooked the future impact on board games.

1:50 why not just write on the scrabble piece itself with a marker?

You seem to be saying that there's no single source of truth in a lot of this, however what about the OED?

Tbh I’ve never seen a word

LMAO

Y'know, watching this in depth video on a competitive Scrabble play made me realize something: Scrabble's only fun if you allow alternative dictionaries and common use words that aren't in the dictionary. Competitive Scrabble players running the numbers and analyzing things in-depth like this makes it look like work. Like, I love playing Scrabble, but I don't think I'm even slightly interested in competitive Scrabble. It's just something I've never thought of before.

Gamer word?

u r a very pretty human

There aren't that many problematic words and removing them from the dictionary wouldn't result in much practical play changes. I put together a dictionary for another game and wound up erring on the side of removal, so a bunch of words like 'mamie' are out. Since they're all just strings of letters it doesn't really matter all that much.

Bro got devastated due to the N-word 😭

Maybe I missed it, but doesn't this video exclude the important context that until 2020, the inward would be a valid word? I think the suggestion of a broadcast delay is ridiculous -- even if something like this happened in a broadcast and became a viral "scandal" the publicity from the controversy would likely help the game overall. Civilized people can separate the definition of words from their construction, even if there are a select few that cannot be uttered even in abstract without fear of violent reprisal.

Lmao

INT. GREAT HALL - HOGWARTS - NIGHT The Great Hall is dimly lit, filled with anticipation and tension. The TriWizard cup, gleaming with glory, sits at the center of the room, surrounded by eager onlookers. Harry and Cedric Diggory sit across from each other at a small table, a SCRABBLE board set up between them. Their eyes lock, determined and competitive. This is no ordinary game; it's a battle of wits to determine the TriWizard champion. HARRY (whispering to himself) I've got to do this... for all of us. Cedric places his word on the board: "QUIDDITCH." The crowd murmurs in appreciation. Cedric smirks, confident in his move. It's Harry's turn. He surveys the board, searching for a way to win. His eyes narrow as he spots his opportunity. HARRY (whispering to himself) I can't lose. I won't lose. With precision, Harry places his tiles on the board, running the word "VOLDEMORT" through two existing words: "WAND" and "MAGIC." The letters slide into place, forming the name that strikes fear into every wizard's heart. The audience gasps collectively, and a chill sweeps through the Great Hall. Whispers of disbelief and fear ripple through the crowd. Pandemonium breaks out as students and teachers react in shock, some even dropping their wands. Dumbledore, seated at the head table, rises to his feet. His eyes lock onto Harry, his expression a mix of anger and concern. DUMBLEDORE (booming) HARRY POTTER! Harry looks down, chastised, realizing the gravity of his action. The TriWizard cup gleams in the background...

This threat of "being canceled" is why I support bowdlerizing the dictionary. In today's culture, it's just not worth it to take the risk of a scandal. This sucks - but it's simply the reality we live in and we can't just blindly ignore it. Many Scrabble clubs meet in public spaces. I wouldn't feel comfortable plopping down an offensive word in such a club with families walking by and observing. I don't need "Racist Scrabble Players at Panera's!" to be a viral video featuring me. Obviously, I could simply not play the offensive word. But that's annoying too. And it's annoying to even be put in the position where I have to make that decision just to play a game that's supposed to be fun. This outweighs all arguments against censoring the dictionary in my view.

You know, if you're going to remain flat, unemotional, unemotive, and in general a complete bore to look at, you can skip filming yourself and just do a voice over.

N word with the hard A.

please talk faster

I zoned out and fell asleep for 19:04.. 😴😴😴😵😵😵😵😵😵😵😵😳😳😳😳😳

Well, that was boring.

Skip to 15:30 and save yourself the useless preamble.

The constant cuts in your speaking are extremely annoying

It’s just a game where words should just stay as words. Playing an offensive word doesn’t make you offensive. Mistakes happen, and I think the people trying to get views for such an occurrence are quite niggardly.