Official "SCRABBLE Word of the Day": Dildo

Over at Hasbro.com right now on Sunday afternoon, the official "SCRABBLE Word of the Day" is, er, "DILDO." For 7 points. Click image above for screenshot of full Web page. Scrabble Crossword Board Game (Thanks, Jess Hemerly!)
UPDATE: Well, they've since changed the word to "Triply," but the screenshot of "DILDO" on the Hasbro.com Web page will live on in perpetuity here.

Previously:

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Teller

Fuckwit is a great word. And a slick way to trash-spell your opponent.
Beanolini

Two things spring to mind;

The Countdown ‘wankers’ episode, and an elderly relative asking about a Dildo rail at a DIY shop.
Mr_Voodoo

“More ways to play on words” indeed. That’s a word that can be played on.
redmcgee

Funny, Grandma always told me that word didn’t count…
Adam Fields

My guess is that this is some sort of Oscars reference.
Tenn

And I couldn’t use ‘vagina’ today because I was playing with my twelve year old brother and my mother would have said something about it. Sigh.
Takuan

http://xkcd.com/492/
Trent Hawkins

Murder Face aproves
semiotix

I swear by all I hold dear that the following story is true.

At the 2003 Wisconsin Dells tournament, late in the game and trailing my opponent by almost a hundred points, I had DDEILOS on my rack. I saw DILDOES immediately because in a recent friendly game I’d had a similar rack, but with a blank, and spent ten minutes trying to decide if ODDLIEST* was a word.

The only place to play it on the board was an S-hook with GOOSE. It scored 69 points, and my opponent momentarily forgot that GOOSE can be a verb, so GOOSES isn’t just an incorrect plural. Between the points and her lost turn, I came from behind to win the game.

It won the Best Play in my division for the tournament. I thought it was because “DILDOES/GOOSES for 69″ tells a story, but it turns out the judges just wanted to see the tournament director have to say “DILDOES” in front of the sweet little old ladies that populate Scrabble tournaments.
Takuan

heh hah!
kentbrew

Perhaps someone’s been messing about with Firebug?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentbrew/3304202467/
Beanolini

#33, John Mark Ockerbloom:

Most tournaments use the full unexpurgated word set

I’ve just written a script to search the tournament dictionaries, so I can present all occurences of ‘fuck’ from the US/Canada tournament list:

: fuck
: fucked
: fucker
: fuckers
: fucking
: fuckoff
: fuckoffs
: fucks
: fuckup
: fuckups
: motherfucker
: motherfuckers
: motherfucking

And the gratifyingly larger list from the rest of the world’s list:

: fuck
: fucked
: fucker
: fuckers
: fucking
: fuckings
: fuckoff
: fuckoffs
: fucks
: fuckup
: fuckups
: fuckwit
: fuckwits
: headfuck
: headfucks
: mindfuck
: mindfucks
: motherfucker
: motherfuckers
: motherfucking
: starfucker
: starfuckers
: starfucking
: starfuckings
Beanolini

#33, John Mark Ockerbloom:

Most tournaments use the full unexpurgated word set

I’ve just written a script to search the tournament dictionaries, so I can present all occurences of ‘fuck’ from the US/Canada tournament list:

: fuck
: fucked
: fucker
: fuckers
: fucking
: fuckoff
: fuckoffs
: fucks
: fuckup
: fuckups
: motherfucker
: motherfuckers
: motherfucking

And the gratifyingly larger list from the rest of the world’s list:

: fuck
: fucked
: fucker
: fuckers
: fucking
: fuckings
: fuckoff
: fuckoffs
: fucks
: fuckup
: fuckups
: fuckwit
: fuckwits
: headfuck
: headfucks
: mindfuck
: mindfucks
: motherfucker
: motherfuckers
: motherfucking
: starfucker
: starfuckers
: starfucking
: starfuckings
Sean Blueart

A snickering junior-high school “pee pee” joke does not one shred of liberty make.
elmow

Here is a screenshot of the full webpage, lest anyone think the small one was Photoshopped.
Takuan

but poo-poo does.
Manooshi

@Semiotix #28: Good story.

I have bittersweet feelings toward Scrabble. Not too long ago a friend bought me the game, only to immediately ‘borrow’ it. C’est le vie. Good thing they’re on the cheap.
A New Challenger

Hah!

This is how most of my games of Scrabble turn out anyway.
Takuan

Newfoundland?
A New Challenger

That was my second thought, Takuan, but proper names aren’t allowed in Scrabble.
Takuan

t’aint no proper names on the Rock, bye!
Thorzdad

You can bet some interns are going to be very, very busy this week, removing every potentially embarrassing word from the database.
SC_Wolf

Hax!
Roger Stanton

Grade school kids all over the country must be giggling uncontrollably over this.
Anonymous

#28: “Between the points and her lost turn, I came from behind to win the game.”

I lol’d.

BONUS: One of my captcha “words” is “69″. I’m not kidding. This is just getting weird.
urederra

@#2… not all newfoundland, just one city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dildo,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador

(I am picky because you post it first)
Anonymous

In the Hasbro URL, it reads “adult-games”…guess they really mean that.
butfirst

Aww, look at that happy little word, all cute wooden tiles at jaunty angles!

Even if the SexIsEvilâ„¢ and OMGThinkOfTheChildrenâ„¢ Brigades come down on Hasbro like a ton of brimstone bricks and get it removed, I’m glad that some people would have learnt a new word in a frank, factual way without judgement. Triple-letter score!
Sean Blueart

Point taken.
Johnny Cat

Yes, Kentbrew. I knew there was trickery afoot. Firebug, eh? What will they think of next?
Johnny Cat

Something strange is going on at that site. Yesterday’s word was WTF.
sullt

Well the URL does say “adult-games”…

http://www.hasbro.com/games/adult-games/scrabble/home.cfm?page=home
sehlat

It’s been changed. When I had a look, it read “TRIPLY”.
cory

Boooo they changed it. I think my favorite part there was the definition. Quite matter-of-fact.
jfrancis

Triply here, too.

:(
sleestax

BOOOO-URNS!! They changed it already.
herocious

Here’s the most comprehensive write-up I’ve found on the web about this brief lapse on Hasbro’s part. Mistah Jellyfish goes into some of the more interesting details of Scrabble’s lexical history and includes an expurgated word list! Check it out here: http://theopenend.com/2009/02/23/scrabble-an-adult-game
Anonymous

I’m not sure why they changed the word, they should be proud of the word “dildo”.

If it is in the dictionary, and can be used in the game, then own it ! Let’s not be puritan bastards.
oh not anymore

Scrabble is a word game, so use any word in the dick-tionary without social restraints.
Takuan

how about on-line bOINGbOING dirty scrabble?
Ian70

Far as I know, Dildo -is- in the Scrabble(tm) player’s dictionary. If ya don’t like it you can go stuff something somewhere.
tinyhonkshus

It’s not a very good definition, frankly. You couldn’t like, use it after a nasty accident.
Anonymous

You got your dildo in my subtext!
Anonymous

Oh my god! The first time I ever heard this word was when my mom played it in scrabble! haha I was like… “mommy, whats a dildo?” and she just laughed rediculously
poslfit

I would claim that the competing National SCRABBLE Association Word of the Day

http://www.scrabbleassociation.com/cgi-bin/wotd.pl

is superior because its words are hand-picked, but fear that boingboing readers might be able to find something vaguely salacious about today’s word: FLYBLOW.
Chustar

Also kinda awesome, the ads at the top of this article have a “related items” and gues what’s at the top? Hulk Hogan!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chustar/3302570828/
John Mark Ockerbloom

In the 1990s, the third edition of the “Official Scrabble player’s dictionary” removed a number of controversial words, which made some schools and home players happy, but really ticked off competitive players. Most tournaments use the full unexpurgated word set, so the “Official” isn’t really official now, for the purposes of competition.

Here’s a list of the words that were “banned” in the third edition. “Dildo” didn’t get cut, but a number of other sexually, scatalogically, and ethnically charged words did.