I have mentioned here before that Mattel, the owners of Scrabble, controversially wish to make the game more 'family-friendly' by removing offensive words from the official Scrabble word lists.
Opposition from the Association of British Scrabble Players, and no doubt other national bodies, has proved futile. We use Collins Scrabble Words (CSW19 is the current edition).
Today I received a booklet listing the 419 words of 3-8 letters which will be deemed invalid from April 2022. Most are slurs, racial and otherwise, many of which I have never seen and don't understand. Scrabble books and software will have to be updated much sooner than is normal.
The four-letter f and c words are not banned (so much for family-friendly). I was surprised by SQUAW, thinking, obviously wrongly, that it is not pejorative. Another banned word is BUBBA, nickname of the golfer Watson. I read that it is a term of endearment meaning 'little brother'. However, because it originated in the southern United States, it can also refer to a person of low class. MICK is also out, presumably to cater for Irish sensibilities, but 'taking the mick' seems inoffensive. Very confusing.
All these words are included in good dictionaries. It would be much simpler and less subjective to continue to allow all of them. Scrabble is not a game of meanings and tournament Scrabble players tend to be unshockable.
I wonder if this wokeness will spread to crosswords.