BALTIMORE • The world of tournament Scrabble is split over whether to remove racial and anti-LGBTQ slurs from official dictionaries, as governing bodies debate the rules in the light of the global Black Lives Matter protests.

A decision on removing the "N-word" as well as homophobic and "transphobic" terms from the North American Scrabble Players Association (Naspa) list of accepted words is due this week, its chief executive officer John Chew said on Monday.

Language has become a hotly debated topic after protests against racism following the death of Mr George Floyd in American police custody on May 25, with bands, consumer brands, buildings and roads named after slave traders renamed.

"We are told when we get for the first time to a Scrabble club or tournament that words have no meaning on a Scrabble board. Most people accept that without question," said Mr Chew, who is Canadian.

"Some people find they cannot accept... the 'N-word' being treated as though it has no meaning," he said. "Those people end up not being part of our community, which is the fundamental problem we're trying to address."

A poll open to Naspa's about 2,000 members and the general public received about 1,000 responses, with members split over removing the N-word and the public in favour of doing so, Mr Chew said.

Scrabble, invented in 1933 by unemployed American architect Alfred Mosher Butts, is played competitively in North America by almost 15,000 people, said Mr Chew.

The World English Language Scrabble Players Association (Wespa), which runs international tournaments, is discussing whether to remove slurs with its dictionary's publisher Collins.

But some felt simply changing the dictionary would not address the real issues, said Wespa chairman Chris Lipe.

"There are real issues about diversity and representation within the Scrabble community and they mainly have to do with issues in society," said Mr Lipe, who is American. "Removing words from the word list doesn't address any of those issues."

REUTERS