Blog Name: Jerome's Media blog
Blog URL: http://whouwannab.blogspot.com/
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This blog has been active since: Sep, 2008
Post: Scrabble Controversy / Feb,23
Scrabble Controversy
Recently there has been a large complain launched by parents buying their children scrabble on the DS on the grounds that it contains offensive language.
The Daily mail jumped on this, like every other outrageous game related topic they can find. They use an example of the game having the word tit in it; this apparently is considered offensive to the children even though the word tit also means a small garden bird.
The scrabble dictionary as many avid scrabble players know is rather extensive covering all words, why do parents not realise the children will be children, and if you give them a bunch of letters to play around wit the first thing they will do is see how rude they can make a sentence I remember playing scrabble for this reason entirely and; laughing my head off as I laid down some childish words, who hasn’t done something like this?.
Countless angry parents have since written in to the daily mail about how the game developers can have the audacity to include words like balls tit and other mildly rude words.
It’s not like the Ai is spelling c*%$ or f?@* continually. Another gripe brought up by the wonderful daily mail readership is 18 rated games a lady wrote in to say that she had bought her child an 18 rated game and was disgraced that the characters swore in it.
how protective do parents need to be, is this too far? why does the daily mail hate games?
Blog Name: Learning to Fly
Blog URL: http://liebchen11.wordpress.com/
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This blog has been active since: September 2008
Post: How a game of Scrabble (nearly) caused a family feud / December 30, 2008
How a game of Scrabble (nearly) caused a family feud
I’m not quite sure when it started, but our family has a tradition of following holiday meals with a game of some sort. In the past it’s been Cranium, SceneIt, Clue, Trivial Pursuit - you name it, we’ve played it. Occasionally, the games will even get a wee bit, ahem, heated - I come by my competitive streak honestly.
I think it’s safe to say that this Christmas we hit a whole new level.
After a few rousing rounds of Catch Phrase, we moved into the dining room for a game of Scrabble. My cousin, my uncle, and then teams of Mama & me, and Daddy & Jud. Everyone was doing well - we all grew up playing Scrabble and doing crossword puzzles with Mamie (my grandmother). And then Mama and I got a “Q” and started plotting how to use it most effectively. Oh, was that a Triple Word Score that just opened up? Why yes, yes it was. And down goes our word, two letters, thirty-three points: qi.
What? You don’t think it counts? That’s okay, neither did anyone in my family. (Except Mama - she totally had my back.)
In fact, I was getting yelled at, not just by my brother, whose competitive streak rivals mine, but also by my father, the usually calm voice of reason! He kept arguing that “qi” isn’t in his Scrabble dictionary (which, I recently found out, was published circa 1980 - and that’s generous) and that it wasn’t valid. Since I’m clearly too stubborn to take the word back so as to avoid a family feud, they challenged, and this is what we found from the official online Scrabble dictionary:
* QI
(QIS)
the vital force that in Chinese thought is inherent in all things
Oh, how I love to be right.
Fortunately, the game was over soon after that, a blessing, because unfortunately, even with the official ruling, my dad and brother were still acting like 10-year-olds who’d been cheated out of a win. I tried to let it drop, we drove home without mentioning it, and my brother (surprisingly enough) apologized later that night. I appreciated the apology, though I didn’t really need it, and I frankly forgot about it until yesterday.
Now remember, this happened on Christmas. As in, last Thursday.
Cut to Monday, around 5pm, just as I’m getting ready to leave the office. My phone rings, and I answer it professionally, even though I think I recognize one of my dad’s office numbers. Whew, it’s him. After a little chitchat about how AMAZING the Eagles game was, he says, “Well, I know you’re heading out, but I just wanted to apologize.” Huh?
Liebchen: “Apologize for what? Should I be mad at you?”
Daddy: “For the Scrabble game. I shouldn’t have acted like that. I’m just used to the old school rules and dictionary.”
Liebchen: “Really? It’s okay. I’d completely forgotten about that by this point.”
[beat]
Liebchen: “Wait a minute. You thought I was still mad at you and you waited ’til NOW to apologize?”
Daddy: “Yeah, I had to think about it.”
Hm. Well, apparently I come by my stubborn streak honestly, too.
Stubborn and competitive - this can only end in tears.
