Welcome to the weird world of Android's banned words

Question: What do sex-related words have in common with some Google products?

 

Answer: They are part of the list of banned words in Android, Google's operating system for mobile devices.

 

Welcome to the weird world of Android's dictionary, which either treats such words as inappropriate and won't offer help to the user, or considers them outright as misspelled, according to Wired.com.

 

The Wired.com report said the banned words are part of a 165,000-word dictionary in the source code of KitKat, the latest version of Android.

 

Banned words in the dictionary include “butt” and “geek,” along with medical terms like “gonadatrophia” and “irrumination.”

 

Genitalia is banned along with even words like “thud” and “LSAT.”

 

Banned as well are words related to reproductive health and undergarments like “panty,” “braless,” “Tampax,” “lactation,” and “preggers,” and even “uterus” and “STI.”

 

Even weirder, however, is that Google’s own products are not part of the dictionary.

 

"So while the predictive system will help you out with a word like 'iPhone,' you’ll get nothing when you type or swipe in 'Chromebook,' 'Zagat,' or 'Hangouts.' In fact, they’ll all be marked as misspelled," it said.

 

On the other hand, "Klansmen” and “supremacist” are blocked, but “Nazi” is not.

 

Also, Wired.com said tech outfits “AMD” and “Garmin” are both banned but Google competitors “Apple” and “Microsoft” are permitted.

 

But Wired.com said the filter can be disabled in the Google Keyboard settings, which allows all words to be swipeable and available for autocomplete.

 

"Google declined to comment on how it compiles the list of offensive words, and how often it’s updated. But it’s clear that built-in dictionaries for other languages censor far fewer words," it said. — TJD, GMA News