# ACNL's ridiculous profanity filter?



## beemayor (Jun 4, 2014)

Chief asked me for a "nicer" greeting because he thinks people are intimidated by him, so I tried to give him the suggestion, "Hey, chump!" but apparently, "chump" isn't okay?


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## Ami Mercury (Jun 4, 2014)

Hell is allowed.


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## beemayor (Jun 4, 2014)

Ami Mercury said:


> Hell is allowed.



Hell is allowed, but chump isn't? That seems sort of weird. Chump isn't even a swear word.


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## Oblivia (Jun 4, 2014)

I feel your pain.  I attempted to name one of my mayors "Viola", only to be told that I "can't use those words".  I do know the reason why, but it seems that they utilize the same name filter as the Pok?mon games.  It's nonsensical at best, but I don't see them changing it anytime soon.


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## Uffe (Jun 4, 2014)

I met this girl on the islands and we were talking about Weeding Day. Weeding was censored, so it came out looking like "*ing Day". Hilarity ensued. You can't say kill on the island, either. There were some other censored words that you wouldn't think were. This doesn't have anything to do with Animal Crossing New Leaf, but when you're on your 3DS menu, tap the orange square happy face and go to "Message". Type in "Connection". Nintendo says it's a bad word.


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## Oblivia (Jun 4, 2014)

beemayor said:


> Hell is allowed, but chump isn't? That seems sort of weird. Chump isn't even a swear word.



Here's the thing.  Sometimes it's not the word itself, but rather a word within the word you're attempting to use.  Based on what I know about the word filter, I'd guess that it's filtering "Chump" because it contains the word "hump".  Lame, I know... -_-


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## Chibiusa (Jun 4, 2014)

beemayor said:


> Hell is allowed, but chump isn't? That seems sort of weird. Chump isn't even a swear word.



Because hell is part of hello. They can't censor part of the greeting.


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## beemayor (Jun 4, 2014)

Oblivia said:


> Here's the thing.  Sometimes it's not the word itself, but rather a word within the word you're attempting to use.  Based on what I know about the word filter, I'd guess that it's filtering "Chump" because it contains the word "hump".  Lame, I know... -_-



That makes sense, and I'd thought of that before with other words, but gosh. It still seems so ridiculous.


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## WonderK (Jun 4, 2014)

It's strict because kids as little as 7 play this game.


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## horan (Jun 4, 2014)

i couldn't make Anicotti's catchprase 'ravioli' lol


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## beemayor (Jun 4, 2014)

WonderK said:


> It's strict because kids as little as 7 play this game.



That's true. Like I said, I understand why but sometimes it just feels too constricted. For example, I would guess you couldn't say words like cucumber or association or anything like that. Which just feels a little restrictive.


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## jiheishou (Jun 4, 2014)

Omg I had no idea. I wonder what other basic words are censored!


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## WonderK (Jun 4, 2014)

beemayor said:


> That's true. Like I said, I understand why but sometimes it just feels too constricted. For example, I would guess you couldn't say words like cucumber or association or anything like that. Which just feels a little restrictive.



You'd be amazed at how easily offended people can get from the stupidest phrases or words. I'm not disagreeing it's not constricted.


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## Capella (Jun 4, 2014)

I never knew there was a filter for bad words
Neat


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## Liquid Ocelot (Jun 4, 2014)

My friend wanted to name his mayor 'Spoopy'. 

I about died when it told him he couldn't use bad words.


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## DaCoSim (Jun 4, 2014)

I couldn't make lopez's catchphrase be George. Lol!!! Even funnier. Back awhile ago I was cycling and went to post Phil the peacock on TBT. It ***** the peacock part. So flippin funny!!!


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## Rumblethumps (Jun 4, 2014)

It reminds me a lot of Pokemon X/Y, where you can catch a weedle, but you can't name it weedle, because it has the word weed in it.

It IS pretty ridiculous, but I guess they figured it would be better to go overboard with it than let some things slip.


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## ArmlessCat (Jun 4, 2014)

horan said:


> i couldn't make Anicotti's catchprase 'ravioli' lol




Viol means rape in french, maybe that's why?


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## horan (Jun 4, 2014)

ArmlessCat said:


> Viol means rape in french, maybe that's why?



THAT MAKES SENSE THANK YOU. i was so curious as to why it wouldn't set lol.


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## VioletsTown (Jun 4, 2014)

ArmlessCat said:


> Viol means rape in french, maybe that's why?



Hmm, is that why i couldnt name my town VioletsTown?  Instead it turned into viotown.  Sigh.  My name is Violet for goodness sake.


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## Ami Mercury (Jun 4, 2014)

ArmlessCat said:


> Viol means rape in french, maybe that's why?



THERE IS A VILLAGER WITH THAT IN THEIR NAME! VIOLET!


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## WonderK (Jun 4, 2014)

Ami Mercury said:


> THERE IS A VILLAGER WITH THAT IN THEIR NAME! VIOLET!



French speaking people don't look at that animal's name and think of "Viol". If Nintendo allowed us to say the word violet, some people might say viol and maybe there is a french speaking 8 year old who would see that. Nintendo doesn't takes risks when it comes to profanity.


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## GlitterNailPolish (Jun 4, 2014)

It wouldn't let me use peanuts, even though there's an animal named Peanut, lol


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## Ghostlyboo (Jun 4, 2014)

I was looking at the bad reviews on Amazon for Animal Crossing and apparently a villager was calling her daughter a "slut". I have no idea how that could have slipped.


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## Campy (Jun 4, 2014)

This reminds me of Habbo. When you'd say something naughty they would replace the word or phrase with "bobba". At least in the Dutch version.

When you had stuff to trade, you'd say something along the lines of "I have X. If you want to trade, click me".

That apparently wasn't an okay thing to say because "click me" has "lick me" in it. I laughed so hard when I noticed they censored that part of my sentence.

Anyway, I've always noticed weird things with censorship in games. Some completely innocent stuff is considered wrong, while bad stuff somehow slips through the censor.


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## matt (Jun 4, 2014)

ID love to be the one who thinks up words for this filter XD a job of swearing


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## twerkstrider (Jun 4, 2014)

yeah, what wonderK said; this is also a game for the european region so slurs/swears in their lanuguage that is filtered out may interfere with some of the english words. there was another word (spice??? i think that was it) that is used as an insult towards middle eastern people or something??? (im not too sure of the origin, sorry!)


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## Panduhh (Jun 4, 2014)

I don't have any problem with catch phrases. Just put symbols like "???" and it works just fine. I'll admit one of my villagers say's something very inappropriate but I seldom have outside visitors that aren't friends and if I ever were to trade her (not going to happen) I would change it.


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## FireNinja1 (Jun 4, 2014)

Reminds of that time in B/W with that Cofagrigus issue lol.


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## Cookieblazer (Jun 4, 2014)

I put my villager rashers greeting as "swaggy as hell"  most of my acnl friends are old enough so it's fine


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## Nanaki (Jun 4, 2014)

Using symbols/letters with accents is a way to get around the censors if you need to. Like, about a month ago I made a pro-LGBT shirt based off a design of a real shirt, so I wanted to use the URL in the design name - FCKH8.com I had to swap out the K though. That one I kind of understand. However, another one of my designs is a shirt with mesh-overlay sleeves. So I wanted to call it "Mesh Sleeved Top". Nope, mesh is a bad word! So I tentatively attempt the word fishnet, expecting the same results...but no, it totally worked


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## Hypno KK (Jun 4, 2014)

I think some of the results may seem nonsensical because of multiple countries getting the game, so words that wouldn't be censored in English get censored because they're rude in other languages.

I'm ok with the word censoring, since I know some people would be just glad to use the anonymity they'd get from playing the game to say graphically sexual or threatening stuff to people, and the game is recommended for age 3 and up (if I recall correctly) so there's probably lots of young kids playing this game. I just wish they'd be smarter about the world filter, so that if it was included in an actual word it wouldn't be censored out. Names like Violet, Violetta, etc. are very common worldwide, so it makes no sense to censor it. Plus, if people trying to use that circumvent the censoring, the results would just be too ridiculous (and confusing to younger, clueless players) enough that it wouldn't be an issue.

As to weed, I don't think it should be censored. As a kid I'd heard about drugs already, even if it was in a very simplistic manner, and kids probably hear the word "weed" a lot in connection to random wild plants (not necessarily the drug). Even the game uses it in that way! If a player came up to another player and said "I like to smoke weed" and the other player was a kid who didn't know about weed, they'd probably just assume the other person was joking and not think too much of it.

Also, amusingly, when I was TTing to get a villager out of my town, when I was creating a new character to check the map I'd name that character "poop" and it was allowed.


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## Rendra (Jun 4, 2014)

I tried to give Opal (elephant) the catch phrase "peanut", but because it had "nut" in the word it wouldn't allow it. So I put in an extra "u" or two and it then worked.


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## Fernie (Jun 4, 2014)

I have been making pro designs of World Cup soccer shirts to put in the Able Sisters' shop, and was naming them according to the country they represent.  I made one for the English soccer team, but when I tried to name it England the game told me I can't use that word.  Can't for the life of me figure that one out.


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## epona (Jun 4, 2014)

wait why is viola/violet/violetta blocked


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## MoonlightAbsol (Jun 4, 2014)

It wouldn't let me use 'spice' for some reason? Anyone have any ideas why?


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## BluebellLight (Jun 4, 2014)

Oblivia said:


> I feel your pain.  I attempted to name one of my mayors "Viola", only to be told that I "can't use those words".  I do know the reason why, but it seems that they utilize the same name filter as the Pok?mon games.  It's nonsensical at best, but I don't see them changing it anytime soon.



You can get around it by using a capital I instead of a lowercase L! They look the same in game


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## kitanii (Jun 4, 2014)

It won't let you use ravioli either. :S


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## Zane (Jun 4, 2014)

MoonlightAbsol said:


> It wouldn't let me use 'spice' for some reason… Anyone have any ideas why?



Take the e off and it's an ethnic slur, is my guess.


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## Birdinator (Jun 4, 2014)

Fernie said:


> I have been making pro designs of World Cup soccer shirts to put in the Able Sisters' shop, and was naming them according to the country they represent.  I made one for the English soccer team, but when I tried to name it England the game told me I can't use that word.  Can't for the life of me figure that one out.



"gland" maybe?


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## saehanfox (Jun 4, 2014)

I know you can't use words like burrow and elevator shaft but crap and J*p go through just fine
They also banned "Hitler, " Nazi, and gestapo but swastika, Stalin, and Holocaust aren't


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## poliwag0 (Jun 4, 2014)

Once I tried to name one of my Pokemon Violet but it wouldn't let me.


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## Bulbadragon (Jun 4, 2014)

poliwag0 said:


> Once I tried to name one of my Pokemon Violet but it wouldn't let me.



Viol means "rape" in French, and anything containing viol, like Violet, is censored.


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## Laudine (Jun 4, 2014)

Huh? Here I thought AC has a really minimal filter compared to Pokemon or Harvest Moon  
So far I've never encountered any naming problem except the really obvious ones. I play the PAL version if that makes any difference?
I know I made Fauna says nut as her catchpharse  (no profanity intended!)


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## poliwag0 (Jun 4, 2014)

Bulbadragon said:


> Viol means "rape" in French, and anything containing viol, like Violet, is censored.



But there's a gym leader name Viola. -_-


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## Zane (Jun 4, 2014)

poliwag0 said:


> But there's a gym leader name Viola. -_-



There's also a villager named Violet, the point is to stop people from saying it to each other. lol


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## Bulbadragon (Jun 4, 2014)

Weed is censored, but cannabis is not, and I don't think heroin or crack is.


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## radical6 (Jun 4, 2014)

twerkstrider said:


> yeah, what wonderK said; this is also a game for the european region so slurs/swears in their lanuguage that is filtered out may interfere with some of the english words. there was another word (spice??? i think that was it) that is used as an insult towards middle eastern people or something??? (im not too sure of the origin, sorry!)





MoonlightAbsol said:


> It wouldn't let me use 'spice' for some reason… Anyone have any ideas why?



Take the E out and its a slur against latino/a/x people i believe?


the reason i think they censor a whole word even if it doesnt mean anything bad (like violet) is because someone could type "VIOLet" so yeah


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## Mimi14 (Jun 4, 2014)

i just type in nonsense when plot reseeting. one time randomly i chose 'qweertiu' and i was told i couldnt do that....


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## fallenchaoskitten (Jun 4, 2014)

I remember someone posting on tumblr how they got mad that they wouldn't let you put "cream" ... Since they wanted to have Coco's catchphrase be "cream" for like a pun on "coconut cream pie"...
((yet they have a villager's catchphrase be "eat it" o.o))


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## MoonlightAbsol (Jun 5, 2014)

tsundere said:


> Take the E out and its a slur against latino/a/x people i believe?



Ah, ok. I didn't know that. Thanks for clearing it up


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## jolokia (Jun 5, 2014)

Eh, could be worse. In Phantasy Star Online _the name of an item_ was censored because it was a swear in Spanish. Good luck finding someone to trade you that particular mag. Also, "shoes" was verboten. Of course since it autofiltered to "s***" you ended up looking like you'd said something rather worse!

My personal favorite wordfilter story comes from a gaming forum. Important to note that this was not a kid-centric community. We were talking about drinks and I said something about cocktails. Except it came out as "thingytails". Hilarity ensued. Apparently the forum software came with some default filters and the admin hadn't gotten round to removing them. 

The ironic thing is wordfilters are so easily bypassed by, as mentioned in the thread, using special characters. They are the most pointless thing.


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## IncendiaryPyro (Jun 5, 2014)

Using some of the symbols helped me out. For instance, if something had the letter 'c' in it, I just used the letter from the other keyboard, and it worked.


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## emre3 (Jun 5, 2014)

Whenever the game says I can't use a word, I just use on of the symbols on the "?αR" tab of the keyboard, that's how I was able to create the character "*****" lol


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## Improv (Jun 5, 2014)

Fun little tidbit that I found today, you can't name your town England.

also I had a laugh at Nintendo because for the message on the friends list, they won't let you type the phrase" weeping angel" from Doctor Who.


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## Alienfish (Jun 5, 2014)

Ikr, I tried making a catchphrase sexy once but oh no xD


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## LadyVivia (Jun 5, 2014)

Swurve said:


> Fun little tidbit that I found today, you can't name your town England.
> 
> also I had a laugh at Nintendo because for the message on the friends list, they won't let you type the phrase" weeping angel" from Doctor Who.



Nintendo's not a Doctor Who fan, hhahaahahahahaha, I'm crying.


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## Swiftstream (Jun 5, 2014)

well theres towns out there called "my ass"

and literally when a villager describes the town, it would be "Is it me or is _my ass_ looking particularly beautiful today? It's probably because of the ordinance you put in place!"


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