F******

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:14 PM -0500 11/8/09, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 11/8/2009 12:01 PM, Sam Clements wrote:
>>I assume your question is rhetorical?  They surely were just covering their
>>ass after the fact.
>
>Shouldn't that have been "a**"?  :-)

And "after the f***"?

LH

>And The Grand Island Independent wrote:  "a reaction to strobe lights
>should have included the word "freaking." The word was replaced with
>asterisks ...".
>
>Not by my count -- The Grand Island Independent's article contains 6
>asterisks, just right for F****** but one too few for "Freaking", or
>for that matter for "Frigging".  There is an honorable tradition:  in
>the 18th century, the number of asterisks very often corresponded to
>the number of letters omitted from a personal name (in the attempt to
>avoid libeling someone).
>
>Joel
>
>>Sam Clements
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
>>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Sent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 11:55
>>Subject: F******
>>
>>
>>An article from The Grand Island Independent,
>>http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2009/10/20/news/local/10801940.txt
>><http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2009/10/20/news/local/10801940.txt>
>>, includes the following line about a Halloween "Trail of Terror":
>>
>>"It was dark in there," Hardy said laughing. "F****** strobe lights."
>>
>>Any theories as to what letters are indicated by the asterisks?  Then you
>>are not alone.  The newspaper subsequently published this note,
>>http://theindependent.com/articles/2009/10/23/news/daily_record/doc4ae0fe851c040023247469.txt
>><http://theindependent.com/articles/2009/10/23/news/daily_record/doc4ae0fe851c040023247469.txt>
>>:
>>
>>
>>Clarification
>>
>>Missing word was 'freaking'
>>
>>In a story on Page 3-A of Wednesday's Independent about the Big Brothers Big
>>Sisters' Trail of Terror haunted house, a reaction to strobe lights should
>>have included the word "freaking." The word was replaced with asterisks,
>>perhaps causing confusion about what was actually said. The Independent
>>apologizes for this confusion and the impression it left.
>>
>>
>>This was noted on the Regret the Error blog, with the headline "It raised
>>some f****ing questions."  My own question is, why did the Independent use
>>the wrong number of asterisks?
>>
>>
>>John Baker
>>
>>
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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