The Dirty Word in 43 Down

[Baker, John]

        There's an interesting article in Slate today, by our own Jesse
Sheidlower, on the use of "scumbag" as an answer in a recent New York
Times crossword, http://www.slate.com/id/2139453/.  There apparently
were dozens of complaints; it seems that the crossword puzzle is
expected to maintain a standard of clean language surpassing even the
comic page (in newspapers that have comics pages, of course).
Predictably, many puzzlers had no idea what the fuss was about.

        I was under the impression that scumbag means literally a used
condom; Jesse mentions only the broader sense of a condom.  In any case,
I will concede that I almost never hear the word used to mean a condom
of any kind.  It's almost invariably a term of vituperation.


John Baker

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