Redacting the D-word

[Joel S. Berson]

Ben,

I'm told for pp. 164-165 "You have reached your viewing limit for
this book." -- do you have privileges?  I guess I'll have to go to a
liberal library.

Joel

At 2/23/2008 11:36 AM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 10:43 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > The NYTimes today has a story headlined "All Those Foul Words Are
> > Tennessee Williams's".  See
> >
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/theater/23cat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=foul+words+williams&st=nyt&oref=slogin
> >
> > The current production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", with James Earl
> > Jones as Big Daddy, uses the foul words that were written into it by
> > Williams for a 1974 revival, restoring "what he clearly meant to say
> > all along".  They had not been used in the 1950s, because (the
> > article says) they were too strong for the times.  After Williams
> > died, the then-executor of Williams's estate would not allow the 1974
> > text to be used in ensuing productions.
> >
> > Among other words replaced, apparently, is "ducking".
> >
> > One element present in a 2003 production, with Ned Beatty, Big
> > Daddy's "so-called elephant joke", has not been used in the current
> > production.  I wonder what it was; quick Googling doesn't find the text.
>
>The joke is on pp. 164-5 of this edition:
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=c3EU9dfGo7IC&pg=PA164&sig=9Vt27v8qIEvdeD-NtAhMU8ylnyY
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org