F******

[Joel S. Berson]

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 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
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org