h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Oh dear! It looks like someone was trying to tell me something. I guess I'll never know now.

Oh for god's sake. It was me. I took you up on your offer to discuss the contexts and cultural differences of cussing, and mentioned a mild epithet involving a historical character some people think is a deity of some sort. Oh, I did also mention FCC regulations. You'll be interested to know my posting didn't contain a single actual cuss word.

I've sent you an email in which you'll see what I mean.

Oh good! I'll be able to have an intelligent conversation with you about it without fearing that I might cause offence. (Is that a nice reputation to have? )

Incidentally...for the record...the original word that started wasn't ****, as some people seem to assume, but ****.

I assumed you'd meant **** with a "t".

That's the one!

There was a USAnian linguist (I forget his name) who was an expert on British slang. He defined the distinction between **** and **** as:
'One is more fool than knave, the other more knave than fool.'

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Sounds about right!

I apologize if the removal of my first posting was confusing for a bit. There's someone who follows me around and yikeses any posting of mine they could feasibly get removed. One time it was for using the word "ass".

Of course, I've reported postings for far, far worse (including one where an erstwhile antipodean researcher insinuated that an accused child molster *had to be* guilty because he was homosexual) which are allowed to remain, so it's clear these days that whether your postings are removed or not has nothing to do with whether or not they violate any rules, but whether or not they annoy someone with an In. Given that I have a Real Life outside of this web site, I don't want that kind of In. C'est la vie!

Oh, the BBC have been silly lately. There was an 'incident' in which two leading radio/TV celebs left inappropriate voicemail messages for an elderly actor...and then the eejits actually broadcast them. Plus there's politics about whether the BBC should continue to receive a licence fee - etc. etc. And the right-wing press go for them because they're perceived as liberal commies. (Hah! I wish.)

The upshot - Christopher gets banned.

It does seem a bit silly.

But I've got your reply to my email so we can discuss all this without being censored. It sort of feels like being in junior high and passing notes back and forth, all over again.

The writer/ barrister/ libertarian John Mortimer died last week. (His definition of obscenity: Anything that gives a judge a hard-on).

He once recounted the tale of a trial in which a young, demure woman was giving evidence. She alleged that the defendant had made an obscene remark to her. Asked what he'd said, she replied,
'Oh, I couldn't possibly repeat it!'
So it was agreed she could write it down. Her note - which said 'Fancy a ****?' - was passed to the judge, who passed it to the jury, who passed it from one to another. Until it got to a pretty, young female juror, who found that the elderly gentleman juror next to her had dozed off. So she nudged him awake and passed it on. The man folded it and put it in is pocket. The judge asked him to pass it to the court, and he replied,
'Purely private matter, m'lud!'

Brilliant.

I'd say that Mortimer's definition pretty much fits the bill here, too, and then add words which refer to pooping, urinating, or one's gluteous maximus.

Not got anything constructive to add, except this excerpt from Family Guy (which isn't even the FG cartoon). ****!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eSNhtJAxXfg

No ****s or Palestinians allowed on the BBC. For similar reasons:
'Someone might complain.'

Ah, 'em.