To The Editor Of The Mail

[poliphilo]

If you print the word "crap"  as "c----" aren't you in danger of making your readers envisage a much tangier word?

I know I did.

Censored words draw attention to themselves. In this case I puzzled over it for a good half minute.  The speaker was Bob Dylan. I know he's a poet, I know he has a way with words, but one does expect him to be idiomatic.

Then the light dawned

I suppose it's just possible the phrase you were drawing a veil across was "a load of cunt", but I don't think so, really.

Comments

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

The Telegraph did exactly the same, same Dylan quote presumably, and I had exactly the same initial reaction!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You know what, it was probably the Telegraph I saw it in. I couldn't remember. I knew it was some right wing paper or other. :(

Perhaps I'd better change the heading.....

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

It's an understandable error: the Mail is go-to paper for nose-holding prurience.

I've occasionally seen c--p, which I assume is a way of avoiding the ambiguity, though even that might be mistaken for carp (coy, natch).

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My mother takes the Telegraph. It's very right wing but not usually idiotic.