August 24, 2006
Obscenicons in the workplace
Here's the latest example of cartoon meta-commentary on cursing characters (let's call 'em obscenicons). It's the most recent winner of the New Yorker's weekly caption contest.
"The hours here are obscene."
(Hat tip to Arnold Zwicky, whose hours at Language Log Plaza are apparently too obscene for him to post this on his own.)
[Update, 8/26/06: Amusingly enough, this caption actually grew out of the anti-caption contest on Radosh.net, the objective of which is to find "the worst possible caption" for each week's uncaptioned New Yorker cartoon. Daniel Radosh explains the history of the "obscene hours" caption here. (Thanks to Matthew Hutson for the tip.)]
Posted by Benjamin Zimmer at August 24, 2006 09:12 PM