Language Log

Language Log postings on taboo vocabulary

For your reference pleasure, an inventory of Language Log postings on taboo vocabulary, arranged by date, from the beginning to yesterday.


 Each entry identifies the poster:


and gives the date, title, and URL (with a link), plus rough topic labels:


If you catch any errors or omissions, let me know.

GN, 11/3/03: On second thought, make that 'fuckingly brilliant':
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000077.html
use, regulation, avoidance, grammar

ML, 12/28/03: Bad words getting better?:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000267.html
regulation

ML, 1/25/04: Maybe better make that "freaking brilliant":
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000385.html
regulation

BP, 1/25/04: Some people should get a life:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000388.html
regulation, tabooing

ML, 1/25/04: The FCC and the S word:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000389.html
regulation, tabooing

BP, 1/25/04: The Ngadjonji and the PTC:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000390.html
regulation, tabooing

GN, 3/21/04: Imprecational categories:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000614.html
grammar

ML, 4/21/04: The FCC and the S-word (again):
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000796.html
regulation

ML, 6/12/04:  The S-word and the F-word:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001042.html
tabooing

GP, 10/29/04: The unspeakable:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001608.html
avoidance

ML, 1/19/05: Twat v. Browning:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001812.html
tabooing

GP, 3/1/05: Now the FCC tells us, three months too late:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001940.html
regulation

GP, 3/11/05: Bovine excrement on NPR:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001975.html
avoidance

AZ, 3/19/05: Another bullshit night in suck city:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001994.html
avoidance

ML, 6/23/05: Adios, FCC?
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002260.html
regulation, avoidance, use

ML, 7/1/05: [Expletive discussed]:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002277.html
avoidance

ML, 7/17/05: You taught me language, and my profit on't/Is, I know how to curse:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002336.html
tabooing

AZ, 7/20/05: Curses!:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002347.html
tabooing, use, grammar

AZ, 8/17/05: Modesty at Henry Holt:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002403.html
avoidance

AZ, 8/17/05: No fuckin' winking at the Times:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002406.html
avoidance

GP, 8/24/05: An unspeakable title:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002420.html
avoidance

ML, 8/31/05: Leading questions and frickin' cooks:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002442.html
[transcribing informal speech]

AZ, 9/6/05: Call me... unpronounceable:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002461.html
avoidance

AZ, 9/13/05: Effing avoidance (cont.):
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002471.html
avoidance

AZ: 10/6/05: Plain speaking:
  http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002520.html
use

BZ, 11/29/05: Football's F-word:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002677.html
tabooing

ML, 3/29/06: Delete expletives:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002972.html
tabooing

BZ, 3/30/06: Twonk!:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002973.html
tabooing

RS, 4/1/06: The LMU: a new formula for measuring effective writing:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002978.html
[April Fool posting]

BZ, 4/2/06: "Thinking specifically about the F-word...":
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002979.html
tabooing, use

AZ, 6/5/06: Words that can't be printed in the NYT:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003228.html
avoidance, use

AZ, 6/7/06: Goram motherfrakker!
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003235.html
avoidance

AZ, 6/7/06: Mock modesty at the NYT:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003236.html
avoidance

ML, 6/10/06: The history of typographical bleeping:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003244.html
avoidance

ML, 6/15/06: The earliest typographically-bleeped F-word:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003253.html
avoidance

ML, 6/22/06: Beetle Bailey goes positively meta:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003278.html
avoidance, tabooing

BZ, 6/25/06: Obscenity as commodity:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003285.html
avoidance, use

AZ, 7/4/06: Avoiding the other F-word:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003319.html
avoidance, use

BZ, 7/17/06: Presidential expletive watch:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003360.html
avoidance, use

AZ, 7/18/06: Drawing the line:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003362.html
avoidance

BZ, 7/19/06: Taking shit from the President:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003367.html
avoidance, use

EB, 7/19/06: Words of curse:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003368.html
use

AZ, 7/30/06: On the taboo watch: The rock report:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003401.html
avoidance

AZ, 7/31/06: Automatic asterisking:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003403.html
avoidance

AZ, 8/7/06: C*m sancto spiritu:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003427.html
avoidance

BZ, 8/8/06: They called Hillary a whaaa?:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003431.html
avoidance

AZ, 8/10/06: Moral panic in asterisking:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003439.html
avoidance

ML, 8/30/2006: Oh sleepies!
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003521.html

AZ, 10/4/06, Further annals of taboo avoidance:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003637.html
avoidance

AZ, 10/9/06: Avoidance omnibus:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003653.html
avoidance

AZ, 10/13/06: What the L?!:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003671.htmll
avoidance

GP, 10/13/06: Pubic information:
 http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003672.htmll
avoidance

zwicky at-sign csli period stanford period edu

[A quick update to 4/28/2007, by myl -- with author HH (Heidi Harley) added:

Annals of self-censorship: avoiding the F-letter 10/20/2006 ML
Taboo avoidance in Dilbertland 11/6/2006 AZ
Swear it 11/8/2006 AZ
Try and stop me, FCC 11/8/2006 GP
Expletive inserted 11/19/2006 GP
Typographical bleeping antedated to 1591 11/20/2006 ML
Oh tabernacle! What the wafer! 12/5/2006 RS
More about cussing in Quebec 12/6/2006 RS
Linguistic cartoon update 12/9/2006 ML
Linguistic cartoon update update 12/9/2006 HH
Nigger, nigger, on the wall 12/11/2006 GP
Merry... umm... Christmas, Will! 12/25/2006 GP
Linguistic filth at the movies 12/26/2006 GP
Conventionalized oaths 1/1/2007 AZ
Ultimate avoidance 1/7/2007 AZ
2500 words for cursing the weather 1/18/2007 ML
Mind your Hindi! 1/30/2007 AZ
Taboos of the Nation 2/2/2007 GP
Calling people faggot 3/6/2007 GP
Interlingual taboos 1/12/2007 ML
Wilmore/Oliver Investigates: N-word! 3/30/2007 HH
More N-word meta-humor 3/30/2007 BZ
Automotive naming (and more) 4/21/2007 AZ
The N-word in Omaha 4/26/2007 ML
Asterisking and other orthographic rituals 4/29/2007 ML
Diaper-headed Whores; Or, How Not to Translate "Nappy-headed hos" 5/7/2007 (Guest post by Reinhold Aman)
Calling him names 5/12/2007 ML
Trilingual 5/14/2007 AZ

]

Posted by Arnold Zwicky at October 14, 2006 12:57 PM