Bad words (Re: Some finer points of grammar)

[Jeremy Osner]

still lookin 4 the face i had b4 the world was made wrote:
> 






> _M&D_ spoilers, sorta...
> 
> On Thu, 8 May 1997, Jeremy Osner wrote:
> >
> > It's interesting that many curse words are bleeped out (for instance
> > d---l), but fuck is not. Any thoughts?
> 
> This would be the distinction between profanity (religious oaths--"hell,"
> "damn," "Christ," etc.) and obscenity (relating to bodily functions--"fuck,"
> shit," arse/ass," etc.).  
[snip]
> 
> Can anyone else offer any insights?  By the logic of what I just posted,
> M and D, being Brits, should be more uptight about "fuck" than "Devil"
> or "damn."  Maybe "D----" and "d---'d" are just 18th-c. conventions in
> English printing/writing...
> 
> Max
> 

The one problem with this line of reasoning is that "Damme" is never
bleeped
out (that I've seen, up to p. 253).

Jeremy