Informed Obscenity: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Hanasaku Iroha]]'', Tsurugi Minko uses the word "horibon" (meaning [[Foreign Queasine|"balut"]]) as an insult towards Ohana as a replacement for the more harsh insults that she'd been using, as per Ohana's request.

 

== Comic Books ==

* In ''[[Nodwick]]'', one issue revolves around the word "Krutz", a fictional swear word {{spoiler|, intentionally created by a cabal of villains hoping to resurrect a powerful warlord,}} that ends up being a one-issue [[Berserk Button]] to Piffany. It even comes with its own marketing campaign!

* Sweary Mary of [[Viz]] invents a new swearword. "Fitbin" is bot (we are informed) obscene, and also obscure enough to put on the front page of a comic.

 

== Film ==

* From the original ''[[Star Wars]]'':

'''C-3PO:''' You watch your language! }}

 

== Literature ==

"You did."'' }}

** Oddly, though, the entire gag originated in the radio series, but was added only to the US edition of the book. The prize in question in the UK version was just for the most uses of "Fuck" in a serious screenplay, and passed uncommented upon.

* At one point in ''The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel)'' by Ellen Raskin, Mrs. Carillon is jailed and protesters gather outside the prison. Because the signs the protesters are using were painted over and reused after a grape farmers' strike, one sign that was evidently left unfinished inadvertently reads "GRAPE MRS. CARILLON". Nearly everyone who sees the sign comes to the conclusion that "grape" means something horribly offensive, culminating in a bystander attacking the sign-holder and yelling "Grape Mrs. Carillon? Grape ''you''!".

* Harry Harrison's ''[[Bill the Galactic Hero]]'' introduced 'bowb' as a made-up all-purpose swear word to substitute for the rich variety of vulgarities in use by soldiers (in order to keep the book from being censored):

* [[Samuel Blink And The Forbidden Forest]]: [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Stinkymudfungle]]!

** Alluded to with "cagal" in Harrison's ''The [[Stainless Steel Rat]] Gets Drafted''.

 

* The [[Trope Codifier]] is ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', where, after a sketch filled with naughty words, [[Michael Palin]] appears to show us a list of words that will not be tolerated on the program. After a list of (decidedly British) dirty words, the word "Semprini" appears. A woman then comes on screen and says, "Semprini?" prompting Michael to throw her out. Incidentally, the word is the last name of composer [[wikipedia:Semprini|Alberto Semprini.]]

* ''[[Dinosaurs]]'' had one episode in which a great controversy erupted over the word "smoo".

** Not to mention flark, and glick.

* ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]'' had a man on trial for public obscenities, all of them bizarre.

 

== Music ==

* [[System of a Down]]'s not particularly subtly named "Vicinity of Obscenity" uses object and visual imagery to suggest sexual and scatological themes without saying anything even remotely dirty in a literal way.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* In a brief arc in ''[[Bloom County]]'', moral guardians were cracking down on the strip for the use of "inappropriate language", citing frequent uses of "the four-letter H-word, the four-letter D-word, and the fourteen-letter S-word". After heavy speculation as to what this latter word is, one of the characters announcing this can only think of "Snugglebunnies?" (the former [[Trope Namer]]).

** In the next strip, the two remark on how somehow saying "Snugglebunnies" is bad enough to get the strip cut. Their response: "We have one thing to say to that. Snugglebunnies! Snugglebunnies! Snu-" and the strip gets cut mid-word. Interestingly, later in the strip's run, the word started showing up frequently.

 

== Oral Tradition ==

* There is a [[Shaggy Dog Story]] about a man who repeatedly gets into progressively worse trouble (culminating in a courtroom case) for uttering the phrase "blue flower", because he keeps saying it when asking people what it means and getting into trouble instead of getting an answer. The punchline involves him getting hit by a truck or something and suddenly dying just as he's about to find out. Other variants involve a boy getting kicked out of school for a similar infraction. The word/phrase varies with each telling, with examples including "two pink elephants", "purple passion", and "branchwater".

 

== Radio ==

* In [[Adventures in Odyssey]] episode "War of the Words", two kids overhear Eugene call Connie a [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maladroit "maladroit"], which they don't understand, but like the word anyway. They proceed to call various people "millijoit" before they get in trouble. The episode ends with [[An Aesop]] about speaking respectfully, regardless of what words are used.

 

* In ''[[Aquapunk]]'', "cet" is the Sennan catch-all profanity and expletive.

* One ''[[Ugly Hill]]'' strip reveals that the word "wink" is used as a [[Fantastic Racism|racial slur against one eyed monsters]] in the strip's universe.

 

== Web Original ==

* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "It Hits The Fan", The Knights of Standards and Practices each represent a different bad word. One of these: Meekrob, the name of [[Foreign Queasine|an actually delicious Thai dish]] that [[Brick Joke|Cartman had earlier said he was going to start using as a swear word]].

* In ''[[The Boondocks]]'' episode, "The S-Word," the eponymous 12-letter "s" word is "spearchucker." While this is a derogatory (if somewhat antiquated) term for a black person, the fact that the school district expects people to automatically know what the "twelve letter S-word" ''is'' is what makes this an example. Of course, the entire episode is a [[Refuge in Vulgarity|non-stop]] [[Refuge in Audacity|mambo]] over the [[N-Word Privileges]] [[Crosses the Line Twice|line]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:These Tropes Should Watch Their Language]]

[[Category:Censorship Tropes]]