Symbol Swearing: Difference between revisions

More *#&$ common in recent &$*^ times is the &+$# use of f***ing asterisks instead of f$%&ing random symbols, a case of [[T-Word Euphemism]] at work. See #$%@ [[Sound Effect Bleep]] for the )#%^ audio version, and ^%#+ [[Narrative Profanity Filter]] for other #^@$ ways of creatively conveying *+$# foul language.

 

{{examples|@#$& Examples}}

== £§€$ Advertising ==

* This [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1PNlZajtWM Porsche commercial] for the GT2RS. Thoroughly appropriate.

* A series of magazine adverts for Tennants Lager featured a pint of lager in various situations, with a pithy phrase underneath including the red {{color|red|T}} logo. One of them showed the glass smashing onto the floor, with the simple caption "$#!{{color|red|T}}"

 

== &*#*@ Anime & Manga ==

* Used in the ''[[Code Geass]]: Lelouch of the Rebellion'' manga to represent Lelouch's infamous [[Screams Like a Little Girl|girly scream]].

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' Chachamaru uses a form of [[Useful Notes/Fonts|Wingding font]] during her [[Immodest Orgasm]] the first time she is wound up by Negi.

 

== #$%* Comic Books ==

* This trope is occassionally used in ''[[The Beano]]'' and ''[[The Dandy (comics)|The Dandy]]'' to express a character's anger and they cant show swear words because those two comics are for children.

* A story of [[Iznogoud]] had him asking Dilat Larat for a rope, when he was down a cliff. Dilat dropped the entire length of rope. Iznogoud began cursing, with bombs, bones, axes etc. Then a lot of these items began falling from above, seemingly dropped by Dilat who thought Iznogoud was asking for them.

 

== Fan &!*@ Works ==

* ''[[Nobody Dies]]'' has people swearing fairly often, but any instances of "fuck" get replaced with "f___". ''Unless'' that specific instance is meant to be a [[Precision F-Strike]], in which case the word is written out fully.

 

* Subverted in ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'', when we see the "[[Swear Jar|swear box]]", it has a sign on it showing the price for each swear word. All the words have at least one letter changed to a symbol, ''[[Bleep, Dammit!|except]]'' for [[Country Matters|"cunt"]], the highest priced word, which is left unaltered.

* Used in 1927 silent film ''[[The Cat and the Canary]]'', when aunt Susan finds Paul hiding under her bed.

* ''[[A Christmas Story]]'': "Only I didn't say fudge. It was the word! The big one! The queen mother of dirty words! The "F dash dash dash" word!"]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgx1sSfriIA Here.]

* Played with in ''[[In the Loop]]''. "You are a real boring fuck. Sorry, sorry, I know you disapprove of swearing, so I'll sort that out. You are a boring F star star cunt!"

 

== &%$£!*@ Literature ==

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** Carrot can also pronounce the asterisk in "d*mn," and "'!' said Rincewind" is, if not this trope, something close to it.

* Also invoked in ''[[Xanth]]'' books. A set of repeated single symbols, such as #### is used and corresponds directly to a particular curse word in English, typically revealed by the reaction dialogue of the characters around them. This being Xanth, these words can literally start fires and peel paint.

* The protagonist of ''The Pigman'' is "asked not to swear" and has two different substitutions, one for regular swears and one for really bad ones, and thinks it's convenient because the reader will likely come up with something far more creative than he ever could.

 

 

== Live-Action %^&* TV ==

* As quoted above, [[Country Music]] artist Kevin Fowler has a song called "Pound Sign (#?*!)" which lampshades this trope.

* KMFDM's ''Symbols'' album title is supposedly this. The title appears in one of the songs as a [[Sound Effect Bleep]].

 

== New %&$@ Media ==

** The filters themselves may replace the words with these symbols. The Steam forums replace swears with rows of pink hearts. This has been parodied from time to time, such as a homemade ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' map that featured a sign reading "ATTACK THAT {{color|deeppink|♥♥♥♥}}ING FORT", and a forum post where "Meet the Demoman" was quoted thus:

{{quote|"I'm a black, Scottish cyclops. They got more {{color|deeppink|♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥}} than they got the likes o' me." (NOTE: The hearts correspond to a lengthy [[Sound Effect Bleep]] at the exact same spot in the movie.)}}

 

== @#*£ Newspaper Comics ==

* In the [[Mad Magazine]] parody of ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]'', the main character's friends insult each other with typical insults like "butt-head," "armpit" and "nerd," and when the main character uses this kind of swearing, his mother tells him that there will not be any asterisks, dollar signs or ampersands spoken in their house.

* Used frequently in ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'', sometimes straight, and sometimes as meta humor (Rat using the planet in the line of symbols to replace a missing Saturn from Pig's Solar System model).

 

== &+$# Video Games ==

* In ''[[Crystal Castles (video game)|Crystal Castles]]'', Bentley the bear followed in Q*Bert's footsteps by uttering "#?!" when his last life was lost.

* Subverted in ''[[Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun]]'' - a GDI soldier responds to approaching Nod forces by yelling "Oh $#!+". Hardly ambiguous what he was yelling.

 

== Web *~@^# Animation ==

* One of Sceb's mailbag cartoons on ''[[Fred the Monkey]]'' has a fan threatening to "@$%#^ THE #%^&!@ OUT OF YOU!!!!" Sceb pronounces this as "symbol the symbols out of you."

 

== Web *?#~! Comics ==

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209183658/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4030 Monique's reaction to hurting her foot] includes this. Also F! and S! without asterisks.

* Played with in [http://www.0x2121.com/7/Lost_in_Translation this !! strip] of ''Lost in Translation'', in which apparently the cusser was actually saying the punctuation?

 

== *+%$ Web Original ==

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in a ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]]'' mission where an Agent actually pronounces grawlix.

* An actual, useful new search engine for programmers, SymbolHound, plays with this: it has the [[Tagline]], "for finding @%$^#&! symbols." That is exactly what it does - allows one to search for those symbols (among others) - but still, it's obvious what they mean, as anyone who's tried to search for symbols using other search engines has probably complained about their lack of *$(%ing support for that.

 

== *&^%$! Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

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

[[Category:Censorship Tropes]]

[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]