Surely this namespace should be called "****ysis"?
Strings of letters that often lead to words being wrongly censored:
- a-s-s: By itself, this spells "ass", which can mean "butt", so it became a cuss word. However, the string of letters is fairly common, appearing in words such as "classic", "mass", "assess", "embarrassment", and "assassinate". As you can imagine, replacements like "embarrbuttment", "clbuttic" and "buttbuttinate" are hard to take seriously.
- h-e-l-l: By itself, it spells "hell", which some people believe is a place that spirits go when they die if they were bad and is a mild swear word. However, the string of letters appears in the word "shell" and in the word "hello", which is a common greeting.
- n-i-g-g-e-r and n-i-g-g-a: By themselves, they are the infamous "N-word", a racial slur against black people. Thankfully, these strings of letters aren't very common, but they can cause trouble if you're trying to write "snigger"note or "niggardly".note
- t-w-a-t: By itself, this is a slang term for the vagina — which, much like that other one, is also used as a generic insult, with the offense level ranging from "nonexistent" to "worse than the F-bomb" depending on where and who you are. It's also slang in the UK for punching someone in the face. On the other hand, a lot of compound words, particularly place names and surnames, are something ending in "t" plus "water" or "watch".
- c-u-m: By itself, this is a vulgar word for semen, derived from the use of the verb "come" to mean having an orgasm, but the string of letters crops up in the word "document", or the phrase "cum laude" ("with honors", typically referring to college students graduating in the top 10% or so of their class; it's derived from Latin), or the spice "cumin".
- c-o-c-k: "cock" can mean penis and is considered a swearword, but it's also a slightly less-used term for a male fowl, such as a peacock. There's also the word "cocky" meaning arrogant, "cock-a-doodle-doo", an onomatopoeia for a rooster crowing, and "stopcock", a type of water valve.
- t-i-t: Spells "tit", which is an offensive word for breast, but also appears in words like "substitute", "constitution", and "prostitute" (which, admittedly, is sexual, but not a swear word), and on its own can refer to any member of the Paridae
family of birds, hence why the Visual Pun "a pair of◊ great tits" exists. - s-t-f-u: On its own, it's a rude acronym for "shut the fuck up", but causes trouble in words with a "st" on the end followed by "ful", such as "lustful", "boastful", "restful", etc.
- f-a-g: A slur against gay mennote , but as with most English-pronounceable combinations of three letters, it incidentally crops up in longer words — be careful talking about the villain of Oliver Twist (Fagin) or Pokémon #0563 (Cofagrigus). Also, in Britain, it means "cigarette".
- d-a-m-n: By itself, it spells "damn", which is a verb meaning "to condemn", specifically in the context of going to hell, and is used as an interjection as a mild swear word. (Like "hell", no eyebrows will be raised at someone over the age of 13 saying it, but anyone younger will be scolded.) This particular sequence is rare in other words, but occurs in compounds such as "damnable" and "damning", which is not usually perceived as profane.
- s-h-i-t: By itself, this spells "shit", commonly a slang term for feces and often used as an insult (for example, calling something you dislike "shit" or "shitty"). This mainly becomes a problem if you use romanized Japanese words, as "shi" (し in hiragana, シ in katakana) is one of the standard syllables of the Japanese language and a lot of romanized Japanese words that have "shi" in them end up having "shit" inside of them, such as Minamoto no Yoshitsune, shiitake (as in the mushroom; although this may get past some censors due to the extra 'i'), and even just common words like shimashita (polite past-tense form of suru, or "to do").note
Words that are only swear words some of the time:
George Carlin famously described these words as "partly filthy". They are words where only one meaning is profane, which can lead to wrong censorship.- "bitch" can be an insult, but can also mean "female dog".
- "dyke" can be a slur against lesbiansnote , or it can be a wall holding back floods (also known as a "levee").
- "cock" can mean "penis", but it can also mean a male fowl, most commonly a rooster. Or you can cock (ready) a firearm or cock (tilt) your head.
- "ass" can mean "butt", but it can also mean "donkey".
- "tit" can mean "breast", but it can also mean a type of bird.
- "hell" isn't profanity if you're talking about the punitive afterlife, unless it falls under the religious censorship below.
- Likewise, "damn" isn't profanity if it is being used as a verb to mean God condemning someone to hell.
- "fag" isn't profane at all in England — it just means "cigar" or "cigarette".
Words that aren't curses, but might be censored due to meaning:
- Religious words: words like "sin", "devil", "Satan", "Hell", "God", "Christ", and "Jesus".
- Drug/drinking-related words: such as "marijuana", "cocaine", "drug", "weed", "coke", "dope", "Mary Jane", "high", "wasted", "drunk", "beer", "alcohol", "wine", "cigarette", "whiskey", and "tequila".
- Sexual words: such as "penis", "testicles", "rape", "dildo", "vulva", "vagina", "horny", "masturbation", "sex", "pornography", and "virginity". Words for sexual orientations such as "bisexual", "lesbian", "gay", "homosexual", "heterosexual", and "asexual" might also be censored.
- Words for dark topics: such as "war", "Nazi", "suicide", "murder", "die", "kill", "death", "homicide", "slavery", and "pedophile".
