patrask:
I don't know what this has to do with censoring, but.....

News that they are using mad-cow diseased cows in dog food, has not seemed to diminish the sale of dog food. I asked my vet about this, and he said that it's nothing to worry about..... Hmm!

Okay. You're right about the reason not to use the Lord's name in vain, but the double standard also applies to other bad language on TV. You can say "bitch", but "son of a bitch", is out. Saying "ass" is okay, but add a "hole" at the end and you've crossed the line. I just think it's a little odd.

Just an aside, I always liked watching movies on TV where they have a really badly done overdub to try to cover up a bad word that's not suitable for TV. It's hilarious! Unfortunately, now that more and more words are being allowed on TV, you don't see very many of those cheezy overdubs anymore. Shucks!

You can use "hole" without "ass," as Johnny Carson pointed out to Henry Winkler when he used the word on "The Tonight Show": "Hole will be in." Years later on the same show, Ron Howard used the word "hardass" to Jay Leno, and it was left in.

Yep. Dandelion's point is valid. Also, in the case of bit-h -- it is a real word meaning a female dog. son-of-a-bit-h is definitionally malicious term. Same with ass. An ass is a donkey. An ass-ole, while an anatomical designator is more typically used in a malicious way. The subset is a real word -- the "expanded" version is malicious slang.

Does anyone remember the word,

"water-closet"...

...that changed the face of television forever....?

Yes, Jack Parr objected to the use of the word "obscene" in describing the joke. He found it too harsh and felt it classed him with the wrong element of society.

George Carlin pointed out that you can say, "pissed off" on television but, "pissed on" is not allowed - all you've done is change the preposition but the word is still there. You can use the same word to indicate anger but not to indicate urine. Bizarre.

All I know is I got a demerit for using a word I thought was perfectly acceptable. We were in school but not in class at the time. It was in a dorm, actually, within hearing of a housemother. As Conan's insult dog would say, "That's a NICE thing...for me to POOP on!"

[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited 10-20-2003).]

dandelion:

The 'Jack Paar' joke......

It was a whole lot more than just a joke.

Using the word 'water-closet', deemed obscene by the TV execs. who did not want to offend their advertisers, was a restriction that Paar wasn't going to stand for.
The joke was ...censored...thruout a large American audience... by having the first fifteen minutes of the show ommitted from many televison viewers. But the next day, Jack Paar walked off his program, left Hugh Downs in charge, and it was 'NATIONAL HEADLINES'. Everyone everywhere was talking about it, since the Tonight Show was so respected and popular and Jack Paar was so admired by many viewers.

Today we have Snoop Dog and Howard Stern and a myriad of others all claiming free speech. TV today is global and ultra powerful. But someday communications far, far beyond TV will come around. And a new generation, not knowing anything except the requirement that they experience things new and fight for their own identity, will, as everyone else before, change society for the better or the worse...

I just reread the "Coda" (copyright 1979) in "Fahrenheit 451" where Bradbury complains of those changing his books. He mentions those who want to add more women to the MC and those who which to fix the blacks portrayed in MC. Ironic that these are the two pieces noticably changed in this new edition/ BOMC editon of MC. I have a hard time believing that Bradbury knows of these changes, especially after reading the "Coda."

To all:
I'm going to meet Ray at a signing on Thurs. Do you think I should ask him about the Martian Chronicles revisions?

[This message has been edited by groon (edited 10-21-2003).]

groon:

You can't be hurried, and Ray can't feel hurried.

You'll have to catch him in some moment while he is either in a lull, resting his autographing arm, or getting ready to leave and slowly walking out. I think you will find him ready to answer any question given the proper circumstances.....

[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 10-21-2003).]

Thanks, I wanted to make sure to be respectful.

I'm currently reading "The Invisible Man," and it seems H. G. Wells was also a bit of an editor's nightmare, with a lot of revisions and different versions of the same work running around out there in print.