I just caught a glimpse of some rock documentary on VH1 and at one point the band members all flipped the bird to the camera. Of course this had to be obscured somehow, and they ended up pixelating an area exactly the same size and shape as the offending finger. What was the point of that? Was that supposed to protect my virgin eyes from an obscene gesture? It was clearly understood what was being covered up and since the pixelation wasn’t even opaque, the skin color came through and it ended up looking like a regular obscene gesture, except for the middle finger being slightly out of focus. If I wrap my middle finger in celophane tape, does that allow me to flip the bird in the presence of children? If not then what was the point?
I have seen the same thing with regard to the other member, say for example on Cops when they get a call for some drunk naked man walking around in public. When they show up there he is, his member swinging in the breeze, obscured only slightly by a vague hint of flesh-toned pixelation.
So any guesses on how much longer until the whole censorship thing goes out the window? We’re already running out of words you can’t say on television.
It’s just to appease the censors. Now, as o why the sensors are appeased by something so meaningless, i suppose it’s just because they’re a bunch of cranks that are fed up with their meaningless employments.
Right - to appease the censors. The networks want to be able to say they tried. BTW, I don’t know what the adjective is for pixel, but pixelated ain’t it. (Pixelated: 1. behaving as if mentally unbalanced; very eccentric; 2. whimsical, prankish 3. slang, intoxicated; drunk. It does, however, apply to many of the SDMB posters.
I was referring to the adjective “pixelated.” Pixelate isn’t even in my dictionary. Pixelated is from the word pixy
(fairy or elf). Pixel is from pix (plural of pic = picture)and el = element. I’m a word person, not a computer person, but computer people shouldn’t shanghai a whimsical word like pixelated for a hi-tech word. (And I guess I shanghaied the OP – sorry opus.)
So are we saying that if we could round up the censors and catapult them all into the La Brea tar pits that it would be okay? Would nobody else have anything to say once the censors are gone?
I think you’re thinking of pixilated.
Pixelated isn’t in any of the books I have access to, but that’s because they’re not keeping up with the latest technobabble. Since Pixel is a valid root word, I stand by pixelated as its adjective.
From http://www.currents.net/ : pixelated or pixellated: Visible as a pattern of pixels. A bitmapped image can be made of tiny squares which are not individually distinguished by the eye. When the image is enlarged, the pattern of squares is more obvious.
People use pixelate as a verb, just like people use access as a verb. It has come into common usage no matter whether or not the authors of a dictionary think it is a “real” word.
When a dictionary says access is not a verb it is disagreeing with reality. Given the choice between siding with a book or with reality it makes sense to go with reality.
If they rid of the official censors, the viewing public would fill in – the networks would hear from the outraged parents, although I doubt many parents are watching this stuff with their kids. Sorry, I shot from the hip on the word usage. Shame on me - you’re right opus, it’s pixilated. :o Not a big deal - I just happen to like the word pixilated for it’s whimsical nature and didn’t want it confused with a techno-word.
I’ll not harp on it. (You computer geeks are just taking over the world aren’t ya?)
FWIW, I’ve heard the term “pixelated” used lots of times to describe the graphics adjustment process being referring to here. It’s a deliberate degradation of part or all of an image by selectively modifying specific pixels of that image. I always thought it was a technical term used by the broadcast industry.
I agree that pixilate can be a verb. We don’t have to wait for the dictionary police to give us the ok for new words. After all, language belongs to those who use it. Besides, if you can “do lunch”, you can certainly pixilate someone’s member.
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000
Of course, the whole issue of “pixelate” as a verb was an unnecessary interruption into a misunderstanding over whether “pixelate” was valid as an adjective when confused with the recognized adjective “pixilate”. I don’t imagine many people on this MB are quite so prescriptive as to deny that we frequently turn nouns into verbs.
The language is dynamic and changes are effected by developments on the technological front. Pixelation is one of thousands of neologisms spawned by people doing new stuff. This new meaning, spelling and usage is an outgrowth of the digital revolution (anticipated in the art world by pointilism? Can one pointilate?).
Resists the temptation to burst into song.</h6>