# Has my PKD book been censored?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-my-pkd-book-been-censored/239369>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 10, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-my-pkd-book-been-censored/239369 "2004-04-10T21:26:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-my-pkd-book-been-censored/239369/1 "2004-04-10T21:26:43Z")

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I picked up a 2nd hand copy of Philip K Dick’s “The Man Who Japed”, I think it was published in 1956. There aren’t many lurid details in the book, but on a few occasions, words that look like “Hell” and “Damn” have been cut down to “H–L” and “D–M”. Is this censoring on behalf of the author or publisher??

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**Author:** ![epepke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@epepke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epepke)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-my-pkd-book-been-censored/239369/2 "2004-04-10T22:12:35Z")

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> [@Pushkin](#):
>
> I picked up a 2nd hand copy of Philip K Dick’s “The Man Who Japed”, I think it was published in 1956. There aren’t many lurid details in the book, but on a few occasions, words that look like “Hell” and “Damn” have been cut down to “H–L” and “D–M”. Is this censoring on behalf of the author or publisher??

I have a British publication of _The Man Who Japed_ and have read it several times. I don’t remember any double-apostrophes.

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**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-my-pkd-book-been-censored/239369/3 "2004-04-10T23:02:40Z")

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> [@epepke](#):
>
> I have a British publication of _The Man Who Japed_ and have read it several times. I don’t remember any double-apostrophes.

Well no double apostrophe’s in the book, that was just my highlighting, but there were – marks in the word, seemed like censoring to me. Just wondered was it because of the date it was published, or a ploy by the author himself, the book being about such a strictly moral society.

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**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-my-pkd-book-been-censored/239369/4 "2004-04-11T01:56:14Z")

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> [@Pushkin](#):
>
> Well no double apostrophe’s in the book, that was just my highlighting, but there were – marks in the word, seemed like censoring to me. Just wondered was it because of the date it was published, or a ploy by the author himself, the book being about such a strictly moral society.

It’s been years since I read it, and my copy is not readily available for me to review, but I think your second guess is correct; the use of obviously censored words in everyday speech to demonstrate the heightened “morality” of the society. Kind of like saying “I’ll be dashed,” to indicate that dashes were so commonly used to replace common expletives that the word “dash” itself has become an expletive.