# How did they slip THAT by the censors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2002, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754 "2002-12-19T06:26:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Darkrabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@Darkrabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkrabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/61 "2002-12-20T20:02:38Z")
I distinctly remember a skit on SNL which was supposed to have taken back in biblical times … each character was introducing what they did for a living to a group of children … the last person to be introduced brightly chimed in, “I play the **skin flute**!” My friends and I collapsed from laughter and missed most of the remainder of the skit. You could see the other actors of SNL restraining laughter as well. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/62 "2002-12-20T20:18:43Z")
I don’t see how this thread has gotten this far without any NYPD Blue references. I’m specifically thinking of one time when some perp called Andy a “dickless pollack”, and another time when Andy referred to someone as a “lying pussy”. I’m pretty sure they can’t say those things on TV. I don’t watch sitcoms too often, but I used to watch Home Improvement. I was rather shocked at the episode where Tim installed a whirlpool tub to his wife, and his wife observed “It has three settings: low, medium, and who needs a man”. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/63 "2002-12-20T23:10:59Z")
Conan O’Brien – Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. He’s on Hollywood Squares with Al Roper and Kathy Lee amongst others. Host: OK, Triumph for the X. Here’s the question – How often do veteranarians recommend that you shave your poodle? Triumph: Well, I don’t believe in shaving dogs. Shaved pussies, though… At which point they pan back to the host, who is doubled over laughing. Even Kathy Lee was laughing, although with that fake shocked look. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/64 "2002-12-20T23:29:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by grendel72 \* > \*\*Wally Cleaver: “You know mom, I think I know how the Beaver feels…” \*\* June: “Ward, I think you were a little too rough on the Beaver last night!” On Fawlty Towers, they always opened by showing the hotel’s sign with the letters re-arranged. On one episode, it reads “Flowery Twats.” ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/65 "2002-12-21T00:30:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\*June: On Fawlty Towers, they always opened by showing the hotel’s sign with the letters re-arranged. On one episode, it reads “Flowery Twats.” \*\* Ah, but that’s a British program, where censorship is much lighter. I’ve come to two conclusions reading this entertaining thread: - many of you expect massive censorship if you are surprised that these things slipped past the censors - several of the posts needed explanation before I understood them. I am far more innocent than I thought! Or maybe it is because I’m British where terminology is different. After all, in England, the very young boy scouts are called Beavers… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/66 "2002-12-21T02:19:36Z")
**amarone** , the youngest North American devotees of Baden Powell are Beavers (and Brownies) too. [Here’s Mudd on parade in a Canuck Beaver uniform.](http://216.232.71.251/~larry/miscpics/parade.jpg) Go ahead and laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/67 "2002-12-21T15:48:49Z")
**Larry** , I’m very confused by Canada’s traffic laws now. In the states, Mayor McCheese would surely have the right of way. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/68 "2002-12-21T21:59:03Z")
Huh? Oh, you mean _Intendant duFromage_. (The pic is a photo-illustration for a rather tedious article that I wrote a few years ago-- in context, it makes sense to be cutting across like that.) ---
**Author:** ![Diff\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Diff\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diff_T)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/69 "2002-12-21T22:59:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\*On a recent Twilight Zone epsiode, a woman is trying to seduce Lou Diamond Phillips (the ONLY reason I was watching, honest, he is a hottie) and her husband discovers them and beats up Lou. As he is leaving, he says: She’s always trying to get my attention by screwing the lowest life form available. Thank God we don’t have a \* dog \*. > > How did they slip THAT by the censors? \*\* Wait! What!?!? You MUST be kidding! ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/70 "2002-12-21T23:15:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diff T \* > \*\*Wait! > > What!?!? > > You MUST be kidding! \*\* What? Jeez, I already thought censorship was way too harsh before I found out some of the stuff you guys expect to be censored. Lighten up people. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/71 "2002-12-21T23:33:46Z")
There was an episode of Star Trek-TNG, can’t remember the title. The Enterprise and crew were in serious jeopardy from another vessel and Picard attempted an evasive maneuver that didn’t work. In a very soft voice he mutters “Merde!” Sure it was French(Picards birth tongue) but you still can’t say that in English(I don’t _think_) on network TV. ---
**Author:** ![djbdjb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@djbdjb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djbdjb)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/72 "2002-12-22T02:40:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoggie \* > \*\* > Another example of Bender’s antena representing his penis… > \*\* And a third. Well maybe not connected with the antenna per se, but… In the episode where the transmission of ‘Single Female Lawyer’ gets interrupted, and Aliens come to earth demanding to know how it finishes, Bender is the camera man/camera for the filming. He has a line where he says ‘camera 1!’, and one of his eyes zooms forward. ‘camera 2!’, and the other eye moves. He then says ‘camera 3!’ with a mechanical sound, while the scene stays on his face. I took this to mean camera 3 was … er … on his lower abdomen. ---
**Author:** ![Diff\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Diff\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diff_T)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/73 "2002-12-22T03:20:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > \*\*What? > > Jeez, I already thought censorship was way too harsh before I found out some of the stuff you guys expect to be censored. Lighten up people. \*\* I didn’t say I wanted it to be censored, nor did I not take it lightly, I just didn’t expect it. [Comic Book Guy] **HOWEVER!** [/Comic Book Guy], I’m just learning NOW that when the poster said “recent”, the poster didn’t mean JUST recently aired… I’m just learning there’s a NEW twilighty show about that zone. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/74 "2002-12-22T03:32:05Z")
I’ve been told that Soupy Sales loved to sneak stuff past censors. In the late 50’s (when TV actually had censors) he had a children’s show. There was a dog puppet called White Fang (I think) who could speak and even read. Soupy was demonstrating that Fang knew his letters by showing him flash cards. At one point, though, he messed up. Soupy showed him a card with the letter F, and Fang said ‘K’. He tried again, and it happened again. Then Soupy says, “What’s wrong with you? Every time I show you F, you see K!” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/75 "2002-12-22T08:39:24Z")
The smutty Soupy is [an urban legend](http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/soupy2.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/76 "2002-12-22T17:40:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pjen \* > \*\*starred Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson (Billy Connolly’s wife and Rowna Atkinson). \*\* Rowan Atkinson is Billy Connolly’s WIFE?!?!:eek: :eek: :eek: Anyway, its kind of funny from an Australian perspective to see what Americans consider censorable. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/77 "2002-12-22T22:14:26Z")
What I find fascinating about this thread is that it shows how the boundaries have shifted – in some cases vanished – over the last few decades. There are very few hard-and-fast rules when it comes to censoring; if there were, a computer could do it. So what a censor decides is worth suppressing is based solely on judgment and values and fears of what the advertiser/audience will say. Many times, it leads to incredibly stupid decisions. In the '50s, Lucy and Ricky had to be shown in separate beds, despite being married. They had to fight battles when Lucy became pregnant every step of the way, starting with deciding what words to use to express being pregnant (can’t remember if they actually used the p-word or not). In the early '70s, on “All in the Family,” hearing the toilet flush was shocking. You just didn’t hear that on TV. When ABC briefly ran the Best of Monty Python shows late at night, their cuts were so egregious that the troupe sued, saying that the censoring was so bad that it diminished the value of the material (one cut, for example, was the “Summarize Proust” competition when Graham Chapman, asked about his hobbies, was blanked on the word “masturbation” and possibly “strangling small animals.”). Some of the skits were so bowderized, not just bleeped but cut and rearranged, that it made the comedy even more incomprehensible. One of the skits banned from the late '70s “Saturday Night Live” didn’t have a rude word in it. It was a commercial parody for “Placenta Helper.” Gross? Tasteless? Sure, but they let pass the “Bass-o-Matic” ad, in which Dan Ackroyd blenderized a fish on live TV (BTW, I was nauseated seeing it turn into a sickly grey mass of goo, especially when the next scene showed Laurane Newman taking a sip and saying, “Mmmmm, great bass.”) So now we can joke about female and male masturbation, “thit,” shaved pussies and skin flutes. My, my, we have come a long way. ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/78 "2002-12-22T22:50:09Z")
Groundskeeper Willy to Skinner: Thats that last time you play around with your Willy! I quit! ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Goo_Fee)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/79 "2002-12-22T23:15:54Z")
Who are these “censors” that y’all keep talking about? Where are they? Who do they work for? ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754/80 "2002-12-22T23:34:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doctor Goo Fee \* > \*\*Who are these “censors” that y’all keep talking about? Where are they? Who do they work for? \*\* In the US, content is controlled by the Federal Communications Commission, i.e. the government. For a (vague) definition of what is and is not permitted, see [http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html](http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-they-slip-that-by-the-censors/143754.md?page=5)