# How Do They Pick What Swearwords to Edit?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 12, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327 "2005-01-12T03:29:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@davmilasav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davmilasav)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/1 "2005-01-12T03:29:40Z")
Sitting here reading the SDMB with \*\*Animal House \*\* on SpikeTV in the background and I notice that the oddest parts of words are being edited out.
Belushi has gone into a rant about the bar being taken from the Delta house. He screams “Godddamn! sonuvabitch! ass(silence)!”
Since when is “hole” a swearword?
And why do they cut the “God” part out of “Goddammit”? I always thought the “dammit” part was the dirty bit. What gives?
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/2 "2005-01-12T03:35:05Z")
I don’t know why they even bother to run certain movies on channels that are going to edit out the naughty words: _Porky’s, Animal House,_ and _The Breakfast Club_ are three that come to mind right away.
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### Author:  [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/3 "2005-01-12T03:36:41Z")
They say “shit” constantly on F/X in various shows and movies.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/4 "2005-01-12T03:44:38Z")
The God part is definitely the part that believers find offensive.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/5 "2005-01-12T03:49:09Z")
According to fine fellows over at [findlaw](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=438&invol=726) the FCC banned certain words from being on TV and radio.
The original seven words were, shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, mother-fucker, and tits.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/6 "2005-01-12T03:49:47Z")
I noticed on tv, such a _Beavis and Butthead_, you could say asswipe, assmunch, assgoblin, etc. But you couldn’t say “asshole.” What’s up with that?
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### Author:  [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/7 "2005-01-12T04:08:49Z")
Also, you will, to this day, hear euphemisms for “ass” and “bitch” on certain edited-for-TV movies, when today these words are well-acclimated to prime-time. This is nothing but an issue of economics, since it would cost to re-dub these older prints on which such editing was called for.
Is this some of the inconsistency you had in mind?
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### Author:  [@The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Cat)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/8 "2005-01-12T04:15:31Z")
Well when you say the word ass you are referring to a donkey. When you say the work asshole you are referring to an asshole, can you see the difference? Damn has not been censored on TV for many years before they started saying shit. Goddamn is blasphemy.
Its not complicated if you think about it, just dumb.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/9 "2005-01-12T04:18:08Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#):
>
> The God part is definitely the part that believers find offensive.
True. That’s what they mean when they talk about “taking the Lord’s name in vain.” Swear words are not inherently sinful – it’s just a social taboo. It’s when you use God’s name as a swear word (ie, “God dammit” or “Jesus H. Christ”) that you run into trouble morally. It’s a form of blasphemy, albeit a very minor one.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/10 "2005-01-12T04:18:22Z")
I recall the scene on the Simpsons where the Flander’s house was destroyed by a tornado and Todd & Rod got clothes from a donation bin. Todd is wearing a Butthole Surfers T-shirt, as he proudly announces, “Look Daddy, I’m a surfer!” To be fair, I think you could only seen “utthole Surfers”, so maybe that makes it OK.
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### Author:  [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/11 "2005-01-12T04:26:16Z")
It seems to me that something similar to the monkey/dartboard method is used.
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### Author:  [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/12 "2005-01-12T04:39:02Z")
I’ve wondered about this myself! The other night, _Liar, Liar_ was on network TV and was edited for content. The scene where he insults his boss during a board meeting originally contained this line from Jim Carrey:
“He’s a pedantic, pontificating, pretentious bastard; a belligerent old fart; a worthless steaming pile of cow dung…figuratively speaking.”
The line was edited to say:
“He’s a pedantic, pontificating, pretentious bastard; a belligerent old _ **fool** _…”
Whaaat??? You can say BASTARD, but you can’t say FART?
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### Author:  [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/13 "2005-01-12T04:40:55Z")
In the showing of Life on some channel ( I think it was TNT if memory serves correctly) they kept the N word in all of the lines.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/14 "2005-01-12T06:46:05Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#):
>
> Whaaat??? You can say BASTARD, but you can’t say FART?
Not that surprising. _Fart_ is a vulgarity, in all cases. _Bastard_ is simply a term describing a child who was conceived outside the bonds of matrimony. In fact, back in the 60’s there was an episode of _Bonanza_, the title of which was “The Bastard.”
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/15 "2005-01-12T07:55:04Z")
In 1996 when The Butthole Surfers were on _The Late Show_, their names appeared onscreen during the opening guest list as “The B\*\*\*hole Surfers”, but announcer Alan Kalter was allowed to say “The Butthole Surfers”. Go figure.
**Tapioca Dextrin** , I think you’re misreading the Supreme Court’s decision in the _Pacifica_ case. The seven words list was George Carlin’s invention; the FCC and the courts were asked to make a ruling on them after the fact. The FCC is loathe to make absolute proscriptions against any particular words, as that would constitute pre-censorship.
The Supreme Court in its majority decision in _Pacifica_ neither said that offensive words were limited to those seven, nor did it say that those words could never be used on television or radio.
> [@](#):
>
> The [FCC’s] holding does not prevent willing adults from purchasing Carlin’s record, from attending his performances, or, indeed, from reading the transcript reprinted as an appendix to the Court’s opinion. On its face, it does not prevent respondent Pacifica Foundation from broadcasting the monologue during late evening hours when fewer children are likely to be in the audience. . .
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/16 "2005-01-12T08:01:16Z")
> [@Walloon](#):
>
> **Tapioca Dextrin** , I think you’re misreading the Supreme Court’s decision in the _Pacifica_ case. The seven words list was George Carlin’s invention; the FCC and the courts were asked to make a ruling on them after the fact.
True, but the “seven words you can’t say on TV” has since become a famous phrase. And the FCC always make rulings after the fact. They can’t do otherwise.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/17 "2005-01-12T08:11:39Z")
Then why did you claim that “the FCC banned certain words from being on TV and radio”?
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/18 "2005-01-12T10:25:41Z")
You must remember that the FCC has little to no jurisdiction over cable. Hence the rather fast & loose rules for channels like FX and Spike. Comedy Central has been letting South Park say ‘asshole’ for, well, since it started.
In fact they run the South Park movie completely uncut (f\*cks galore) repeatedly during their late night “Secret Stash” as well as Richard Pryor and Chris Rock concert movies.
The networks won’t even allow a ‘goddamn’ during primetime.
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/19 "2005-01-12T15:09:59Z")
On an episode of Dr. Phil (which I did not watch by choice, I swear), there was one exchange where they bleeped out “bitch” but did _not_ bleep out “dick”. Basically, he was calmly talking to a couple and recounting some of the things they’d said to one another, and said to them, “You called her a b\*\*ch, she called you a dick.”
Seemed like an odd choice.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-pick-what-swearwords-to-edit/284327/20 "2005-01-12T16:30:09Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#):
>
> You must remember that the FCC has little to no jurisdiction over cable. Hence the rather fast & loose rules for channels like FX and Spike. Comedy Central has been letting South Park say ‘asshole’ for, well, since it started.
Not to mention the South Park episode where they said “shit” uncensored over 100 times, and even had a little counter in the corner of the screen tallying how many times it’d been said. Then again, popular conceptions of and reactions to vulgarities was the point of the episode; it starts off with adults getting all excited over how a NYPD Blue-like show was going to say “shit” on primetime TV.
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