Why Are Cecil's Archived Comments Rewritten Without Swears?

[Jim_B]

I’ve noticed it in many of Cecil’s old columns. This one would be typical.

In it, an apparently troubled man, asks

You’re going to think this is mundo bizarro, but I need to know a few things about the way a person is buried. First, is the corpse completely dressed? Shoes? Underwear, etc.? In the case of a man, is the penis altered in any way? Also, how would the corpse look after six months or a year? Would it be shriveled up or purple or what? How would it smell? Finally, how difficult is it to open an exhumed casket?

It is signed, naturally, A Pseudo-necrophiliac, Baltimore. Whatever.

But I was surprised by Mr. Adams’ reply. Cecil writes

How difficult is it to open an exhumed casket? What kind of talk is that? Promise to be good and Uncle Cecil will explain–but remember, punk, I’m watching you.

You see, I have the original column. More specifically, I have the book with Cecil’s columns in them. And this is not how the column originally went. In the original, Cecil answers “What is this shit?”

Shit. It isn’t that bad of a word. I remember when I was still in R.C. high school, it was the only word we were allowed to use. The “F” word was off-limits. But shit was okay.

Why has this website suddenly become so puritanical? Frankly, if you ask me, I think the “S” word makes the original column. Without it, it just isn’t the same.

What do the rest of you think?

:):)

[samclem]

Assuming Cecil wrote that column in 1979 in the print version of the alternative Chicago Reader, The editors at the Reader didn’t care about the language used. Not that they cared much about if the stray teen picked up a copy, but it was low priority.

When the columns went online, they worried more about mom and dad of a teen reading the SDMB. Cleaned it up to get it accepted in more households.

Just my opinion.

[Irishman]

At one point, these articles were housed and posted on AOL. AOL was a bit prissy about things.

[Chronos]

Shit. It isn’t that bad of a word. I remember when I was still in R.C. high school, it was the only word we were allowed to use.

I can picture it now:
Johnny: Shit shit shit, shit shit shit shit.
Tommy: Shit shit, shit, shit shit.
Johnny: Shit shit. Shit, shit the shit.
Nun: <whacks Johnny with a ruler for saying “the”>

[C_K_Dexter_Haven]

The original columns, written for the Chicago READER, didn’t care a bit about language. Columns do undergo some revision (often updating) when they are published in a book. And our original online site was AOL-sponsored, the internet was sort of new, and it was felt that cleaner language would attract a wider following. My guess is that’s when the most language-cleaning occurred.