Nov 26, 2018 12:08:04 PM by Colleen E
While doing some research for a project, an editor on another board I frequent came arcross this. I always called these symbols "muzzerscuzzers," after a word my sister made up to avoid swearing in front of her kids.
When you want to use strong language on social media but don’t necessarily want your kids or in-laws to see, there’s one trick that gets the point across without slumming your speech with swear words: slamming on the symbols on your keyboard. Whether you choose $&@# or *#%$, your message is clear. So how did those random symbols get started in the first place?
Trying to cover up curse words is nothing new. As early as the 1680s, editors would replace one or more letters with hyphens and dashes to avoid printing curse words, such as printing “d—” or “B-tch” in poems and other writings. Eventually, asterisks were added into the mix too. The offensive words weren’t there in full, but readers could fill in the blanks pretty easily. (Avoid any awkward moments with these 1,000+ clean jokes from our editors.)
You probably first ran across symbols representing profanity in comics, so it’s no surprise that’s where the simple dashes transformed into more colorful symbols. Illustrator Rudolph Dirks introduced speech bubbles to the world of comics, and his strip Katzenjammer Kids would make waves with the words inside those bubbles, too.
The comic strip focused on two cheeky twins, Hans and Fritz, whose antics would frustrate their mom, school workers, and other members of the community. Done right, cursing can add humor to a scene, but Dirks couldn’t write blatant profanity into his New York Journal gig. (Though here’s why one mom says it’s OK to curse in front of your kids.) So in the earliest known use of grawlix—the term Beetle Baily creator Mort Walker coined for representing curse words with random symbols—Dirks used pictures instead of curse words. (Craving more modern humor? Check out these 29 work cartoons that will get you through the week.)
(Note: I don't know if there's some trick to accessing the links from this doc; I wasn't able to,