grawlix (&*@#^+)
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:17 pm
This word has been following me around for a month or two , so I thought I would suggest it. I heard it used on NPR one afternoon, then in the book Thingummy, and then someone in a meeting called them something completely different & I was able to correct them. (&^@#%^$%!@ I love my job! 
)
I have been reading Asimov's Foundation series and he solves the problem by using the word unprintable. Works but not as fun for the typesetter.
From wiktionary:
EtymologyApparently coined by American cartoonist Mort Walker (b. 1923) around 1964.
[edit] PronunciationIPA: /ˈgrɔ:lɪks/
[edit] NounSingular
grawlix
Plural
grawlixes or grawlix
grawlix (plural grawlixes or grawlix)
A spiral-shaped graphic used to indicate swearing in comic strips.
1995, William H. Gass, The Tunnel, page 159
He does all the Popeye voices, but prefers Olive Oyl's. He has noises for the nittles, the grawlix, the quimps, the jarns. He blows each balloon up before your ears. He reels home, +'s on his eyes, singing the spirl that rises like heat from his head.
A string of typographical symbols used (especially in comic strips) to represent an obscenity or swearword.
)I have been reading Asimov's Foundation series and he solves the problem by using the word unprintable. Works but not as fun for the typesetter.
From wiktionary:
EtymologyApparently coined by American cartoonist Mort Walker (b. 1923) around 1964.
[edit] PronunciationIPA: /ˈgrɔ:lɪks/
[edit] NounSingular
grawlix
Plural
grawlixes or grawlix
grawlix (plural grawlixes or grawlix)
A spiral-shaped graphic used to indicate swearing in comic strips.
1995, William H. Gass, The Tunnel, page 159
He does all the Popeye voices, but prefers Olive Oyl's. He has noises for the nittles, the grawlix, the quimps, the jarns. He blows each balloon up before your ears. He reels home, +'s on his eyes, singing the spirl that rises like heat from his head.
A string of typographical symbols used (especially in comic strips) to represent an obscenity or swearword.
