{"id":1326,"date":"2008-08-22T09:39:49","date_gmt":"2008-08-22T08:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2008\/08\/22\/a-little-more-creeping-censorship-the-t-word\/"},"modified":"2008-08-22T09:39:49","modified_gmt":"2008-08-22T08:39:49","slug":"a-little-more-creeping-censorship-the-t-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2008\/08\/22\/a-little-more-creeping-censorship-the-t-word\/","title":{"rendered":"A little more creeping censorship: the T word"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here, try this on for size.<\/p>\n

Random House Children’s Books has agreed to remove a four-letter swearword from a popular book by Dame Jacqueline Wilson <\/a>after complaints from Anne Dixon, who insists she is standing up for values of common decency.<\/p>\n

The 55-year-old said she was horrified when she came across the expletive in the best-selling book My Sister Jodie \u2013 a gift for her nine-year-old great-niece, Eve Coulson.<\/p>\n

“I got to the page where reference was made to a ‘toffee-nosed twit’,” she said.<\/p>\n

“On the next page the word changed\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To another word different by a single vowel: a word normally used for a part of the female anatomy. (No indication is given in the article about how the context might have changed.) The lady, outraged, emailed the author for an explanation of \u201chow to explain this\u201d\u00a0to her great-niece, and having heard nothing back, complained to Asda (where she\u2019d bought the book).<\/p>\n

Apparently this got back to Random House, provoking this response:<\/p>\n

\n

A spokesman for Random House Children’s Books said: “In the context of the character, we felt it was used in a way that accurately portrayed how children like Jodie would speak to each other.<\/p>\n

“The book is aimed at children aged ten and over, and we felt it was acceptable for that age range.<\/p>\n

“However, in light of this response we have decided to amend the word when we reprint the book.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What particularly interests me here is the language. Just who exactly is\u00a0\u201cwe\u201d? Was the author included in this decision? (She\u2019d better have been. And if she was, and has decided to keep mum about it, that\u2019s her business.)<\/p>\n

\u2026Let me be clear about this. I\u2019m not wild about the use of intimate-body-part-based slang in general, because it\u2019s so often\u00a0used pejoratively, in a my-gender-or-orientation-is-better-than-yours way. I don\u2019t use it in my own work\u00a0except when writing for adults, and then judiciously. But that\u2019s my personal preference.\u00a0What Dame Jacqueline feels is apropos\u00a0for a given age is up to her. (And as a side issue, my guess is that\u00a0most nine-year-olds in the UK know the word in question perfectly well, having heard it on the playground \u2014 and words a whole lot rougher \u2014 since they were in first form.) But when a single\u00a0complaint from a member of the public can cause editorial changes like this\u2026 then somewhere, something is broken. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026Just a pre-caffeine thought.<\/p>\n

Tags: censorship<\/a>, Jacqueline+Wilson<\/a>, children’s+books<\/a>, Random+House<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here, try this on for size. Random House Children’s Books has agreed to remove a four-letter swearword from a popular book by Dame Jacqueline Wilson after complaints from Anne Dixon,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,47,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-news","category-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nA little more creeping censorship: the T word - Out of Ambit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2008\/08\/22\/a-little-more-creeping-censorship-the-t-word\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A little more creeping censorship: the T word - Out of Ambit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here, try this on for size. 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