Odd bleeping of profanities on television.

[elperromagico]

Bear with me; I'm going somewhere here.

Two words:

asshole
goddamn

Both are compound words. Let's look at each part of the words and analyze their acceptability on television:

ass - has gained acceptability on television in the last several years;

hole - a perfectly acceptable word, never censored;

god - Fulton Sheen was using this word back in the 50s - the censors didn't mind;

damn - a word that has been on television since at least the seventies.

Okay. Four words, combined to make two. Two - hole and god - have always been acceptable on television. Two - ass and damn - were not always acceptable, but are no longer censored.

And yet..., when you combine these four words in a certain way, the magical bleep appears...

Back to those words:

asshole
goddamn

Now, its not the bleeping of these words that I find so perplexing; rather, it is the placement of the bleeps.

For asshole the bleep appears over the word hole, a word which, as we established earlier, has always been acceptable on television. The word ass is bleep-free.

For goddamn the bleep appears over the word god, a word which, as we established earlier, has always been acceptable on television. The word damn is bleep-free.

What, therefore, may we surmise?

First, that assdamn or damnass would be completely acceptable words on television.

Second, that godhole or holegod would be bleeped.

Thank you for your kind attention, and a good assdamn to all.

[GOPisEvil]

1. Actually, you must either bleep the god or the damn in "goddamn".

That was according to my editor friend, citing FCC rules of several years ago.

[elperromagico]

4. That is still absolutely stupid, as neither word on its own

is unacceptable.

If it were "godfuck," I could understand the bleeping.

[GOPisEvil]

6. It's the FCC...whaddya gonna do?

But, I can understand religious people having an objection to that word. I disagree, but I understand the argument.

[elperromagico]

11. Well, I intend to get the phrase "cornhole" censored.

As a proud consumer of corn, I am offended by this phrase.

Also, there are too many states nowadays. Please eliminate three. :D

[zbdent]

17. Smokey and the Bandit was comical in the late 70s or early 80s

The first time it played on TV, they bleeped the "damn".

A few years later, they bleeped the "God".

Go figure . . .

[Cerridwen]

2. ROTFLMbleepO -n/t

[Scrooge]

3. deep

I want whatever it is that you are taking right now. <good natured teasing> :)

[madison2000]

5. Bleeping in "A Chorus Line"

I watched that now oldie movie of "A Chorus Line" with Michael Douglas a few months ago. There's a song performance Leslie Ann Warren does called "Tits and Ass"... only you can't say "tits" on televsion apparently. It was pretty funny hearing the other half of that line over and over again!

[elperromagico]

8. That's another interesting thing.

Two words, the same meaning. One is acceptable, one is not.

Tits - Unacceptable. Breasts/Boobs et cetera - Acceptable.

Shit - Unacceptable. Manure/Crap/Dung/Poop/et cetera - Acceptable.

Fuck - Unacceptable. Too many words to mention - Acceptable.

And so on. I wonder if anyone at the FCC has ever come face to face with a thesaurus.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

22. Wait...

I thought shit was now acceptable. :shrug: They said it on NYPD Blue. They say it on South PArk. What is going on? I'm confused.
Duckie

[elperromagico]

27. The censoring of "shit" is inconsistent.

With their rating (TV-MA) and their late broadcast hour, NYPD Blue and South Park can get away with using "shit."

But for the most part, "shit" is bleeped.

[TheMightyFavog]

30. Besides, Cable does not have the same restrictions as broadcast TV...

Although with a Scalia-run Supreme Court, that could change. :scared:

[Mad_Dem_X]

28. They say "bullshit" all the time on NYPD Blue

Maybe that's more acceptable than just saying "shit"???

[Liberal Veteran]

7. Cock and sucker is another example.....

You can say cock (The cock crowed), you can say sucker.

But don't put them together.

[realisticphish]

9. assdamn

im gonna start using that....


:hippie: THe Incorrigible Democrat

[jakefrep]

19. I like godhole better n/t

[pk_du]

10. Mother and fucker is another good example.......oh

never mind..

[PragMantisT]

12. AMC showed "Blazing Saddles" today

and they bleeped "Methodists". swear to god.

[Kellanved]

13. strange indeed

What I find even more strange is that a few local networks have started to *bleep* words in their shows - just to appear American, as there is no regulation or anything forcing them to do so.
:shrug:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

23. People have started bleeping Jesus...

:wtf:
Duckie

[da_chimperor]

14. Assgod! Shit that's funny.

:D

[SmileyBoy]

15. Have you people been watching George Carlin again???

:D:D:D

[signmike]

16. Cock, Tit, Boobie . . .

They're all birds. Dickie, too. I bet ya can't mention cats, either, huh. Buncha pussies. Though Tom Leikis says it all the time on Talk Radio

And they say 'Asshole' a lot on NYPD Blue.

I was watching a movie the other night - maybe it was Diehard 2 (?) - on TV and they were bleeping out 'Bastard' but 'Fucker' and 'Motherfucker' were allowed.

[eyesroll]

18. YOU SLUG IN A DITCH!

That's my favorite overdub.
I heard it once on some action film, sliced to pieces on USA.

[signmike]

21. In Miami Blues Fred Ward says

"I know you think I'm a weak sack..."
(TV version)

Huh? WTF? Can't say 'weak suck'?

[UpsideDownFlag]

20. i've always wondered about the bleeping of the 'hole', too. weird stuff.

[Flammable Materials]

24. FCC = Freeper Christian Censorship n/t

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

25. LOL!

[Philostopher]

26. When they show Steve Martin's 'The Jerk' on broadcast TV ...

in the original movie version, Navin Johnson calls the dog 'Shithead' at the suggestion of someone who doesn't like the dog. All through the movie, he calls for Shithead in an affectionate voice -- it's really quite funny.

When they show it on TV, they overdub 'Stupid.'

Ruins the whole joke.

[Mad_Dem_X]

29. I've seen that - ruins the whole thing

I've seen "The Usual Suspects" on basic cable, and they censor that movie to death. During the lineup, where they all say, "Give me the keys, you fucking cocksucker," they're dubbed in saying, "Give me the keys, you fairy godmother." LMAO!:eyes: