Prudism plea

I never thought of myself as a prude, though I did grow up in a world where a printer could (in theory) have gone to jail for printing the f-word — and I’m not sure I disagree too strongly with such a prohibition. I have to admit that I have myself frequently observed parents wincing as I have uttered the forbidden word in front of their children. I apologize. But I do think writing it is worse than saying it, and I think printing it is worse than writing it. Printing it on your book jacket in four colors is probably four times worse than printing it inside, even if you do use grawlix. Not sure having a speech bubble implying that a rat said it makes it any better. Obviously Hachette decided differently in the case of Robert Isaacs’ It’s Hard to be an Animal. Was their legal department confident that the animals don’t have a libel case? I bet those rats are a litigious lot. Apparently the f-word does feature in black and white inside Mr Isaacs’ novel too. At least on one occasion,…