They are all in a dictionary like Ultralingua, of course.
And as you say, Cliff, they should all be in both the dictionary and thesaurus, full stop. e.g. Ultralingua: nigger [n.] Ethnic slur; offensive name for Black person; ink your correspondent has a point. The problem with such filters is where do you stop? Indeed, where do you start? So you blot out some words to do with race, but what about words to do with sexual orientation? How about regional differences? Ask the mighty Kraft corporation (part of Campbell's soups now, aren't they, or something?). They still sell "Coon" cheese here in Oz -- but I believe the brand has been dropped just about everywhere else in the world because of the racist overtones ("Coon" has been used here by a tiny proportion of the population, those of the totally crimson neck, but it was never widely used). "Bloody" triggers three chillies in Eudora, but we have a government agency, the Transport Accident Commission, which runs TV and radio commercials and print ads with the punchline -- "Drink and drive? You're a bloody idiot!" Do you catch both "ass" and "arse"? How often do you update?
It all gets to be ridiculous. Imagine writing an academic treatise on the subject and having to constantly defer to the ruddy offensive filter.
Does anyone remember that marvellous piece -- who did it? Victor Borge? "Elderly man river, you just keep rollin' ... uh ... rolling ... " (I am sure it was an American, but it was with piano and for the moment, I the only comedian I can remember on piano was the redoubtable Dane.)
Cheers Geoff
At 8:34 PM -0500 27/2/04, Cliff Bender wrote:
Mark Hurvitz wrote:Dear Nisusoids,
We recently received some odd correspondence regarding the Nisus Thesaurus.
Rather than quoting and responding point by point to this, um, extremely queer exchange, I will simply state:
1. Because Nisus Express does not offer the feature set I need for my work, I am still using 6.5, am was therefore completely unaware that your thesaurus censored anything.
2. Your software should NOT censor ANYTHING.
3. While I didn't know that the thesaurus censored words of any type, I personally find it offensive that it censors "nigger" or ANY other word. Whether one likes or uses the words is irrelevant to the fact that they exist and are used in the English language, as are fuckhead, asshole, idiot, Republican, Liberal, stupid, and wonderful.
A nigger is as different from niggardly as queer is from smart. In other words, they are completely unrelated.
4. My children have been called "Jap", because they are, in fact, half Japanese. But the word "Jap" should still be in the Nisus Thesaurus, uncensored, because it is a pejorative that is, and has been, used in English, both written and spoken. As recently as last weekend.
5. Kill the censor function. Nisus Software, Apple Computer, Microsoft, [insert name, including the United States Government] is not qualified to censor speech, whether it has to do with sexual orientation, racial derivation, or political affiliation.
And you may quote me.
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