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grawlix

noun
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3 days ago jeffrey.t.whitney said:

mother-@*#$!@#!!!

about 1 month ago yarb said:

He was surely brought up on Mickey Mouse and Porky Pig. He falsettoes in fright, as they do; he zips; he squeals to a halt; he varoo-ooms; he tsks; he thonks. His thonks are worthy of the three Stooges. 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.

- William Gass, The Tunnel

3 months ago reesetee said:

Kmohnkern, the text of your linked page also seems to say that Mort Walker coined the word (5th paragraph from the bottom). Am I missing something?

3 months ago kmohnkern said:

According the A Way with Words, it was Charlie Rice who coined the word.

4 months ago avivamagnolia said:

grawlix (plural grawlixes or grawlix):

Spiral-shaped graphic used to indicate swearing in comic strips.

Also, a string of typographical symbols used (especially in comic strips) to represent an obscenity or swearword. You've seen this stuff a million times: &@$&@!!!

"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." ~1995, William H. Gass, The Tunnel, p.159

4 months ago avivamagnolia said:

Coined by American cartoonist Mort Walker, creator of the Beetle Bailey strip.

10 months ago whichbe said:

Grawlixes Past and Present

10 months ago reesetee said:

Gotcha. :-)

10 months ago msiii said:

@reesetee: Sure, no one's disputing that either. Never said I'd coin a new word. It appeared in several other wordies months ago, but without proper definition.
just want to keep it in my memory (=wordie) :)

10 months ago dontcry said:

I love gravlox...

10 months ago reesetee said:

Msiii, no one's disputing that (I don't think). But I believe Walker was the first to coin a word for them. :-)

10 months ago alohawildcat said:

I thought it was a distant cousin to gravlox.

11 months ago msiii said:

DEF: The use of random non-alphabet characters as one word to indicate cursing? It’s a universally understood device, and is applied in both graphic and textual settings.

about 1 year ago VanishedOne said:

Maybe if you Latinised it as 'graulix, graulicis'...

about 1 year ago reesetee said:

Not according to the inventor of the word, Mort Walker. He called them grawlixes in the plural. :-)

about 1 year ago rolig said:

Wouldn't the plural be grawlices?

about 1 year ago whichbe said:

$%#$%%$ #$@#$@#$ ^&$^# %#)(@#$ #$)(% @#$#@$@ %$^#$!#@$ @ @#$@#$@#$ #@$@#$#@$@

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