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Perhaps you’ve noticed too. On occasion some words are blipped out. A word that seems to get this treatment fairly often is (in fainthearted and family friendly print version) Grape minus G. I’d guess this is seen as protecting sensibilities without (as I see it) doing anything useful. 

I’ll wager that no person on the receiving end of a g-less grape feels even one bit better or less violated. But, o my gosh, doesn’t the tale of unmentionables run on long and then some ways beyond?

Current in popular culture we had he-who-could-not-be-mentioned (maybe aka Tom or possibly by another name) the infant-scarring enemy of baby Potter. As a literary device to build fear and uncertainty, OK. Maybe one could argue that even the mal sounding V name was not ill and evil enough to portray the malignancy wished (not that we’re wishing for it, are we). 

How and why grape minus g became discarded usage is puzzling to me as the way orient and oriental were cast off. What was so awful with orient? 

Bear with me a bit, but in my earlier years I saw frequent use of (don’t run) the confederate or rebel battle flag, never (so far as was evident to me) to support the reintroduction of slavery. Never. That flag (a use I didn’t cotton, or perhaps I should say nylon, to) simply showed rebelliousness or defiance of authority. It seems a strange, could say questionable, support of freedom to squelch unfettered expression. 

This is a problem, same as the worthy aim of hate speech law becomes quick-as-a-wink prosecution for state or religious blasphemy.

In our routine daily lives we often skirt (non-sexist variety) round these issues as we do avoiding potholes or bumps. But in skirting the worst of either pit or peak we don’t escape the overall issue. 

I have a story. Fondness for Mark Twain led to eventual performances of a one-man-person-being-performer performance of a stage (un-coached) show covering parts of  MT’s life story. 

If you’re familiar with Holbrook’s Mark Twain Tonight you’d have half the show, the rest in my version focusing on his brothers (Orion and Henry in particular), his mother and wife, Livvy. 

O’ course, can’t do Mark without Huck, a character now near impossible to understand. It’s not that early-teen Huck is so difficult to understand. More the case is the inability of critics to see outside and beyond the blasphemy box. (I’m tempted to say a good deal more about the importance of Huck as an American character free to stagger and struggle as best he was able, but I’ll leave that Adventure  of for you to fill in.)

Doing the Twain program a few places I was struck by the appearances of worried-looking administrators whispering in confidence (why they couldn’t come out and say was funny to me) their sincerest form of public sentiment in hope I’d not use certain suspect-forbidden words in the program. There was to be no blasphemy in my “service” in their “jurisdiction.” 

I understood and obeyed and thought them weak educators sacrificing too-too much for their stand on societal correctness. 

Oh, I got it, and I obeyed those scummy little directives, all the while wondering why we’d want to soften and dilute and thereby avoid the serious challenge of trying to be fair toward (such as themselves) the sanctimonious and bitterest opponents of fairness. 

There is no fairness if obedience is placed and counted first. In an orthodox form, presumed or assigned fairness no more than following orders or applying blanket regulation. Not always good.

Take as example the non-arguable presumption of innocence until guilt proven. I have no quarrel with that. None. 

But for a few moments let’s consider how our handling of the presumption of innocence can innocently run awry. How? In plain talk we end up with accuser and accused as near equally weighted. But in a way not equally weighted because the accused becomes refigured into a victim of accusation. It’s as if nothing occurred to prompt the accusation. 

In some instances that can be true, but I suspect the majority of times accusation arises from an occurrence or event. An accusation is the result of something having happened. Accusations are not spontaneous attacks on innocence. 

If innocence was subject to arbitrary attack should we not see fire departments running to hose down buildings not aflame or police cars pulling pedestrians over for speeding? Accused and accuser are not equal ways of saying victimizer and victim.

It’s not difficult to recognize the real or imagined importance attached to identifying words if we consider the contemporary concern over humble little pronouns. The field is wide, everything from “call me anything but late for dinner’ to meal-day-week-etc. ruined by misapplying mam-sir-it-you. Having, I hope fervently, half a wit to my credit I’ll not wade in the goldfish filled pronoun pool. We got bigger fish to filet and fry, we do. Words-labels are fundamental to our ability to reason and manipulate without physically handling objects, events, etc. Words matter so much that we can’t do without them. Therefore, they are often misused-abused. We accept advocacy from “communities” when (if such a body existed in fact) it would be impossible for an elected person to represent all. In short, we accept a certain amount of puff as going-with-the-territory of expression. Doesn’t mean we should not question. Do ward, member or citizen of mean the same? How do we separate guest, resident, owner, visitor, landlord, occupant and renter? The existence of individual terms says these are not the same thing, but can these categories be confused, maybe for purpose?

Accepting loose prescriptive definition brings confusion, chaos and calamity by denying a base of common ground or shared, accepted understanding. In past I’ve called this pigeon chess where the bird flaps onto the board, defecates and scatters pieces before flapping off cooing victory. No society can succeed under the stress of limited definition one day followed by assuming infinite interpretation the next. Calling for suspension of belief in gravity doesn’t mean it’s wise practice to throw away your parachute.