The Dirty Talk Of The Town
May 31, 2011 7:14 PM Subscribe
The Awl compiles a history of profanity at The New Yorker. Padgett Powell once said that the usage rules used to be so restrictive, he was forced to change "big-butt sheriff" to "big-bubba sheriff" in "The Winnowing of Mrs. Schuping" (1991; great story).
Somebody owns the Complete New Yorker on DVD.
posted by briank at 7:42 PM on May 31, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by briank at 7:42 PM on May 31, 2011 [2 favorites]
Penis -- 1981
Vagina -- 1995
That's both sad and unsurprising.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:54 PM on May 31, 2011 [2 favorites]
Vagina -- 1995
That's both sad and unsurprising.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:54 PM on May 31, 2011 [2 favorites]
The penis always comes first, Bitter.
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:23 PM on May 31, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:23 PM on May 31, 2011 [3 favorites]
If you are interested in detailed editing... or possibly obsessive over-editing, About Town: The New Yorker And The World It Made has all of the inspirational/horror (depending upon your view) stories about editing you might imagine. (Like in one case, almost a full decade from submission to publication; the number of revisions involved, I lost count).
I wouldn't agree with everything William Shawn felt, but I would agree with one of his maxims: "Never publish a short story about a writer writing a story". He easily cut away a lot of crap with this one.
posted by ovvl at 9:28 PM on May 31, 2011 [3 favorites]
I wouldn't agree with everything William Shawn felt, but I would agree with one of his maxims: "Never publish a short story about a writer writing a story". He easily cut away a lot of crap with this one.
posted by ovvl at 9:28 PM on May 31, 2011 [3 favorites]
shit
First used: 1976, Gabriel García Márquez, "The Autumn of the Patriarch"
I'm pretty sure that got in there just because the editor was already exhausted by the time he got to "nigger whorehouse," saw that he was barely a quarter through the one of the world's most impressive run-on sentence and just said "Fuck this shit."
posted by Panjandrum at 3:18 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
First used: 1976, Gabriel García Márquez, "The Autumn of the Patriarch"
I'm pretty sure that got in there just because the editor was already exhausted by the time he got to "nigger whorehouse," saw that he was barely a quarter through the one of the world's most impressive run-on sentence and just said "Fuck this shit."
posted by Panjandrum at 3:18 AM on June 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
"The Winnowing of Mrs. Schuping"
They took the "t" out of her name too.
posted by chavenet at 4:06 AM on June 1, 2011 [4 favorites]
They took the "t" out of her name too.
posted by chavenet at 4:06 AM on June 1, 2011 [4 favorites]
anal and asshole were fairly recent, probably because no one at the new yorker has an anus.
posted by jonmc at 5:06 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 5:06 AM on June 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
« Older Milo Goes To The Movies | The Wikipedia of symbology. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:15 PM on May 31, 2011 [1 favorite]