Aster*sks
Prompted by this thread I would welcome a discussion about asterisks and their uses. Some I think have become common parlance on the Ship, such as "sn*w" - where it's fairly clear what the missing vowel is, also from context, also because an asterisk looks like a snowflake. In other places it is not so clear. At times we seem to use them to avoid naming specific products or organisations (to avoid any hint of advertising?). Are there other reasons? Can we find ways to use them without losing clarity?
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It certainly seems to be used most frequently for the names of people that are considered by some music snobs here as inferior musicians.
That assumes the use of asterisks as described is actually humorous, which I think is debatable.
I actually wondered whether, at least when it comes to names, replacing letters with asterisks already falls under the rule about not changing someone’s name, except in Hell.
I was just looking at the thread that prompted this - and the uses are ridiculous, IMO. It makes it impossible for me (and so, I presume some others) to know what is being talked about. It means I cannot know whether I want to join in or contribute. Maybe that is the point, but it shouldn't be.
I can see it working in a humourous context - in some cases. I can see that there are a few names that people don't want to sully their fingers with. I would totally understand President T**** and the MP N**** F******. In the right threads, these are probably clear - although the second one might be confusing to non-UK posters.
And this divergence of posters is important to recognise. Not everyone knows that John Rutter is not greatly liked among choirs, due to overuse.
Guilty as charged - apologies
In this case, while I am not a fan, on a Christian board, it is sufficiently well known across everyone that it is probably fine.
And I get the reasons for this.
It is one specific bowdlerization for God on a board where God is referenced a lot. If you did this for Ang_ls and D_v_l and H_ly Sp_r_t I would start to question it.
To which Caissa responds: Yes, in deference to my observant Jewish friends.
Interesting - I’d actually read @ThunderBunk ’s post in the exact opposite way, as in ‘resist attempts to police what and how I write’
A reminder of the potential consequences of posting in a certain style is not, I don’t think, an attempt to “police” how another posts, especially when it doesn’t come from hosts or admins.
Are asterisks a way of self-censoring on Facebook or does the algorithm catch them these days?
Yep - and, as I said, I don't actually have a problem with it, in fact, I admire your concern for others.
I just didn't want to say this was something that should be stretched.
Context normally clarifies this. And on this board, I think God is most likely.
Does it not relate to the requirement to provide a translation when writing in a language other than English, no matter how well known the non-English phrase might be in the English-spelling world?
(Re-lurking)
Yes, I thought that. Presumably, the point of asterisks is to hide something. OK, this can be humorous, but quite often, I just can't decipher it. It doesn't bug me a lot.
I've not been caught yet when using asterisks. But mostly I use other letters (fvck) or non-Latin letters, or symbols. An omicron looks just like an 'o' but I doubt the algorithm can detect it.
'the Pr*nce R*g*nt and the M*rqu*s of St*yne were seen on Tuesday in a carriage in Brighton with Mrs B*cky Cr*wl*y wife of the Governor of C*v*ntry Island'
might be referring to someone else other than the heir to the throne, the Marquis of Steyne and Mrs Crawley née Sharp.
ETA I see i misread your post somewhat. Sorry! Still, i think it's worth pointing out that not everybody has legal concerns on their mind when they asterisk, even in a very much discussed case.
Me too!
The thread I referenced in the OP started with a post containing "Tr*** M***s" which baffled me for quite a while as we don't have a Trago Mills superstore anywhere near us and I've never been to one. I suspect they are UK only so our non-UK shipmates couldn't be expected to know what it stood for. And I didn't understand why it was obscured, and still don't - was it to avoid any hint of advertising or are the names dirty words because going there is a dreadful experience?
In subsequent posts there follows "Ru**er" and "l***d-w****r", the first fairly easily guessed, the second puzzling (at least to me) not least because of the lack of capital letters. @Roseofsharon 's post upthread seems to have hit on the reasons why these were obscured.
I did not get the second of those at all: it never even occurred to me, and I just wondered who was being referred to as a lurid-wanker.... (yes, that's what my brain substituted).
I'll get my coat.
Oh yes, I suddenly have! Presumably *ndr*w rather than J**i*n.
In the past, I've tended to use asterisks as quotation marks - *Sun-Shine*, instead of 'Sun-Shine' - partly because I never seem able to easily find the quotation marks " or ' on the QWERTY keyboard...I've only been using a keyboard for 60 years, so bear with me. I'm Old, and Feak and Wheeble, and Not Long For This World.
I'm now trying to stop doing this, and apologise for offence caused heretofore, though AFAIK no-one's called me out for it.
One would presume so, but what about William?
Not being particularly familiar with his work, I can't be sure that the type of church music he wrote was of sufficient quality to avoid asteriskism
The real fault with quotes is when people open a quote then never close it. So you can't always be sure whose words are whose. Parentheses are similar.
In my book at least there's no need for an apology for that as the asterisks in those cases don't obfuscate the meaning. I have no idea what that's supposed to stand for.
An abbv is a hndy wy 2 shrtn up a wrd
But wn it's crrd 2 xtrms the pnt bcms absrd
Brill...!