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Bowdlerize

By grrlscientist on November 6, 2006.

I just started reading Richard Dawkins' new book, The God Delusion, and already discovered an interesting new word.

Bowdlerize (bohd-luh-rahyz, boud-) [Origin: 1830-40; after Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825), the English editor who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818.]

tr.v.

  1. To expurgate (a book, for example) prudishly.
  2. To modify, as by shortening or simplifying or by skewing the content in a certain manner.
  3. to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

Usage: The very word 'religions' is bowdlerized to 'communities', as in 'intercommunity warfare'.

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I grew up amoung devout Utah mormons ... who have bowdlerizations for everything. One of my long time favorite words.

Sounds like what the Bush administration does with some of the science reports it doesn't like.