Here and There

Update below… 

Okay, so I don’t have photographic evidence, but a few days ago, after coming across the word “shit” in Thomas Friedman’s July 21, 2006 column online, I asked a friend to be on the lookout next day for the expletive in the paper-paper.

Sure enough, she reported back to me that the Gray Lady had indeed printed “shit” in the same op-ed.

Maybe some cursing-is-accepted policy had been adopted by the Times and it just escaped my attention.

But a simple search on the website for the word “shit,” at least, shows that Friedman’s article contains its only appearance.

I’m not sure what this all means, if anything. But I kinda like it. I feel like it’s okay to cuss now. Not that I ever let social mores or protocol stop me from doing it. Not for a fucking second.

Update, 9:41: a second simple search of the Times site shows one result for the word “fuck.” It came in a story from the National Desk titled, “TESTING OF A PRESIDENT; Full Text of Findings Sent to Congress — Part Five of Thirteen” and concerns the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. Perfect. The appearance: “In a recorded conversation later on October 6, Ms. Lewinsky said she wanted two things from the President. The first was contrition: He needed to acknowledge … that he helped fuck up my life.”

How perfect is that?

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