A constant irritation for the American political writer is that there exists within his discipline a vulgar slang word for which there is no polite alternative.
He can’t simply write the word “ratf**ker,” since it’s unsuitable for print in most publications. Yet, there isn’t a synonym in the English language that communicates as vividly and honestly, with all the sleaze and heavy breathing, the specific flavor of gutterball political sabotage captured by the naughty word.
He could censor or edit the term, but that’s no good either. It would abandon readers to attempt a crossword puzzle for a word that many of them have never heard. The pundit is therefore left to rely on inadequate stand-ins, including “dirty trickster,” which are worse than watered down; they’re misleading. Rather than convey, as does the naughty slang word, a specific flavor of depravity and ruthlessness, the stand-ins present an incorrect image of a puckish, somewhat lovable rogue.
We see much the same misrepresentation whenever the press attempts to cover the left-wing fringe, presenting its spittle-flecked rage and violence as mischievous righteousness or merely cheeky.
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