Books without swear words - there's an app for that

[QuantumIguana]

If someone wants to use this app, they are free to do so (at least as far as I am concerned, I don't know if there are any copyright concerns). And I'll point and laugh.

[rdfry]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The appropriate thing for concerned parents to do would be to have the Clean Hear app implanted directly into their child's brain. That way; books, movies, music, conversation, what have you ... the app intercepts the inappropriate word before it can be perceived by the child, and an apppropriate substitution can be made at that time. Bada bing bada boom.

Even when parents "mess" up and drop a few "m"-bombs of their own, they can take comfort in the knowledge that little Johnny will never have to suffer the shock of hearing his parents (or anyone) curse. Ever. Heck, you could let the merchant marines babysit him with complete peace of mind.

Then of course there's the Clean See add-on module--guaranteed to blur all exposed naughty bits in real-time.

I think it would be better I.f it was planted in these parents brains instead.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by rdfry

I think it would be better I.f it was planted in these parents brains instead.

No -- that would be censorship.

[pendragginp]

Oh, well, if that was all... I am fine with that. I'm not a liberal.
Best we avoid that line of thought, though -- unless you'd like to continue a dangerously political topic in the opt-in Politics and Religion subforum.

To be clear, I wasn't using 'liberal' in the political sense, but in the 'open-minded tolerant' sense.

[eschwartz]

I am intolerant of other peoples' stupidity, then.

[idraw22]

sounds like something to ban your own books

[murg]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I am intolerant of other peoples' stupidity, then.

Please don't leave me straight lines this this...

[RobertDDL]

Originally Posted by Hitch

That was Carlin's point in his (updated) routine, and mine, a few posts ago. You see it; your brain processes it; you hear the word in your head. How on EARTH can that possibly be somehow different than seeing it in print?

Hm... there might be an explanation -- this might be classical magic thinking? By speaking out a demon's name, you summon him? (or her?) By speaking out a "bad" word, you bring about the bad thing? But you can avoid the danger by using a substitute word. I don't know how common this is in English, but in German god-fearing people shy (or at least shied) away from speaking out the Devil's name, from saying "der Teufel" -- he might hear it, and show up -- but you can safely say "der Leibhaftige" ("the Incarnate") or "der Gottseibeiuns" ("the God-be-with-us"). Like any demon, he only responds to his proper name.

Reading a spelled out "bad" word, the reader would then be confronted with the fact that someone has carelessly, defiantly, or (quite possibly) with evil intentions said it, and thus risked to invoke the evil, instead of taking the sensible precaution of using an euphemism, to let sleeping demons sleep? And by having to read this word, the reader would even be made the writer's reluctant accomplice?

These demons might be demons of the mind, of course...

[pendragginp]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I am intolerant of other peoples' stupidity, then.

Got it -

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Or look at it another way: it may be a good way to expand what you permit the child to read, simply because of a few words.

if you do feel that your child is not yet read for those sorts of words, then find books that don't contain them. There are plenty of good books out there that don't use those sorts of words that are good. Then when your child is read, left him/her have at those books with the words if that's what they want to read. But don't tell your child, here you go now you can read this because you are mature enough to handle those words. Just give the child the option to read the books because they are good books.

Trust is to be earned, not given. Children who understand that are probably prepared to read those bad words because they understand that using bad words is a way to lose trust. Hopefully they would also have enough sense to ask about those words to understand why they are bad. Children who do not understand that trust is earned are unlikely to be prepared to read those bad words. It is best if each parent makes that decision based upon their own child, rather than letting an app do it. On the other hand, letting the app do it is making the decision after a fashion.

Yes, trust is to be earned, but you also don't not trust your kids until they do something to deserve that. My parents never said I could not read something because it was not right for me. I made my own book choices. I have to say, they if anything wasn't appropriate reading, it was some of the books we read for school. That's a problem. It's one parents cannot solve. How do you tell your child's school that what was assigned as schoolwork is inappropriate?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RobertDDL

Hm... there might be an explanation -- this might be classical magic thinking? By speaking out a demon's name, you summon him? (or her?) By speaking out a "bad" word, you bring about the bad thing? But you can avoid the danger by using a substitute word. I don't know how common this is in English, but in German god-fearing people shy (or at least shied) away from speaking out the Devil's name, from saying "der Teufel" -- he might hear it, and show up -- but you can safely say "der Leibhaftige" ("the Incarnate") or "der Gottseibeiuns" ("the God-be-with-us"). Like any demon, he only responds to his proper name.

So, use a profane word often enough means it'll happen? Let the F word fly!

[susan_cassidy]

How does a piece of software distinguish between bitch, meaning a female dog, and bitch, as in "she's a bitch"? Does it translate all occurrences to female dog? What about other words that I, personally would have a hard time coming up with a succinct translation for, like c---, for describing a woman? I hate that word, but how to substitute for it? Bitch? Female dog?

[eschwartz]

But it doesn't mean "female dog", if it meant that it would be all right.

Any instance of the word "bitch" is the other meaning, and must be immediately censored and replaced by "witch".

Even if it turns out to have been talking about dog breeding. I guess dogs are notorious practitioners of black magic -- especially the mothers.

...
This would be exactly (one of) the reason why this app is being treated so skeptically.

[Rich_D]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

My parents never censored what I read. I used the library and I bought books. I bought what I liked to read. I didn't go reading books because they had curse words in them, I read because I liked what I was reading. What my parents did for me was to trust me.

Parents who feel the need to have words changed in the books their kids read do not trust them and that's worse than the words the kids might be reading.

Same here. My brother was 9 years older than me and I typically grabbed my reading material from his bookshelves.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

The impression I get from the Guardian article is that you have to buy the books from the app publisher.

That makes sense. I was wondering how they got around the fact that most ebooks are encrypted, and the app would need to know how to decrypt them to access the original contents.