“What does one call the use of random non-alphabet characters to indicate cursing? It’s a universally understood device, and is applied in both graphic and textual settings. It is such a commonly accepted staple that I assumed it must already be defined and described — but apparently it’s not.”

Word of the day: Grawlix, “a string of typographical symbols used (especially in comic strips) to represent an obscenity or swear word.”

UPDATE: Not really any flickr sets dedicated to grawlix, but retronomatopeya is a flickr set of vintage comic scans showing some lovely sound effects.

Word of the day: Mamihlapinatapai.

It describes a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start. This could perhaps be translated more succinctly as “eye-contact implying ‘after you…’”. A more literal approximation is “ending up mutually at a loss as to what to do about each other”.