What the F***?

WORD's Profanity blocker censored my words as they appeared on the page. I felt violated as a writer. And pissed off as an American.

This is a writing story AND it is a story of what it’s like to live in this time and place.

First, the writing story: I finally get my butt to chair to write, using Microsoft Word to transfer handwritten material to the page by using voice to text dictation. To make it more effective, I use my best clear English (not New Joisy) accent. It’s working pretty well until I dictate these words: “I feel like a real bitch,” and bitch appears as b****.

At first, I’m stunned. Whether I type or dictate, I always feel the work I do on Word is a sacred space, between me and me. I made it d***n clear I do NOT want CoPilot to “help” me. Second of all, bitch being censored? Bitch? don’t even consider that a curse word.

Out loud, I say What the fuck? Auto dictate writes it as What the F***?

Fortunately, I am allowed retype the curse word using the cursor. But what a pain in the a**ss! I’m pissed off (is that another one that can be starred and sanitized?) and determined to find out why this is happening.

I have my suspicions. For some reason, as I started the session, I tried to activate Voice Dictation in WORD. It didn’t work. I did a Google search which pulled up lots of Eastern European men on You Tube telling me how to Fix Auto Dictate on Word, none of which worked. So, I used a little trick I leaned eons ago. I press WIN (windows icon keypad) + H. Voila! I get voice to text.

It’s all going fine until I cross the line of civility by cursing. I return to Google to try and find out why my words are being gutted by a line of stars. This is when I find out the WIN+8 key, has a default function called “Profanity Blocker.”

Again, What the f***k? And default? Really?

In the past, I might be amused or annoyed. But now, where the right to speak is becoming increasingly threatened, I am outraged.

I can’t help it. I am an American. I am not used to this shit. Especially in my writing. Don’t tech programmers know that writers like to have their thoughts spill out on the page as they see it? Do they think I’m some kind of AI program that needs to be gently reminded this is a “no-no?”

I am not AI. I am a potty mouth girl/woman who quotes herself liberally on the page. Who tries to render my experience through words as fully as possible. To have this machine strip that power and tell me what to write or not write is absurd. I have my own self-censor, thank you. It’s more than enough.

So, I’m back to this, to being able to use the words of my culture to light a fire on the page when needed for emphasis. And not being corrected for it.

Was there ever a time that needed profanity more?