A.W.A.D. - Banning of Books Words

with Anu Garg

Librarians and booksellers are two of my favorite people. Anyone who loves books so much as to dedicate his life to them can't be all that bad.

Unfortunately there are some who feel threatened by certain books and call for them to be banned or destroyed. People have a right to be offended by any book. All they have to do is not buy or borrow it. The problem begins when they try to impose their views on others by trying to ban it.

As an antidote to banning, the last week of September is observed in the US as Banned Books Week. To celebrate it, this week we are going to feature five words relating to censorship and mutilation of books.

Even though people after whom some of these words are coined have long gone, censorship is still alive. But there's hope. I leave you with this thoughtful letter from a librarian to a patron.

comstockery
PRONUNCIATION: (KOM-stok-uh-ree, KUM-)
MEANING: noun: Overzealous censorship of material considered obscene

ETYMOLOGY: After Anthony Comstock (1844-1915), founder of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. He crusaded against anything he considered immoral. Nothing escaped his wrath -- even anatomy textbooks for medical students and the draping of mannequins in public view in shop windows were obscene to him. He lobbied for laws against mailing any material that could be perceived as promoting immorality.

He was appointed postal inspector and he seized books, postcards, and other materials by the boatload. He boasted that he had arrested more than 3,000 people and driven more than 15 to suicide. George Bernard Shaw coined the word comstockery after him when he attacked the American production of Shaw's play "Mrs. Warren's Profession".

USAGE: "The language and thought police are hardly some Orwellian invention; America has been unusually susceptible to plagues of Comstockery and self-righteous tomfoolery." Jon Newlin; Well, Shut My Mouth; Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana); Oct 13, 1996.

imprimatur
PRONUNCIATION: (im-pri-MAH-tuhr, -MAY-)
MEANING: noun:
1. Approval or authority; imprint
2. A license to print or publish, especially one issued by a censor of the Roman Catholic Church

ETYMOLOGY: From New Latin imprimatur (let it be printed), from imprimere (to imprint), from in- (in) + premere (to press). Ultimately from the Indo-European root per- (to strike) that also gave us print, press, pressure, compress, impress, express, and espresso.

USAGE: "Under the new arrangement, the books will be published under the Anne Geddes imprimatur." Lynn Andriani; Perseus to Distribute Photographer Anne Geddes; Publishers Weekly (New York); Jul 16, 2009.

"The fact that the answer has the imprimatur of Cabinet does not necessarily mean that the information is correct or relevant." Julian Kenny; Of Sardines and Red Herrings; Trinidad and Tobago Express; Jun 30 2009.

bowdlerize
PRONUNCIATION: (BOAD-luh-ryz)
MEANING: verb tr.: To remove or change parts (of a book, play, movie, etc.) considered objectionable

ETYMOLOGY: After Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825), a British doctor, who edited the Family Shakespeare, an expurgated edition of William Shakespeare's works. Bowdler believed the original wasn't suitable for the delicate sensibilities of women and children. He also edited other books, such as Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Old Testament in a similar manner.

USAGE: "The film [The Birth of a Nation] faced more courtroom challenges than any movie before or since, and many locales did ban or bowdlerize the movie." Gary Susman; Riot Acts; Entertainment Weekly; Nov 23, 2005.

nihil obstat
PRONUNCIATION: (NY-hil OB-stat, NEE-)
MEANING: noun:
1. Official approval
2. In the Roman Catholic Church, a statement by a church censor that a book is not offensive to the Church

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin nihil obstat (nothing hinders), from nihil (nothing) + obstare (to hinder), from ob- (against) + stare (to stand). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sta- (to stand) that is also the source of stay, stage, stable, instant, establish, static, and system.

USAGE: "The Army Corps of Engineers last week gave its nihil obstat to the Hudson River Park, New York City's scheme." New York's Finny Friends; New York Post; Jun 5, 2000.

grangerize
PRONUNCIATION: (GRAYN-juh-ryz)
MEANING: verb tr.:
1. To mutilate a book by clipping pictures out of it
2. To illustrate a book by adding pictures cut from other books

ETYMOLOGY: After James Granger (1723-1776), an English clergyman whose Biographical History of England had blank leaves for illustrations, to be filled with pictures, clippings, etc. by the reader.

USAGE: "Bagtoothian looked up from his reading, An Illustrated History of Sparta, which he proceeded to grangerize." Roger Rosenblatt; Beet: A Novel; HarperCollins; 2008.