ABSTRACT
The famous Australian syndrome in obscenity demonstrates a point where the four-letter words lose their original function, become a kind of verbal goo, and for hardened ears almost lose their audibility. Similarly, in constant repetition with the printed word, the eye tends to become jaded to f-words and their related expletives; and alternative ways to achieve reader titillation are explored. The sexual suggestiveness becomes more allusive; art and fashion and other subjects as remote as real estate are dragged into it, so that the story can carry its punch without always be seen to be hitting below the belt. The chapter discusses the difference between sexual virility and erotic fatigue. It then discusses the a-word to s-word, and their synonyms. The code of carnality depends, to be sure, on the central importance of the f-word in pornographic prose and obscene speech. In referring to German newspaper culture one should, more accurately, speak of the code of scatology.
