Why Sex Words Are Kept Out of Dictionaries

Warning: This article contains a lot of vulgar words, which is not suitable for people with weak hearts to read. Children should read under the guidance of their parents.

In 1996, Jess Stein, the chief editor of the Random House English Dictionary, talked about a meeting he had with company editors and salespeople discussing the words "cunt" (vagina) and "fuck" (fuck) in an interview with The New York Times. He said: "When I said these two words, there was a commotion in the room, and everyone felt awkward." "This made me believe that these two words cannot be found in the dictionary, although I will certainly be considered too decisive because of this."

On the last point, Stein was soon proved right: Just two weeks later, a book reviewer for Time Magazine wrote: "Unfortunately, those hypocritical fools have excluded the most widely used words in English. There is no doubt that the reason is 'elegant'; but such omissions seem a bit silly and irresponsible for the scope and purpose of the dictionary."