I've played D&D before; I know the answer.

You need to roll a 16 or higher on the d20 to hit.

Let me guess, your character was a mathematician or theoretical physicist, Shoe.

Lawson, I was just kidding, but while we're on the subject: if I called one of these conservatives an f-nut, or a-hole, do you think he'd be any less offended than if I simply spelled it out? That's what I never get about censorship of the bleeping variety. Everyone knows what's being said. It runs through your head. Hell, I knew back in grade school, since we were using every curse word we could scrounge up. So, what the fuck ... I mean 'ef'? And is a statement of bigotry any less awful if it's done without curse words? I'd say no, so the censorious have it all a-backwards. Not to mention, remember it's the conservatives who are against censorship and political correctness, so they believe in completely open expression.

No, I'm pretty sure if you called a conservative an f-nut or an a-hole, he'd be offended.

I oppose censorship and I'm glad Comicon.com Web master Rick Veitch (our personal Lord & Saviour) has a relatively relaxed policy about what we can say on this site. For my part, I choose to use my freedom to voluntarily watch my language around people who might be offended by cussing. I do the same thing on the train in the morning or when I stand in line at the movies. It's civility.

When I'm around my buddies (or alone in my car and cut off by the f-nut in the 2006 Lexus SUV), it's a different story.

And of course you can express bigotry and other awful ideas in squeaky-clean language. Plenty of righteous men in the pulpit and at the podium do so. I'm against that, too.

"Everyone knows what's being said. It runs through your head. Hell, I knew back in grade school, since we were using every curse word we could scrounge up. So, what the fuck ... I mean 'ef'? "

I guess you will have to take my word that it doesn't slide down your slippery slope. I am far less shocked when someone uses 'ef' than the full word because it runs as place holder and not all the way through. Whether that is comfort or taste I leave that for you to confuse.

I can't decide if Reece is just an asshole or if he also suffers from a mild form of autism known as Asperger Syndrome .

"Persons with AS show marked deficiencies in social skills, have difficulties with transitions or changes and prefer sameness. They often have obsessive routines and may be preoccupied with a particular subject of interest. They have a great deal of difficulty reading nonverbal cues (body language) and very often the individual with AS has difficulty determining proper body space. Often overly sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights, the person with AS may prefer soft clothing, certain foods, and be bothered by sounds or lights no one else seems to hear or see. It's important to remember that the person with AS perceives the world very differently. Therefore, many behaviors that seem odd or unusual are due to those neurological differences and not the result of intentional rudeness or bad behavior, and most certainly not the result of 'improper parenting'.

"By definition, those with AS have a normal IQ and many individuals (although not all), exhibit exceptional skill or talent in a specific area. Because of their high degree of functionality and their naiveté, those with AS are often viewed as eccentric or odd and can easily become victims of teasing and bullying. While language development seems, on the surface, normal, individuals with AS often have deficits in pragmatics and prosody. Vocabularies may be extraordinarily rich and some children sound like 'little professors.' However, persons with AS can be extremely literal and have difficulty using language in a social context."

He also has some of the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia:

"Delusions are false personal beliefs that are not subject to reason or contradictory evidence and are not explained by a person’s usual cultural concepts. Delusions may take on different themes. For example, patients suffering from paranoid-type symptoms – roughly one-third of people with schizophrenia – often have delusions of persecution, or false and irrational beliefs that they are being cheated, harassed, poisoned, or conspired against."

Lawson, if you don't want to use curse words, don't use them, I say. Putting in a couple of dashes doesn't really accomplish anything but play into some false sense of "decorum" -- i.e., everyone agrees to pretend to not use profanity while actually using it. But, as X says, do whatever you feel comfortable with, 'tain't no shirt off my back.

So, you don't know what 'ef' means, then? Okay. I wonder how Gene will weigh in on this important topic.

There's profanity in itself, and then there's its actual usage. The only person who's been using profanity on this thread in a vitriolic, hateful manner is a conservative evangelical.

K

Don't know what it means or don't have to move my lips when I read something. I guess we know now what you mean by close reading.