In an age where “damn” and “shit” have all but lost their vulgarity status, the word “cunt” still remains one of those words not used in polite society. In fact, the word is considered so taboo that editors at the Chicago Tribune reportedly went to great lengths to stop publication of a feature story examining the usage of the word, interchangeably used as slang for vagina or a woman.
The article, written by a freelancer, quoted academics, cultural icons, and everyday women about the use of the word – though the word “cunt” was never actually used in the article.
The Wall Street Journal reports that senior editors of the Tribune scrambled to stop the distribution of the offending article once they found out what the missing letter in the article titled “You c_nt say that" was.
Even though the article was approved by the editors who oversee WomanNews, the paper's weekly women’s section, when Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski learned of its existence she demanded the article be pulled; literally.
The article had already been printed by the time she had heard, so Lipinski ordered senior editors to manually pull the section out of pre-printed packages – but they didn’t have time to remove every copy of the article – hundreds of the Tribune’s approximately 500,000 subscribers received the article.
The Tribune offered an apology in today’s edition of the newspaper. "Senior editors determined that the story was inappropriate after the preprinted section went to press. Most copies were removed from Wednesday's edition of the paper, though a relatively small number of copies may still contain it.
“A new version of the section was printed in time to be distributed to a substantial number of readers today. Those who did not receive the revised section will find it in Thursday's Tribune. The Tribune regrets any offense and inconvenience to its readers."
The Chicago Tribune is owned by Tribune Co, the parent company of the Los Angeles Times.
