Swearing, Symbolically

Getting back to those not-fit-to-print four-letter words: You’ve likely seen a string of keyboard characters standing in for inappropriate language (e.g., %@$&*!), but you might not know the word for it: grawlix. Cartoonist Mort Walker is credited with coining the term, though comic strips were using symbols or squiggles for swear words as early as 1902, long before Sarge was hurling obscenities at the hapless Beetle Bailey.