grawlix

A series of images or symbols used in speech bubbles in comic strips to indicate one or more swear words.

There is a wealth of comicana waiting for the student with enough drive and depth of understanding. Once he masters the secret of the waftarom, the solrad, and the grawlix, he can mix in any art circle but he's own his own from here on.

Even in today's permissive society many four letter words are not permissible in the comics. […] So the creative mind came up with a variety of "jarns," "quimps," "nittles," and "grawlixes" to help convey a sergeant's strong emotion and add color and dimension to his personality.

A series of images or symbols used in speech bubbles in comic strips to indicate one or more swear words.

When Chicago-based author and illustrator Anders Nilsen was a political-minded college student at University of New Mexico, grawlix granted him a glimmer of fame. Demonstrating against a newly-enacted law, Nilsen wielded a hand-painted sign reading "F*&# Proposition 187." […] As a fellow comic writer, [Paul] Hornschemeier prefers what he calls "the other species" of grawlix, which is when the entire expletive is replaced by symbols. "When you see just the pure symbols, you imagine, 'OK, these are some dirty words,'" he says. "But the reader definitely becomes the author of that filth."

The symbols that work best are those that fill up space: @, #, $, %, and &. Hyphens, plus signs, asterisks and carets (^) leave too much white space within the body of the grawlix for it to look like a single word. […] Because it represents words spoken in anger or excitement, the grawlix should always end with an exclamation mark, even if it's an interrogative grawlix: @#$%&?! Finally, as a word of caution, you should reserve your use of grawlixes for emails to close friends. Grawlixes are highly inappropriate for any professional writing. And about that, at least, I'm not kidding.

A series of images or symbols used in speech bubbles in comic strips to indicate one or more swear words.