Bad Words in the Dictionary Make Bad Times for Editors

When my sister and I were little we used to cross "tionary" off of the front of  the "Dictionary." Because even though it was spelled incorrectly, we still got a kick out of seeing "Dic" [sic] on a book.

But how do dictionary editors handle real vulgar words?

One major problem dictionary editors face in defining sexual terms is deciding how explicit to be. Defining coitus as "an act of sexual intercourse" but leaving sexual intercourse undefined, for example (on the grounds that a reader could figure it out from the definitions of sexual and intercourse), would be a problem, not only because it makes the reader do too much page-flipping but also because the definitions probably still won't be sufficiently clear. [Slate]

Not really a problem we had to deal with as kids, as we were crossing "tionary" off of the children's dictionary. But this, folks, is why we all need the Urban Dictionary.

[Via BuzzFeed]