Drabinsky trial inspires various takes on the F-bomb

The word fuck had a red-letter outing in yesterday afternoon’s Web reports of the goings-on at the Drabinsky trial. All told, the king of all obscenity found its way into three stories eight times, with only the Globe daring to spell it out in full, while the Star and Post opted for the more genteel f**k.

The context, in case you’re interested, was a letter entered into evidence from former Livent VP Lynda Friendly to Drabinsky, laying out in gory detail a “horrible incident” in which Garth Drabinsky let loose the dog of verbal fornication with considerable abandon. The Greenspans in turn objected to the letter being introduced with showy vigour. Judge Mary Lou Benetto seemed to agree, and the Crown moved on, but not before the fourth estate had taken rather a lot of notice.

This morning’s print versions of the story all sustained their commitment to verisimilitude, with one weird exception. On the Web, the Star spelled it f**k; in the paper, it was f---, the final hyphen acting as a sort of centurion protecting newsprint readers—obviously a more sensitive lot than their hardbitten Web brethren—from the unseemly implications of the letter k.

• Crown paints picture of ‘voluble’ Livent [Globe and Mail] • Drabinsky ‘abusive’ at Livent meetings, trial hears [Toronto Star] • Executive critical of Livent fired [Toronto Star]