Disemvoweling

File:Ght whln.jpg logo design: disemvoweling of German slogan "Geht wählen" ("Go vote")]]

Disemvoweling, disemvowelling (British and Commonwealth English), or disemvowelment is writing a piece of text with all the vowel letters removed.{{cite web|url=http://www.macmillandictionaries.com/wordoftheweek/archive/070813-disemvowelling.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070624125730/http://www.macmillandictionaries.com/wordoftheweek/archive/070813-disemvowelling.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 June 2007 |title=disemvowelling or disemvoweling |last=Maxwell |first=Kerry |date=13 August 2007 |website=Word of the Week Archive |publisher=Macmillan |access-date=6 October 2009 }} Disemvoweling is often used in band and company names. It used to be a common feature of SMS language where space was costly.

Etymology

The word disemvowel is a pun and portmanteau combining vowel and disembowel. One of the earliest attestations of the word dates back to the 1860s.{{cite journal | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-franklin-repository-personal/136520560/ | title=Personal | work=The Franklin Repository | date=August 14, 1867 | page=2 | via=Newspapers.com | quote=His manner is not in the least cockneyish—as he neither disemvowels his syllables nor asperates his H{{'s}}.}} The 1939 novel Finnegans Wake by James Joyce also uses it: "Secret speech Hazelton and obviously disemvowelled".{{Cite book|last1=Joyce|first1=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cdZaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22obviously+disemvowelled%22|title=Finnegans Wake Book III: A Facsimile of the Galley Proofs|last2=Groden|first2=Michael|date=1978|publisher=Garland Pub.|isbn=978-0-8240-2847-3|pages=397|language=en}}

Use as a moderation tool

A technique dubbed splat out was used by Usenet moderators to prevent flamewars, by substituting a "splat" (i.e., asterisk) for some letters, often the vowels, of highly charged words in postings. Examples include Nazi→N*z*, evolution→*v*l*t**n, gun control→g*n c*ntr*l. According to the Jargon File, "the purpose is not to make the word unrecognizable but to make it a mention rather than a use."{{cite web |url=http://catb.org/jargon/html/S/splat-out.html |title=splat out |last=Raymond |first=Eric |author-link=Eric S. Raymond |website=The Jargon File (version 4.4.7) |access-date=6 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090714033856/http://catb.org/jargon/html/S/splat-out.html |archive-date=14 July 2009 |url-status=live }} The term "disemvoweling"—attested from 1990{{cite web |url=https://groups.google.com/group/comp.risks/browse_thread/thread/54ce5083f674fb96/0e53d1fd3574a017 |title=Risks Digest 10.37 |last=Thomas |first=Martyn |date=31 August 1990 |website=comp.risks |publisher=Google Groups |quote=Censored, even though disemvoweled (as in *br*dg*d or s*n*t*z*d) |access-date=6 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022123925/http://groups.google.com/group/comp.risks/browse_thread/thread/54ce5083f674fb96/0e53d1fd3574a017 |archive-date=22 October 2012 |url-status=live }}—was occasionally used for the splat-out of vowels.{{cite web |url=http://catb.org/jargon/html/D/disemvowel.html |title=disemvowel |last=Raymond |first=Eric |author-link=Eric S. Raymond |website=The Jargon File (version 4.4.7) |access-date=6 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802211407/http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/D/disemvowel.html |archive-date=2 August 2009 |url-status=live }}

Teresa Nielsen Hayden used the vowel-deletion technique in 2002 for internet forum moderation on her blog Making Light.{{cite web |url=http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/001551.html#8717 |website=Making Light |title=Housekeeping |date=19 November 2002 |first=Teresa |last=Nielsen Hayden |author-link=Teresa Nielsen Hayden |quote=I decided that since nobody was paying attention to PS's arguments anyway, and it's dreary having to scroll up and down past them, they'd be better shortened. So I took out the vowels. |access-date=6 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107233139/http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/001551.html#8717 |archive-date=7 January 2010 |url-status=live }} This was termed disemvoweling by Arthur D. Hlavaty later in the same thread.{{cite web|url=http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/001551.html#8725|first=Arthur D.|last=Hlavaty|date=21 November 2002|access-date=6 October 2009|title=Comment 48|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107233139/http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/001551.html#8725|archive-date=7 January 2010|url-status=live}}

Nielsen Hayden joined the group blog Boing Boing as community manager in August 2007,{{Citation needed|reason=citation needed to prove claim|date=May 2014}} when it re-enabled comments on its posts,{{cite web|url=http://boingboing.net/2007/08/welcome-to-the-new-b.html |title=Welcome to the new Boing Boing! |first=Mark |last=Frauenfelder |author-link=Mark Frauenfelder |date=28 August 2007 |website=Boing Boing |access-date=6 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090706174217/http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/welcome-to-the-new-b.html |archive-date=July 6, 2009 }} and implemented disemvoweling.{{cite web |url=http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/03/witchcraft-practitio.html#comment-6383 |title=Witchcraft practitioner wins Mega Millions lottery: Comment 33 |first=Teresa |last=Nielsen Hayden |author-link=Teresa Nielsen Hayden |date=4 September 2007 |website=Boing Boing |quote=Disemvowelling. You can still read it if you want to work at it, but you don't read it automatically. I prefer it to deleting posts that have objectionable material in them. Sometimes, if it's just a phrase or sentence or paragraph that's the problem, I'll disemvowel that and leave the rest in plaintext. |access-date=6 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401005123/http://boingboing.net/2007/09/03/witchcraft-practitio.html#comment-6383 |archive-date=1 April 2009 |url-status=live }} Gawker Media sites adopted disemvoweling as a moderation tool in August 2008.{{cite web |url=http://kotaku.com/5034654/kotakus-new-tool-the-straight-razor-of-disemvoweling |title=Kotaku's New Tool: The Straight Razor of Disemvoweling |first=Brian |last=Crecente |date=8 August 2008 |website=Kotaku |access-date=13 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813032924/http://kotaku.com/5034654/kotakus-new-tool-the-straight-razor-of-disemvoweling |archive-date=13 August 2008 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://consumerist.com/5034309/consumerist-site-design-tweaked |title=Consumerist Site Design Tweaked |first=Ben |last=Popken |date=7 August 2008 |website=Consumerist |access-date=6 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201152833/http://consumerist.com/5034309/consumerist-site-design-tweaked |archive-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live }} On 30 October 2008, Time magazine listed disemvoweling as #42 of their "Top 50 Inventions of 2008".{{cite magazine

|title=42. Disemvoweling - 50 Best Inventions 2008

|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854195_1854185,00.html

|magazine=Time

|publisher=Time Inc.

|date=30 October 2008

|access-date=30 April 2020

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030183058/http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854195_1854185,00.html

|archive-date=30 October 2019

|url-status=live

}}

Xeni Jardin, co-editor of Boing Boing, said of the practice, "the dialogue stays, but the misanthrope looks ridiculous, and the emotional sting is neutralized."{{cite web

|title=Online Communities Rot Without Daily Tending By Human Hands

|first=Xeni

|last=Jardin

|author-link=Xeni Jardin

|publisher=Edge

|website=The Edge Annual Question 2008

|year=2008

|url=http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_7.html#jardin

|access-date=6 October 2009

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422045829/http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_7.html#jardin

|archive-date=22 April 2009

|url-status=dead

}} Also, Boing Boing producers claim that disemvoweling sends a clear message to internet forums as to types of behavior that are unacceptable.{{cite web

|title=How To Keep Hostile Jerks From Taking Over Your Online Community

|url=http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=199600005

|first=Cory

|last=Doctorow

|author-link=Cory Doctorow

|website=InformationWeek

|publisher=TechWeb Business Technology Network

|date=14 May 2007

|access-date=15 May 2007

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110411061810/http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=199600005

|archive-date=11 April 2011

|url-status=live

}}{{update inline|date=May 2014}}

After Jeff Bezos acquired The Washington Post in 2013,{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniedenning/2018/09/19/why-jeff-bezos-bought-the-washington-post/|title=Why Jeff Bezos Bought The Washington Post|last=Denning|first=Stephanie|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2018-12-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214164410/https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniedenning/2018/09/19/why-jeff-bezos-bought-the-washington-post/|archive-date=2018-12-14|url-status=live}} one of his ideas was to install a feature that allowed a reader to "disemvowel" an article they didn't enjoy, the idea being that another reader would have to pay to reinstate the vowels. Shailesh Prakash, the newspaper's chief product and technology officer, said "the idea didn't go far".{{Cite web|url=http://fortune.com/amazon-jeff-bezos-prime/|title=How Jeff Bezos Became a Power Beyond Amazon|website=Fortune|language=en|access-date=2018-12-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105214001/http://fortune.com/amazon-jeff-bezos-prime/|archive-date=2018-11-05|url-status=live}}

= Criticism =

In July 2008, New York Times reporter Noam Cohen criticized disemvoweling as a moderation tool, citing a June 2008 dispute about the deletion of all posts on Boing Boing that mentioned sex columnist Violet Blue{{Citation needed|reason=citation needed to prove claim|date=May 2014}}. In the Boing Boing comment threads resulting from this controversy, Nielsen Hayden used the disemvoweling technique. Cohen noted that disemvoweling was "Not quite censorship, but not quite unfettered commentary either."{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Noam|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/business/media/07link.html|title=Poof! You're Unpublished|date=7 July 2008|access-date=6 October 2009|work=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410150016/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/business/media/07link.html|archive-date=10 April 2009|url-status=live}} A subsequent unsigned case study on online crisis communication asserted that "removing the vowels from participants' comments only increased the gulf between the editors and the community" during the controversy.{{cite web

|title=Online Crisis Communications: Your First Statement Is Crucial

|url=http://www.prnewsonline.com/digitalpr/casestudies/dpr11933.html

|website=PR News Online

|date=21 July 2008

|access-date=4 November 2008

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116022958/http://www.prnewsonline.com/digitalpr/casestudies/dpr11933.html

|archive-date=16 January 2009

}}

Matt Baumgartner, a blogger at the Albany Times Union, reported in August 2009 that the newspaper's lawyers had told him to stop disemvoweling comments.{{cite web|url=http://blog.timesunion.com/baumgartner/a-e-i-o-u-and-sometimes-why/1641/|title=A, E, I, O, U and sometimes why |last=Baumgartner|first=Matt|date=31 August 2009|website=City Brights|publisher=Times Union|access-date=6 October 2009|location=Albany|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927172517/http://blog.timesunion.com/baumgartner/a-e-i-o-u-and-sometimes-why/1641/|archive-date=27 September 2009|url-status=live}}

= Implementation =

Nielsen Hayden originally disemvoweled postings manually, using Microsoft Word. Because the letter Y is sometimes a vowel and sometimes a consonant, there are a variety of ways to treat it. Nielsen Hayden's policy was never to remove Y, in order to maintain legibility.{{cite web|url=http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/008862.html#181688|title=Moderation certificate: Comment #10|last=Nielsen Hayden|first=Teresa|date=18 April 2007|website=Making Light|author-link=Teresa Nielsen Hayden|access-date=6 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002063550/http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/008862.html#181688|archive-date=2 October 2009|url-status=live}}

The technique has been facilitated by plug-in filters to automate the process. The first, for MovableType, was written in 2002;{{cite web|url=http://bryant.livejournal.com/669399.html |title=Deprecating Disemvowelment |author=Bryant |date=8 March 2009 |access-date=6 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629133337/http://bryant.livejournal.com/669399.html |archive-date=29 June 2010 }} others are available for WordPress{{Cite web|url=https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/disemvowel/|title=Search Results for "Disemvowel" | WordPress.org}} and other content management systems.

Use in company and band names

Since the 2000s, various company and band names have been making use of full or partial disemvowelling, such as twttr (original name of Twitter), abrdn, BHLDN, Tumblr, Flickr, and Scribd.{{Cite web|last=Shapiro|first=Jon|title=The Disemvoweling of Modern Brands - COHO Creative|url=https://www.cohocreative.com/the-disemvoweling-of-modern-brands/|access-date=2022-02-15|website=cohocreative.com/|language=en-US}} Artists and band names that use full or partial disemvowelling include Mstrkrft, ARTMS, MGMT, MSCHF, MNDR, DNCE, Blk Jks, Sbtrkt, WSTRN, HMGNC, Strfkr, Kshmr, TNGHT, LNDN DRGS, LNZNDRF, JMSN, PVT, RDGLDGRN, Dvsn, SWMRS and Dwntwn.{{Cite magazine |last=Kaufman |first=Gil |date=2016-08-04 |title=What's in a (Band) Name? These Days, Not Many Vowels: Here's Why |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/band-names-no-vowels-explained-7460886/ |access-date=2022-07-26 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}} Disemvoweling can be used due to copyright or search engine optimization reasons.{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=John |date=2018-12-29 |title=Where Have All the Vowels Gone? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/29/style/vowels-no-more.html |access-date=2023-04-02 |issn=0362-4331}} For voice user interfaces, band and song names without vowels can be difficult to process.{{Cite book |last1=Springer |first1=Aaron |last2=Cramer |first2=Henriette |title=Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems |chapter="Play PRBLMS": Identifying and Correcting Less Accessible Content in Voice Interfaces |date=2018-04-21 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173870 |series=CHI '18 |location=New York, NY, USA |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1145/3173574.3173870 |isbn=978-1-4503-5620-6|s2cid=5050837 }}