Four Letter Words

     Warning!  This post will contain many offensive words. If you can't handle the topic, please do not read and especially do not whine about it if you do.
     I was recently dinged by a head editor (not my own who knows me well) for using the word dick and the one-time use of the word cunt. Now, I don't like the last word either, but I did feel it might be used by a vile man angry at a woman who would not put out for him. I was trying for realistic dialog, but it must be removed and replaced by something milder like bitch or honey, I suppose. So be it. Son of a Sinner will come out without the C word. Not that big a deal.
     However, I was under the impression that dick was a mild euphemism for penis. Now, I write about football players, and I suspect they do use this term about their own and others.Those of you who have read my books know they are not awash in foul language. My athletes might utter an occasional WTF or use the F word from time to time, but not very often, less I believe than in reality. I know I could just do a global change and make all the dicks into penises, but that seems so clinical. Somehow, I doubt athletes would use pee-pee, wiener, or ding-dong. Other suggestions I received were his prick, his jewels, or his junk, though that last implies the whole package (another idea).
     The best ideas came from my water aerobics group made up of very mature women. One wrote romances in the 1980's and said she had to use "his throbbing shaft" or "his velvet rod". I doubt a football player would be so eloquent, but it would be funny, and I do like to put humor in my books.  Other suggestions: tallywacker, one-eyed pocket mouse, and my favorite, a hurrah rod, a term the lady claimed her daddy used. Some of the suggestions were so gross, even I won't tell you. Women are not the delicate flowers many believe.
     Anyhow, Son of a Sinner will come out with a disclaimer for bad language and violence since part of the plot deals with the mistreatment of a woman by a professional athlete. My heroine fends off rape and breaks the guy's foot in the process.  She is not an abused woman to make that clear. I was attempting to deal with current events. For a while it looked like the book would not be printed, but a compromise was reached and so it shall. Please let me know that you think when reading it sometime next spring. Whew! It's good to get this off my chest, my rack, my boobs....