maledicta balloon

noun

maledicta balloon

noun

1

A comic graphic element used to enclose obscenities, oaths, and curses.

It is this euphemistic use of the asterisk that is doubtless responsible for the sign's regular inclusion in the cartoonists maledicta balloon.1985, Alexander Humez with Nicholas D. Humez, ABC Et Cetera: The Life & Times of the Roman Alphabet, page 9:

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