App removes profanity from books – is it a good idea?

Are you finding that contemporary books are a little too full of language that offends you? 

According to a press release, the app Clean Reader can take profanity out of any book. There are three modes: Clean, Cleaner, and Squeaky Clean.

“To preserve the context of the book, an alternative word with the same general meaning is available for each instance where a word is blocked from display,” the press release reads. 

The app is free for iOS and Android, according to the Clean Reader website. 

In the press release, Upstream Media president Jared Maughan said he was inspired to create the app after an experience with his daughter. 

“The idea for Clean Reader started at our dinner table after our daughter's first exposure to books with swear words,” he said. 

As reported by Monitor writer Husna Haq, a Brigham Young University professor looked at 40 young adult bestsellers in 2012 and found that the average novel aimed at young adults has 38 examples of profanity.

So is the app a good idea? In reviews on iTunes and Google Play, some wrote that they are grateful for the filtering offered by Clean Reader. 

“Love this app!!” one user wrote. “Thanks so much! Love to read but don't like the profanity some use.” 

“This app has brought me back to reading and loving books again,” another wrote. “Best app ever!!” 

The app may not be to everyone’s taste, however. As pointed out by Ron Charles of the Washington Post, there was an uproar after a revised edition of “Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was published in 2011. The edition removed instances of the n-word from the text, but Salon writer Elon James White wrote at the time, “The book, which deals directly with racism, is not better served by erasing the racial slur,” while The Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri wrote, “The word is terrible. But it’s a linchpin of this book.”