In defense of 'poophole'

Hello team [at Christian webforum],

 

I wish to appeal this warning:

 

"Your post quoted below was recently reported for staff review. Our staff reviewed the reported post in the thread (EU agrees to reopen borders to 14 countries, but still excludes pandemic poophole countries).

After careful review our moderating team has reached consensus that a warning is being issued as your post made was in violation of the following CF rule:

Vulgarity and Profanity

Please do not post, or link to, violent, disturbing, graphic, or sexually explicit images or text. Profanity or foul language is not allowed. This includes using punctuation, symbols, or acronyms to bypass the profanity filter. A few non-censored words are found here.

Staff removed your post from this thread for having 'poophole' in the title."

 

As you are probably aware, President Donald Trump, describing his immigration policies, used a phrase I certainly wouldn't attempt to use on the forums. Sorry about violating the rule here, but "s--thole countries". For better or worse, this pungent phrase has entered the national vocabulary.

 

To comment on this in the forums, I and others have used "poophole country/countries" as a substitute specifically to refer to Trump's immigration policy. Examples:

 

[posts by other users redacted]

 

Searching for "poop" on the forums yields more than 8,000 results -- (I am somewhat surprised that "crap" gets 35,000 results on the site). The word "poop" is familiar from yard signs asking dog owners for politeness -- dog owners who may have a product openly marketed as a Poop Scoop. It is probably used by most American children with the full acceptance of their parents. So I cannot think "poop" alone can be vulgar or profane. It is a public word.

 

Which brings us to "poophole", which might be different from "poop". However, one possible misinterpretation that I want to be clear about is that a s--thole is a place and not a body part.

 

Wikipedia: A XXXX is a profane term for a dirty or dysfunctional place

 

Cambridge Dictionary: 

 

a very unpleasant place, especially one that is very dirty or poor: 

He describes his neighborhood as a "XXXX" and "full of junkies."

 

 

 More examples

• I grew up near the docks. It's a XXXX, a real concrete jungle.
• Why are we stuck in this XXXX, bored out of our brains?
• Who would want to live in this XXXX of a country?
• They come from some XXXX place no-one's ever heard of.

Merriam-Webster: 

1vulgar slang : a disgusting, run-down, unappealing, or objectionable place

 

2vulgar slang,  old-fashioned : a toilet or outhouse

 

3vulgar slang : ANUS

 

Now, M-W does allow that a poophole might be a butthole (100 results on CF), but only as the third definition.

 

Importantly, the President's use of the profane version, and my (and others') use of the poop version have always been explicitly in reference to countries. Places. So if the objection is that it refers to a taboo body part, such as a butthole, this is a misinterpretation.

 

Finally, I just want to say that I thought I had striven to create a very unobjectionable version of the President's phrase, and yet close enough to make the reference clear, especially since it is a news story about people travelling from country to country. Despite the popularity of crap on CF, I can't imagine 'craphole' would have been a more acceptable choice. 

 

Thank you for considering my plea.