The 1960 Braille Series were the first books I taught Braille from. In Book One, using the first ten letters of the alphabet, we came upon the word Fag. Now when I was a lad, Fag meant a cigarette. As in "Give me a fag, will ya?"
One day a student came to me in a rather agitated state. "There is an offensive word in this lesson book," she declared.
Startled, I took a look at what sort of offensive word might be tucked away in this innocent looking lesson book. "Fag!" she announced, pointing to the page. No matter how I tried explaining that this book was published long before the word took on any meaning other than a cigarette, she was not to be pacified.
So I had her gather all of the Braille Book One's and bring them into my classroom. She and I sat down and rubbed out one dot on the letter G, making the work "Fad". She went away very pleased with herself.
The next shipment of 1960 Braille Book One had the word Fag in it. But I never breathed a word.
Curious Carl
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