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1%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=3m2rwakn0rst0fv4wxrzzmvg
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3[[quoteright:305:[[Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/curse_cut_short.png]]]]
4[[caption-width-right:305:[[Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron LANGU]][[WebAnimation/HowItShouldHaveEnded AGE!]]]]
5
6->''"It's not swearing if you don't enunciate the last phoneme. PRO TIP"''
7-->-- ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics''' AltText
8
9A character is part way through saying a rude word when they are abruptly interrupted, often for comic effect. Often, the interrupter will [[LastSecondWordSwap interrupt the curse with their first syllable]]. Likely began as a means of GettingCrapPastTheRadar.
10
11More common in post-watershed viewing, for obvious reasons, but family shows can also get away with it. Possibly related to the practice of censoring written swear words by blanking all but the first letter, the rationale being that the reader will understand the sentence without being offended.
12
13This can happen in different ways:
14* The speaker (the person about to curse) is interrupted by another person:
15** Another character may interrupt the speaker.
16** Or the speaker may interrupt or cut off ''themself''.
17** Often involves a LastSecondWordSwap or SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion.
18** Frequently {{justified|Trope}} by in-story reasons (e.g., NotInFrontOfTheKid).
19* HardCut
20** Simply cut to another scene (or commercial).
21** The episode ends -- cut to closing credits or commercial after last scene. See InterruptedByTheEnd.
22** The episode ''begins'' -- cut to opening credits (for [[TheTeaser Cold Open]] shows).
23* Speaker is [[KilledMidSentence Killed (or just injured) Mid Sentence]] (you might call this an [[{{Pun}} even harder cut]]).
24* SoundEffectBleep: Noise covers the profanity. This can include a person talking over them, which can manifest as a SpeechBubblesInterruption.
25
26Alternately, this may be enforced by a NarrativeProfanityFilter. A character will get in ''"Oh''--" and then the you will be informed that the narrator has neglected to transcribe the rest of what was said.
27
28The phrase, "Son of a..." is such a widespread variant that it's practically become a valid expression in its own right. Similarly, [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons "Why, you little..."]] and "What the..."
29
30But in either case, said character may be confused about the interruption, and either ask what they said or try to defend themselves [[ImplausibleDeniability by insisting that they were going to say something less vulgar than their peers thought]].
31
32Compare LastSecondWordSwap, in which the expected curse is avoided by saying something else, rather than being cut off. For the non-cursing variety where important information is cut off instead, see LostInTransmission. See also CatchphraseInterruptus. See also SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion, for the common case where a speaker sets up a rhyme to lead you to expect a bad word, then says something else. Not to be confused with CurseEscapeClause.
33
34%% All straight examples of this trope should cut off the curse words. Please don't try to restore the whole words out of some misguided anti-bowdlerizing impulse and completely miss the point of this trope.
35
36----
37!!Example subpages:
38
39[[index]]
40* CurseCutShort/AnotherCharacterInterrupts
41* CurseCutShort/SelfInterruption
42* CurseCutShort/CutToAnotherScene
43* CurseCutShort/EpisodeEnds
44* CurseCutShort/EpisodeBegins
45* CurseCutShort/KilledInjuredMidSentence
46* CurseCutShort/SoundEffectBleep
47[[/index]]
48
49----
50
51Wait, it's over already? Well, fu-

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