Nuts and Bolts: grawlix.

 Grawlix sounds as if it ought to be some sort of Scandinavian mustard sauce. But it isn't. 

(The plural can be either grawlix, grawlixes or grawlices. The last "Ancient Greek" example is just for fun, because it's not any sort of Greek - but then the whole idea of a grawlix is more or less for fun, so why not.)

A grawlix is something written or drawn, especially in a comic-strip or graphic novel, to take the place of swearing. (Which presumably makes it a non-graphic graphic novel.)

A grawlix is often @#$%&! but it can also be some image expressing explosions or violence that's placed inside a speech bubble.

It's a useful device, and it could have a wider application. Shouting grawlix! when you stub your toe might be a real help.

It's worth trying, anyway.

Word To Use Today: grawlix. I hope you don't stub your toe, but this word might come in useful for shouting at the TV or Radio or some idiot who think he can drive a car. I don't know of any derivation, but the word seems to have been coined by the American cartoonist Mort Walker in 1964.