You Can’t Censure a Censor for Doing His Job
Three words that are often confused, and that have little to do with each other: censor, censure, sensor, and censer.
Let’s get the censer out of the way first, as it bears no conceivable relation to the other two, except in approximate pronunciation. A censer (/SEHN sur/) is an incense burner that can be swung by its chain to dispense the frangrance of the incense throughout a given area. If you have ever been to a High Mass in the Catholic Church, you have seen acolytes or priests swinging their censers as they process down the aisles.
Next the sensor, for the same reason. A sensor (/SEHN sohr/ or, if you’re sloppy, /SEHN sur/) is a detection device. A motion sensor detects movement and turns on a light, rings an alarm, or otherwise alerts someone that motion has occurred.
Censor (/SEHN sohr/) can be a noun or a verb. In its noun form, it merely means someone who censors. To censor means to examine and remove or suppress any offending bits. For example, the military has a censor who examines incoming and outgoing mail to ensure that no secret information is released, whether deliberately or inadvertently. The movie industry used to have a board of censors who reviewed films to ensure that no prurient or overly suggestive material was produced.
Censure (/SEHN shoor/), however, is an official act of reprimand. It also can be a very harsh rebuke. I may censure you for watching pornographic movies, but I cannot censor them — they are already in distribution.
It is important to maintain the distinction between censure and censor. The one is merely a rebuke, a calling on the carpet for infringing on standards or behavioural guidelines. The other is an active removal of offending material from public dissemination. An example would be an online forum’s practice of sending warning e-mails to those who infringe the Terms of Use (censuring them) followed by banning and removal of a person’s posts if they don’t clean up their act (censoring them).
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My sensors detect the Pope’s smokey censors in procession. You could censure the censor with a censer up alongside his tonsure.