Quote Originally Posted by Eric C. View Post
IMO, even in that context "this dog" won't be considered obscene language, though if your secret agent that's caught is Russian, they may find plenty of other reasons to ban your book in Russia. =))
Thanks! And LOL, no. The agent's a Canadian and the year is 3104 (1,090 years in the future). Daryl's an American, Dimitri's a Russian, and Canada has become a rogue nation with a new weapon that could destroy the planet. Oh, and in 3104 Russia and the US are very strong allies - without Americanizing Russia. Dmitri and Daryl are part of a Russia-US Intelligence agency. There's intelligent aliens involved too but they have 6 limbs and scales and they definitely don't look like humans.
Anyway, I know that even the word for "you" can be considered bad language in Japan if it's used in the wrong context. So the definition can be very different in other countries.