Washington Post (December 6), carried an article under the headline, “He ‘lied his a– off : Carrier union leader on Trump’s big deal” which is followed by the following paragraph;
“At the Dec. 1 meeting, where Trump was supposed to lay out the details, ones hoped he would explain himself. “But he got up there,” Jones said Tuesday, “and, for whatever reason, lied his a-- off.”
I instantly realized what "a- off" mean, but I’m curious to know what do you call the “—“ part of the word in English, and how do you vocalize when you read it out. Do you read it, like "a-blah-blah - off"?
We call it “伏字” – meaning “hidden characters” in Japanese. Obviously it’s different from “expletive” which consists a whole word, not a part of it.
Though Readers Japanese English Dictionary published by Kenkyusha renders “an omission / blank / turn” as English counterparts to “伏字,” I’m not sure whether it applies to “a-off” case.