Note that what the article says is "known as grawlix" isn't the asterisk but using symbols to replace letters when expurgating naughty words. So "$#!+" would be

Note that what the article says is "known as grawlix" isn't the asterisk but using symbols to replace letters when expurgating naughty words. So "$#!+" would be a grawlix, at least if it's a replacement for a word meaning excrement rather than a bit of Perl source code.