2004, Jonathan Rich, The Push Guide to Choosing a University, Nelson Thornes (→ISBN), page 153:
Meanwhile, it's even harder to say which is the youngest university since colleges are constantly being given the right to use the U-word in their names, but it still doesn't necessarily make them universities.
2005, Eric Shapiro, It's Only Temporary, Permuted Press (→ISBN), page 17:
The u-word ["ugly"] got repeated for the rest of the afternoon. I went home in an awful mood, but I said nothing to my parents, for I guessed that the torment was over. The torment was only beginning. They went easy on me the next day—until lunchtime.
2007, Peter Edgerly Firchow, Modern Utopian Fictions from H. G. Wells to Iris Murdoch, CUA Press (→ISBN)
Back when I wrote the above-mentioned essay I was thinking about how the usual meanings of the “u” word—“no place” and “good place,” utopia and eutopia, a pun originated by that archetypal utopianist, Sir Thomas More—related to the drug subculture of the 1960s.
2008, The Ugly Duck Makeover-Self Confidence, Alie James LLC, page 43:
[F]or you ladies who use one of those hormonal labels to excuse your irritability, poor-pitiful-me attitude, or laziness – I want to give you a clue: it takes away from your beauty. In fact, for some of us, it makes us just plain (you know the “u” word I want to use).
2008, Andrew Melnyk, My Grandfather's Mill: Journey to Freedom, Xlibris Corporation (→ISBN), page 16:
[Soviet h]istorians must have gone through severe contortions to avoid the U-word [Ukraine].
2008, Peter J. Bergeron, Union Proof, Dog Ear Publishing (→ISBN), page 38:
Just a side note, here: I've seen companies who are afraid of the “u-word;” they think if employees hear about unions they're that much more likely to seek one out.
2011, Forrest Davis, Ole Wives Tales: And Church Doctrine, AuthorHouse (→ISBN), page 173:
To question or try to clarify universal teachings about the “Trinity” concept is considered by many to be sacrilegious as well as “treading on holy ground.” Institutional church leadership threaten to brand you with the “U” word (“unforgivable sin”) if you take issue with how they have defined Christianity.
2012, Keith Bradnam, Ian Korf, UNIX and Perl to the Rescue!: A Field Guide for the Life Sciences (and Other Data-rich Pursuits), Cambridge University Press (→ISBN), page 19:
Every time we mention the U-word, you can equally think of the L-word (Linux). From the perspective of what we are trying to teach you, the two are synonymous.
2012, Meghan McCain, Michael Black, America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom, Da Capo Press (→ISBN)
“He won't even walk in that neighborhood right now. He's that uppity.” Yes, Glen uses the U-word.
2015, Julian Knight, Michael Pattison, British Politics For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons (→ISBN), page 318:
But back then the founders scrupulously avoided the U word – union; instead, they called the new organisation the very exciting-sounding European Economic Community (the forerunner, formed in 1951, was called the European Coal and Steel Community — most riveting!)
