Had an article rejected because it contained a "forbidden" word.

Who, me? Someone who spent ten years writing ads, ten more writing and editing music journalism, then ten years more writing about politics? Someone who's been called a "grammar Nazi?" Do I sound like the kind of person who would let a forbidden word slip past me?

 Yet apparently, that's exactly what I did. Here is the forbidden sentence:

For the sake of your business, don't gamble with your online image when embedding videos on your own Web site is so simple and cost effective.

Have you spotted the forbidden word? Give up? It's

gamble

No matter that I was speaking metaphorically, or that the only relationship my article might have to gambling is the video surveillance the big casinos use. The fact that "gamble" was one word out of nearly four hundred was enough to terrify them.

I changed  "gamble with" to "risk undermining," and the article was published instantly. I wonder how many quality articles their "forbidden words" policy has cost them.