What is "disemvoweling"

alt. (present participle of disemvowel English) vb. (present participle of disemvowel English)

Disemvoweling, disemvowelling (see doubled L), or disemvowelment of a piece of alphabetic text is rewriting it with all the vowel letters removed. This original sentence:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

would, after being disemvowelled, look like this:

Th qck brwn fx jmps vr th lzy dg

Disemvoweling is a common feature of SMS language.

Because disemvoweling makes text legible only through significant cognitive effort, it is used by moderators on internet forums, newsgroups and blogs as a way to limit the effectiveness of unwanted postings or comments, such as rudeness or criticism. Disemvoweling maintains some transparency, both of the act and the underlying word, which would not be the case if the entire offending post is deleted. The word disemvoweling is a portmanteau combining vowel and disembowel.

The word was used with precisely this meaning in the 1939 novel Finnegans Wake (p. 515).