Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Rhymes with Truck

Wow. This is not a man we'd like to hang out with, although he's making good use of his First Amendment rights.

Cops drop charge in truck profanity
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 7:03 AM EST

PITTSTON — Police withdrew charges against a Luzerne County man who was cited for having an obscene word on his truck.

Joseph Decker of Hughestown can keep a sign, which reads “If you’re in America and can’t speak English, get the (expletive) out,” on his truck because he altered the four-letter expletive by replacing the middle letters with symbols.

On Nov. 11, Hughestown police filed a disorderly conduct charge against Mr. Decker for displaying a profane word on his vehicle.

At Monday’s summary trial before Magisterial District Judge Fred Pierantoni III, Police Chief Stephen Golya agreed to withdraw the charge.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Regrets, He's Had a Few

Illinois Governor Rod Blagejovich wishes he hadn't cursed when the Federal wiretap tapes were rolling:

"I apologize for some of the profanity, but if I would have known they were listening, I wouldn't have used those words."

No Cussing Club: 30,000 Members

Interesting...

Watch your mouth
PATRICK THATCHER Staff Writer
January 23, 2009 - 2:44PM
VICTORVILLE • Trying to raise a G-rated family in an R-rated world is not an easy task, said the 15-year-old founder of a club that encourages people not to cuss.

Profanity is everywhere — on TV, in movies and easily heard on most middle and high school campuses, said McKay Hatch, a sophomore at South Pasadena High School. So he is doing something about what he feels is a huge problem: kids cussing.

McKay visited Sixth Street Prep School in Victorville on Friday morning, presenting his message to about 200 kids from kindergarten to sixth grade. It is an entertaining and engaging multimedia program of his own music videos, slides and props, and he brings kids up on stage to participate in the program that goes beyond no cussing.

Hatch founded the No Cussing Club almost two years ago at his middle school and it has grown to 30,000 members worldwide.

“This whole club is more than just about don’t cuss, it’s a lot bigger. It’s about being clean all around — no drugs, no bullying, no violence. The whole idea of this club is just to be nice to people,” Hatch said.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people trying to sabotage McKay’s message and have sent hate e-mails and threats to his Web site, nocussing.com. The site is locked down and the FBI and the Pasadena police are investigating, said Brent Hatch, McKay’s father.

“So far we have had 60,000 e-mail threats and profanity filled e-mails since Jan. 4 of this year, and what these people are saying: Let’s attack this kid because what he is doing is stupid,” Brent Hatch said.

McKay is unnerved by the threats and says the more that detractors attack him on the Web or on blogs, the more popular he becomes among the people who follow his example and the more the media seeks him out as a guest. He has been on the “Tonight Show,” “Dr. Phil,” “Good Morning America” and a few dozen other programs talking about positive attitudes for kids.

In fact, a crew from “Inside Edition” was at the Sixth Street Prep School taping McKay’s presentation for airing at a later date.

“You don’t have to be an adult to make a difference. You can make a difference at any age,” McKay said.

To learn more about the No Cussing Club and to read reactions from students and staff at Sixth Street Prep School, read Sunday's edition of the Daily Press.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Towns with Unfortunate Names

The New York Times had a terrific piece this morning about English towns with giggle-provoking names:

January 23, 2009
No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else
By SARAH LYALL

CRAPSTONE, England — When ordering things by telephone, Stewart Pearce tends to take a proactive approach to the inevitable question “What is your address?”

He lays it out straight, so there is no room for unpleasant confusion. “I say, ‘It’s spelled “crap,” as in crap,’ ” said Mr. Pearce, 61, who has lived in Crapstone, a one-shop country village in Devon, for decades.

Disappointingly, Mr. Pearce has so far been unable to parlay such delicate encounters into material gain, as a neighbor once did.

“Crapstone,” the neighbor said forthrightly, Mr. Pearce related, whereupon the person on the other end of the telephone repeated it to his co-workers and burst out laughing. “They said, ‘Oh, we thought it didn’t really exist,’ ” Mr. Pearce said, “and then they gave him a free something.”

In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them. Some are mostly amusing, like Ugley, Essex; East Breast, in western Scotland; North Piddle, in Worcestershire; and Spanker Lane, in Derbyshire.

Others evoke images that may conflict with residents’ efforts to appear dignified when, for example, applying for jobs.

These include Crotch Crescent, Oxford; Titty Ho, Northamptonshire; Wetwang, East Yorkshire; Slutshole Lane, Norfolk; and Thong, Kent. And, in a country that delights in lavatory humor, particularly if the word “bottom” is involved, there is Pratts Bottom, in Kent, doubly cursed because “prat” is slang for buffoon.

As for Penistone, a thriving South Yorkshire town, just stop that sophomoric snickering.

“It’s pronounced ‘PENNIS-tun,’ ” Fiona Moran, manager of the Old Vicarage Hotel in Penistone, said over the telephone, rather sharply. When forced to spell her address for outsiders, she uses misdirection, separating the tricky section into two blameless parts: “p-e-n” — pause — “i-s-t-o-n-e.”

Read more...

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Well, Then!

The erotic letters of James Joyce. Note: they're graphic--sort of like phone sex without the phones. "Frig" makes an appearance, meaning just what you think it means. Could that be one of the earliest written references? We will have to find out.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Lip Service: Obscenity?

Mayor denies kissing ban, invites all to pucker up
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY -- When you come to Guanajuato, pucker up. Mayor Eduardo Romero is declaring the colonial city in central Mexico "the kissing capital" of the world to disprove, once and for all, claims that he has banned smooching in public.

The flap arose over an anti-obscenity law that many people believed would fine anyone caught kissing in public. The government denied it intended to ban kissing, but agreed to suspend the legislation so its wording could be reviewed.

Romero unveiled advertisements Tuesday featuring a couple locking lips on one of Guanajuato's many winding, cobble-stoned streets. They read: "Guanajuato, the kissing capital."

A local legend of forbidden love gives the city claim to the title.

It tells of a young woman whose father prohibited her from seeing her lover because he was too poor. But the couple lived across from each other in a street so narrow they could lean out their windows to kiss in secret.

That street remains known as the "kissing alley."

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Well, It *Could* Come in Handy

tittery-whoppet: n., archaic euphemism for vagina.

Source: Depraved and Insulting English, by Peter Novobatzky and Ammon Shea

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Law Proposed to

Gamasutra, an industry site for video-game companies, reports this:

A New York assemblyman submitted a new legislative proposal aiming to prohibit the sale of video games containing negative racial stereotypes and/or actions toward a specific group of persons to minors.

The measure was proposed in the New York Assembly and referred to the Assembly's Consumer Protection and Affairs Committee.

If passed, it would prevent children under the age of 18 from purchasing video games with a rating that "reflects content of various degrees of profanity, racist stereotypes, or derogatory language, and/or actions toward a specific group of persons."

The proposed bill would also requires retailers or rental outlets to ask for identification from customers attempting to buy or rent video games with a "mature" or "violent" rating. A bill similar in this aspect that would have imposed fines on violators became law in California and was later ruled unconstitutional in 2007 -- opening the door for the Entertainment Software Association to ultimately collect $280,000 in legal fees from the state.

Manhattan Democrat Keith L.T. Wright, who submitted the proposal, previously put forward a similar bill in 2007 that failed to pass, according to a report from political gaming weblog GamePolitics.

According to the measure, "Video games containing purely adult images, situations, and scenarios are far too readily available to children who often purchase these games without any resistance from sellers. ... The bill would take a step towards preventing our children from being influenced by the glamorization of violence portrayed in such video games."

Superintendent Pulls Book Because of Profanity

Because high school students never encounter profanity in their daily lives...

NEWMAN, CA--School board members Monday evening took up the discussion of whether the novel “Bless Me, Ultima” should be reinstated to the Orestimba High curriculum, but the controversial issue remains unresolved.

Instead, after a motion to uphold the current ban on the book failed to pass, the board suspended further discussion until a Jan 24. workshop.

The book ban has been a controversial subject of debate since Superintendent Rick Fauss pulled the book from the OHS curriculum in mid-October, following a parental complaint which led to reviews of the book by two committees. He cited explicit situations and profanity as the basis for the decision.

... “Context does not always justify the end. Sometimes profanity is just profanity,” he told Mattos Newspapers. “I think we can find a book that meets the same criteria and has no profanity.”

Read more...

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Woman Fined for Swearing in Church

Woman slapped with fine for cursing in Romanian church
ASSOCIATED PRESS

BUCHAREST, Romanian — A woman who upset worshippers by swearing during a church service in Romania has been fined $126, about one-third of the average monthly salary in her country.

Police spokeswoman Bianca Albu said officers were called by priests and a candle seller to the service Monday afternoon at the Ascension Church in the city of Botosani to take action against the unruly worshipper.

Albu said the 50-year-old woman was cursing and insulting worshippers at the Orthodox church in northeastern Romania.

The spokeswoman declined to repeat the woman's words, saying only that she was fined by police on the spot for disturbing the public order in a special place by using unholy language.

Little more was known about the woman, including her motive.



Her motive? We're guessing it was a really long sermon.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

We Like Pina Coladas and Walks in the Rain

Britney Spears is stirring things up for radio stations with her new song, "If You Seek Amy."

Turns out, it's not actually about looking for someone named Amy. Read the song title aloud. (We'll wait for you...)

Done? Yes. It sounds like she's spelling the F-word. The chorus itself is a masterwork of subtlety only seen previously in such places as behind the shed on an elementary school playground.

"But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy."

It's obviously not the first time someone has slipped a little profanity into a song, or even the first time it's been spelled out--remember Van Halen's "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge"? Good times.

MTV News has a bit more on the subject.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

South Carolina Tries to Set Up Giant Curse Jar

The South Carolina Senate is working on something called Bill 56, which would earn you up to five years in jail and a $5,000 fine for the following:

It is unlawful for a person in a public forum or place of public accommodation wilfully and knowingly to publish orally or in writing, exhibit, or otherwise make available material containing words, language, or actions of a profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent nature.

It is unlawful for a person to disseminate profanity to a minor if he wilfully and knowingly publishes orally or in writing, exhibits, or otherwise makes available material containing words, language, or actions of profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent nature.

First, willfully has four Ls in it. Second, who's the judge of "lewd, lascivious, or indecent"? Would "The Higher Power of Lucky" get teachers arrested because it contains the word "scrotum"? What about "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," which was banned by a school in Oregon for being filthy (it won a National Book Award, so obviously not everyone shares this view).

There are fart jokes in Chaucer and Shakespeare. High school readers across South Carolina might rejoice to see those texts banned.

FUCS might need to distribute literature in South Carolina. If swearing gets outlawed there, they'll need some substitutes.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Welcome to the FUCS!

The Friends of Unusual Curse Substitutes is delighted with your company. Please stay tuned for more posts in the coming weeks.