![]() Words that once would have earned the utterer a mouthful of soap, expressions like "Zounds!" or "That sucks!" hardly lead the modern maven to bat an ear. Indeed, which particular words are selected as forbidden is an arbitrary accident of history. Near phonological neighbors to taboo words, words like "fit" and "shuck" do not contaminate the cochlea. And there's nothing about the sound of the words themselves that causes insult to the child's auditory system. Indeed, the things taboo words refer to can be equally well identified using words deemed appropriate for medical settings or use around children. Simply referring to body part or actions involving them harm a child. Taboo words carry no intrinsic threat of harm. ![]() In fact, there are no words so terrible, so gruesomely obscene, that merely hearing them or speaking them poses any danger to young ears. But the problem is that the Supreme Court's premise, that children can be harmed by selected taboo words, does not survive the test of careful empirical scrutiny. And the well-being of children-were it indeed on the line-would most certainly be a justifiable reason to limit freedom of speech. Many of us are afraid of exposing children to taboo language, based on this same notion-that somehow certain words can damage young minds. According to the Supreme Court, the problem with Carlin's routine was that the obscene words, words describing sexual acts and excretory functions "may have a deeper and more lasting negative effect on a child than on an adult." In other words, the highest court in the land judged certain words to be so dangerous that even the constitutional right to free speech had to be set aside. placed sanctions on the radio station for the broadcast, which it deemed to be "indecent" and "patently offensive." Five years later, the United States Supreme Court upheld its decision. ![]() At around 2PM on Tuesday, October 30, 1973, a New York radio station played a monologue by the comedian George Carlin, enumerating and exemplifying in rich detail the seven words ostensibly not allowed on the public airwaves.
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