Seven Dirty Words: Difference between revisions

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It is against this backdrop -- priggishness way beyond cultural norms, at a time where American society was openly questioning authority -- that Carlin's little list caused such a furor.

In 1972, Carlin was arrested merely for performing his [[Seven Dirty Words]] routine in public. At the time, many places had laws against public obscenity and indecency, which local [[Moral Guardians~~|moral guardians~~]] gladly enforced. But in the climate of the times, such arguments found their way to higher courts, who found the concept of obscenity notoriously difficult to define.

In 1972, Carlin was arrested merely for performing his [[Seven Dirty Words]] routine in public. At the time, many places had laws against public obscenity and indecency, which local [[Moral Guardians]] gladly enforced. But in the climate of the times, such arguments found their way to higher courts, who found the concept of obscenity notoriously difficult to define.

A year later, a New York City radio station (WBAI-FM) played a different iteration of the [[Seven Dirty Words]] bit, uncensored. A man driving in the car with his young son complained to the [[Media Watchdogs|Federal Communications Commission]] that his son had to be exposed to such filth. When the legal dust settled, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the [[Seven Dirty Words]] might be acceptable for broadcast under circumstances, but that the FCC had the right to restrict broadcast content at times when children might be exposed to it. But they weren't exactly specific about any of it.

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** It came. The Supreme Court said in 2009 that "fleeting expletives" like Bono's could be fined.

** [[Hypocritical Humour|No fucking fleeting expletives, Bono, you fucker!]]

** Hence the existence of both [[Battlestar Galactica|Frak]] and [[Firefly ~~(TV)~~|Rut]].

** Hence the existence of both [[Battlestar Galactica|Frak]] and [[Firefly|Rut]].

*** And [[Farscape ~~(TV)~~|Frell]].

*** And [[Farscape|Frell]].

** However, on [[The War On Terror|September 11, 2001]], some of the networks aired amateur footage of the World Trade Center attacks with the F-bombs intact (Dan Rather even apologized for a few of them), and the FCC didn't do anything. Later on, when CBS aired the Naudet Brothers' ''9/11'' documentary, they were ([http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2006/09/05/several_cbs_affiliates_afraid_to_air_9_1 somewhat controversially]) allowed to leave the F-bombs intact.

** However, on [[The War on Terror|September 11, 2001]], some of the networks aired amateur footage of the World Trade Center attacks with the F-bombs intact (Dan Rather even apologized for a few of them), and the FCC didn't do anything. Later on, when CBS aired the Naudet Brothers' ''9/11'' documentary, they were ([http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2006/09/05/several_cbs_affiliates_afraid_to_air_9_1 somewhat controversially]) allowed to leave the F-bombs intact.

* '''[[Country Matters|Cunt]]''' - Not only forbidden in American television, but in almost all conversation. Considered extremely vulgar, but used more as a unisex term of offense outside of the USA and Canada.

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A rather humorous incident occurred when a live program allowed a person to refer to the former Vice President as Dick Cheney, but then bleeped the speaker when they referred to someone else as a dick.

"Cock" might be also; at any rate it certainly isn't used much. It's interesting to note that "goddamn" and "asshole" are usually censored as "---damn" and "ass---- ". Yes, ''"God" and "hole" are bleeped out''<ref>Which ''sort of'' makes sense for the former, given that its taboo status is rooted -- partially, at least -- in the (misinterpreted) Judeo-Christian commandment against "taking the Lord's name in vain". For the latter, the only rational explanation seems to be that "ass" by itself is significantly less offensive.</ref> "Blowjob" and "handjob" are also reduced to "**** job." "Douchebag" was, until recently, fairly unheard of on broadcast stations (although "douche" and "d-bag" were allowed). Shows such as ''[[30 Rock ~~(TV)~~|Thirty Rock]]'' and ''[[Glee]]'' have recently begun to use the word to a limited extent, although it is still far from commonplace.

"Cock" might be also; at any rate it certainly isn't used much. It's interesting to note that "goddamn" and "asshole" are usually censored as "---damn" and "ass---- ". Yes, ''"God" and "hole" are bleeped out''<ref>Which ''sort of'' makes sense for the former, given that its taboo status is rooted -- partially, at least -- in the (misinterpreted) Judeo-Christian commandment against "taking the Lord's name in vain". For the latter, the only rational explanation seems to be that "ass" by itself is significantly less offensive.</ref> "Blowjob" and "handjob" are also reduced to "**** job." "Douchebag" was, until recently, fairly unheard of on broadcast stations (although "douche" and "d-bag" were allowed). Shows such as ''[[30 Rock|Thirty Rock]]'' and ''[[Glee]]'' have recently begun to use the word to a limited extent, although it is still far from commonplace.

* Something that makes it kind of hard to discern between them, "**** " and "**** " both being four letter words and all.

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* [[The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples|Twelfth Night]] by [[Shakespeare]]:

{{quote| By my life, this is my lady's hand[writing]; these be her very '''C''''s, her '''U''''s a'''n'''d her '''T''''s and thus makes she her great '''P''''s.}}

** That's hardly the only one, either. The title of ''Much Ado About Nothing'' itself has several (intended) meanings, including the [[Get Thee to A Nunnery|"nothing"... in other words, women's parts.]] In Hamlet, there's this scene:

** That's hardly the only one, either. The title of ''Much Ado About Nothing'' itself has several (intended) meanings, including the [[Get Thee to a Nunnery|"nothing"... in other words, women's parts.]] In Hamlet, there's this scene:

{{quote| Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?

Ophelia: No, my lord.

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== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[~~Spongebob~~ SquarePants]]'', "Sailor Mouth":

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'', "Sailor Mouth":

{{quote| '''Mr. Krabs:''' Yessir, that is bad word number 11. In fact, there are 13 bad words you should never use.

'''Squidward:''' Don't you mean there are only seven?

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*** It also means that Old Man Jenkins has apparently [[Fridge Brilliance|rigged his car's horn to blare expletives]].

*** Actually, the car horn was not a [[Sound Effects Bleep]] for one of the 13 dirty words. The gag was about the episodes use of weird sounds used in place of actual expletives.

* ''[[The Simpsons (~~Animation~~)|The Simpsons]]''

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''

** After Kent Brockman was fired for saying "a word so vile it should only be uttered by Satan himself while sitting on the toilet", Grandpa remarks that in his day TV celebrities weren't allowed to say "booby", "tushy", "burp", "fanny-burp"<ref>In the UK, the term "fanny" refers to an entirely different part of the body (one that only females have).</ref>, "underpants", "dingle-dangle", "Boston marriage", "LBJ", "Titicaca", or "frontlumps".

** In the episode where Bart and Nelson go to war, Grampa is seen writing a letter about "words that shouldn't be used on TV", one of them (Family Jewels) turns out to be an example of [[Strange Minds Think Alike]], as it was used a scene earlier.

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{{quote| '''Kent:''' How can I prove we're live? ''' ''Penis!'' '''}}

* ''[[South Park]]'': In the aforementioned "It Hits The Fan", the verboten words are revealed to represent a ''literal'' curse, each one associated with a dragon, and defended by the Knights of Standards and Practices. One of the less-well known dirty words is "Mee Krob", a Thai noodle dish.

* The ''[[~~Animaniacs (Animation)|~~Animaniacs]]'' song about Lake Titicaca ends with the Warners stating their love of saying that word...think about it for a minute, ''por favor''.

* The ''[[Animaniacs]]'' song about Lake Titicaca ends with the Warners stating their love of saying that word...think about it for a minute, ''por favor''.

{{quote| Oh Lake Titicaca, yes Lake Titicaca

Why do we sing of its fame?

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== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* ''[[~~30 Rock (TV)|~~30 Rock]]'': Tracy Jordan decided to exploit the fact that he could easily pay the $50,000 fine for every time he swore on TV.

* ''[[30 Rock]]'': Tracy Jordan decided to exploit the fact that he could easily pay the $50,000 fine for every time he swore on TV.

{{quote| '''Tracy:''' I'm off to appear on Martha Stewart Live. Oh, it's gonna be ''raunchy''! }}

** The moral is: [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|if you got money, you can say whatever you want]]

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== [[Web Original]] ==

* ''[[~~The Angry Video Game Nerd (Web Video)|~~The Angry Video Game Nerd]]'': The "TV version" gag during his ''[[Action 52]]'' review:

* ''[[The Angry Video Game Nerd]]'': The "TV version" gag during his ''[[Action 52]]'' review:

{{quote| '''AVGN:''' Whoever came up with this is an ass''[bleep]''! ''[[[Beat]]]'' ...Ass! ''[[[Beat]]]'' ...Hole? -- '''ASS''[bleep]''!''' ...Television makes ''a whole lot'' of sense.}}

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* The ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "PTV" blasted the FCC with both barrels, portraying them as going so far as to censor real life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NDPT0Ph5rA

* On ''[[Moral Orel]]'' [[Fun ~~With~~ Acronyms|Frances Clara Censordoll]]'s name and character are a [[Take That]] at the FCC. She is a selfish [[Manipulative Bastard]] [[Moral Guardian]] with a god complex.

* On ''[[Moral Orel]]'' [[Fun with Acronyms|Frances Clara Censordoll]]'s name and character are a [[Take That]] at the FCC. She is a selfish [[Manipulative Bastard]] [[Moral Guardian]] with a god complex.

* Most of the time ''[[South Park]]'' attempts to take on the Muhammad representation controversy, they get shut up by the network, a fact that the show has picked up on.

** After the network censored one episode, they decided to show how screwy the censorship is by testing what exactly the network thought was "too much". Apparently Muhammad and an aesop about intimidation and fear (which didn't even mention Muhammad) isn't ok, but [[Refuge in Audacity|a mentally handicapped kid getting raped by a shark]] is.