Seven dirty words

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Warning: explicit language used below.

The seven dirty words are seven English words comedian George Carlin listed in his monologue "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television", released in 1972 on his album Class Clown. At the time, the words were generally considered highly inappropriate and unsuitable for use on the public airwaves in the United States, particularly on over-the-air television and AM/FM radio stations. Current practice is to allow the statement to stand but bleep censor the actual word.

The original list of seven is:

• shit
• piss
• fuck
• cunt
• cocksucker
• motherfucker
• tits

In films, one use of any of these words is permitted in a PG-13-rated film, under the guidelines observed by the Motion Picture Association of America, provided the word is not used "in a sexual context." Multiple uses of any of the words, or a single use in a sexual context, is grounds for an automatic "R" rating.

History

Comedian George Carlin recorded a monologue that was called "Filthy Words". The monologue was played on Pacifica radio station WBAI-FM. A man complained to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) because his son had heard the broadcast.

The FCC asked Pacifica for a response, then issued a declaratory order upholding the complaint. No specific sanctions were included in the order, but WBAI was put on notice that "in the event subsequent complaints are received, the Commission will then decide whether it should utilize any of the available sanctions it has been granted by Congress."

Pacifica appealed the decision, which was overturned by the Court of Appeals. The FCC in turn appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the FCC, see: FCC v. Pacifica Foundation 438 U.S. 726 (1978).

This 1978 decision formally established indecency regulation in American broadcasting. In follow-up rulings, the FCC clarified that the words might be acceptable under certain circumstances, particularly at times when children would not be expected to be in the audience.

See also: Howard Stern, Communications Decency Act

External Links

Verbatim transcript of "Filthy Words" (prepared by the Federal Communications Commission)

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Seven_dirty_words" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words, used under the GNU Free Documentation License