George Deserved His Two-Minute Warning

I was at the hotel, opening the package of newspapers we get every morning, when I saw the article. From that point on, I barely remember the rest of my shift. Suffice to say, it was a bad day. I felt like I should say something, but every time I sat down to write, I couldn't find the words. I think I have them now.

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George Carlin passed away last month (June 22nd).

Some people would say that George's best known bit is the infamous "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television". That's a fair claim, I think. Most people will remember him fondly for that, and I count myself among them.

George was arrested back in 1972 for disturbing the peace when he performed the "Seven Dirty Words" at a show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The case was dismissed later that year; the judge declared that the language was indecent, but Carlin had the freedom to say it as long as he caused no disturbance.

Carlin was one of my heroes, a man much smarter than most of us are ever permitted to be. He raised important questions for me about language and our much-vaunted 1st Amendment Rights. He made me laugh, and he made me think. Those are the two finest qualities in a comedian, and George was able to pull both off in spades. Carlin was a comedian who used his "Seven Words" bit to point out the ridiculousness of banning words.

Thanks again, George. You'll be missed.

"Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits. Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that'll infect your soul, curve your spine and keep the country from winning the war."
– George Carlin, Class Clown, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television"

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THE NATURE OF OFFENSIVE WORDS

Can a word be offensive? What exactly is a word? A series of sounds, a sequence of noises that we recognize and process in our wonderful lil' brains until we can determine the word's intent or meaning.

The issue here isn't the word itself, but rather, the intent of the speaker. Can a person find alternate ways saying the same things? Naturally, and that's the beauty of language. What's the difference between using a dirty word to express oneself and using a non-vulgar word or phrase? Couldn't they both be expressing the exact same sentiment? Think of that sorely missed television show Firefly. Did any of the characters use words like fuck or shit or goddamnit? Nope, because the FCC would be a little upset. So what did they do? Well, as you may recall, they substituted made-up curse-words for the offensive material. Battlestar Galactica has done the same thing. So what's the difference between a character saying "Fuck!" and the same character saying "Frak!"? Only the noises that come out of their mouths; their intent and meaning are identical. The funny thing about this is that the FCC doesn't seem to care about made-up words, even if their meaning is identical to more offensive words.

So, let me ask again: can a word be offensive? I would argue that words are not, in and of themselves, offensive. Do certain combinations of sounds become somehow more offensive regardless of the meaning behind them? Only if we think the right (or wrong, in this case) combination of noises has some sort of potent Magical Offensiveness that cannot be duplicated by a made-up word with an identical meaning.