California State Legislature Establishes 'Cuss Free Week'
AP
California lawmakers have a history of trying to keep the state's air and waters clean. Now they're tackling language.
Californians had better start watching their mouths.
The state Assembly passed a resolution Thursday that would establish the first week of March as "Cuss Free Week" throughout the state. If approved by the Senate next week, the measure would take effect immediately.
The resolution includes no enforcement mechanism and is simply meant to promote greater harmony and connectedness, said Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, a Democrat from La Canada Flintridge and co-author of the measure.
"I've always wondered why we behave differently when grandma is watching than when we're on our own," said Portantino, who owned up to his share of four-letter words.
Portantino said the California Legislature -- known for imposing strict clean air and clean water laws -- is the first state legislative body in the nation to consider a statewide profanity-free week.
The resolution was inspired by a South Pasadena teenager, McKay Hatch, who started a No Cussing Club at his junior high school in 2007. Similar clubs have since cropped up in every state and 20 countries.
Hatch, who traveled to Sacramento with his family to support the resolution, said he sees a link between foul-mouthed incivility and other forms of problem behavior, such as drug use and bullying.
Next up for the 16-year-old? Promoting no-cussing measures in other states and internationally.
"Next year I want to do a world tour," he said. "Cussing is a hard habit to break, but anyone can do it."
That about sums up what I think of it.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-02-28 10:30pm
by The Yosemite Bear
unenforcable we are the state of the big labowski, your not a real denizen of Californication unless you drop cluster f-bombs on a regular basis...
fucking hell Rage Against the Machine is from Californication, and they have a whole song made up of fuck you.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-02-28 10:52pm
by Patrick Degan
The whole state financing system's tumbling into a black hole but it's far more important to tackle the vital issue of Californians saying "fuck" all the time.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-02-28 11:04pm
by Oscar Wilde
I'm predicting a rise in swearing from many people.
We really don't need more puritanical bullshit in this country. I don't remember who said it, but "you can't say 'fuck the government' if you can't say 'fuck.'"
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-02-28 11:28pm
by Mayabird
Who the fuck is this fucking little sixteen year old shit and why the fuck did this fucking little shit (god damnit it's fucking hard to keep this fucking sentence coherent) get his assless panties all in a fucking tangle over fucking cussing? Is he a Mormon? I have (*looks at the desk*) twenty five cents on him being a Mormon.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 12:31am
by Oni Koneko Damien
Half my family lives in California, I will be advising them to celebrate this week in their own special fashion... if they aren't already intending to fucking do so themselves.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 01:14am
by FSTargetDrone
Mayabird wrote:Who the fuck is this fucking little sixteen year old shit and why the fuck did this fucking little shit (god damnit it's fucking hard to keep this fucking sentence coherent) get his assless panties all in a fucking tangle over fucking cussing? Is he a Mormon? I have (*looks at the desk*) twenty five cents on him being a Mormon.
Why, surely you also see the connection between the use of profanity and "drug use and bullying"! I'm sure there are some statistics on the matter, somewhere.
Really though, this deserves to get mocked and this kid is just a bit too much of a busy-body for my liking. What a waste of time.
Posted: 2010-03-01 01:54am
by Patrick Degan
Formless wrote:We really don't need more puritanical bullshit in this country. I don't remember who said it, but "you can't say 'fuck the government' if you can't say 'fuck.'"
A paraphrase of the philosopher Lenny Bruce.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 01:56am
by Formless
Cool, thanks Degan.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 08:17am
by Brother-Captain Gaius
I was always fond of this bit as my preferred demonstration of the usage of not so much the word 'fuck', but rather 'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK'
(NSFW, obviously)
They ought to get some loudspeakers or megaphones and just sit on street corners swearing all week.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 08:35am
by Liberty
The kid sounds like the same kind of little puritanical shit I was when I was sixteen. Surprised he hasn't asked his parents to homeschool him to keep him away from all the bad words!
See, I was homeschooled, and I literally didn't hear the word "fuck" until I got to college. Literally. Didn't even know about it. I looked it up in the dictionary freshman year.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 11:13am
by General Zod
George Carlin would be rolling in his fucking grave if he knew about this shit.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 11:48am
by wolveraptor
I checked out that No Cussing website. I just have one question: what the fuck is up with the random picture of the black guy next to the words "So Ya Wanna Hang With Us?"?
Frankly it's a little insulting. I mean, it's the only picture of a guy on the whole page, and he's obviously meant to be dressed in a "hip hop style". Do we need to be reminded of how black people are supposed to talk? Dats how dem urban folks be spittin, right yo? I'm not trying to jump to conclusions, though. Is it supposed to be a reference to some really old rapper's catch phrase? I don't recognize the guy, is he a Fat Boy or something?
All this illustrates is that it's perfectly possible to be thoughtless and insensitive without swearing at all. The fact that it's being illustrated on the McKay Hatch's own fucking website is priceless irony.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 12:16pm
by CDiehl
The resolution includes no enforcement mechanism and is simply meant to promote greater harmony and connectedness
I hate when people pass laws that they have no intention of enforcing. I don't want this law enforced, because that would require a police state. I just don't want stupid decorative shit like this cluttering up the system. Also, I'm afraid some puritanical type will come into a position of power with this obscure, unenforced law on the books, and decide to enforce it.
"Cussing is a hard habit to break, but anyone can do it."
While I believe in decorum and self-restraint, making a law like this will not encourage people to break that habit. You can't legislate decorum any more than you can legislate morality. If laws could cause either of those qualities to appear in people, we'd have passed such laws and have a happier society.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 01:10pm
by Dalton
I'd love to see people try to propose this in New York (the Fuck You State). Comedy gold.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 02:46pm
by Zixinus
Does anybody see the repeat of this story anywhere else? I noticed that this is from Fox News and them being a Right-Wing speechpipe and California being a left-wing state, I would imagine that this is the usual smear.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 02:55pm
by General Zod
Zixinus wrote:Does anybody see the repeat of this story anywhere else? I noticed that this is from Fox News and them being a Right-Wing speechpipe and California being a left-wing state, I would imagine that this is the usual smear.
I saw it on MSNBC but it was pretty much just a repost.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 02:56pm
by The Spartan
If you look close it's the Associated Press that came up with the story. Fox may be the one carrying the story in this case, but you can see a little AP just under the article's headline.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 02:58pm
by Akhlut
Liberty Ferall wrote:The kid sounds like the same kind of little puritanical shit I was when I was sixteen. Surprised he hasn't asked his parents to homeschool him to keep him away from all the bad words!
See, I was homeschooled, and I literally didn't hear the word "fuck" until I got to college. Literally. Didn't even know about it. I looked it up in the dictionary freshman year.
Tangential and OT, but what the hell was that like?
As for the OP: What is the enforcement supposed to be like? Is this just a suggestion, or are there fines to go along with it, or what? Or is it just some meaningless bullshit 'feel-good' legislation?
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 03:14pm
by General Zod
Akhlut wrote:
As for the OP: What is the enforcement supposed to be like? Is this just a suggestion, or are there fines to go along with it, or what? Or is it just some meaningless bullshit 'feel-good' legislation?
I would expect this legislation to get smashed to bits the moment it gets challenged for violating first amendment rights.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 03:28pm
by DPDarkPrimus
I've come up with a good slogan for this.
"Fuck Free Speech"
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 03:49pm
by Akhlut
General Zod wrote:
Akhlut wrote:
As for the OP: What is the enforcement supposed to be like? Is this just a suggestion, or are there fines to go along with it, or what? Or is it just some meaningless bullshit 'feel-good' legislation?
I would expect this legislation to get smashed to bits the moment it gets challenged for violating first amendment rights.
Obviously, but I'm still curious as to how it is supposed to be enforced, if at all. Was it just a suggestion by the state? Then why legislate it? Shit, this is just fucking mindboggling.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 04:06pm
by The Duchess of Zeon
It is a resolution with no enforcement power whatsoever, yes, so it's just a suggestion that the state legislature wasted your tax dollars (if you're a Calistani) on debating, discussing, voting upon, and recording into the official record.
Re: No more swearing in California
Posted: 2010-03-01 04:07pm
by Liberty
Akhlut wrote:
Liberty Ferall wrote:See, I was homeschooled, and I literally didn't hear the word "fuck" until I got to college. Literally. Didn't even know about it. I looked it up in the dictionary freshman year.
Tangential and OT, but what the hell was that like?
I went to a state school, so needless to say, I had quite the culture shock. The language was what shocked me the most. I used to ask people I was around to not use such language. I basically coped by being involved in Campus Crusade for Christ and making friends with people there. Unbeknownst to me, our hall director had put all the girls who mentioned "church" "Bible reading" "youth group" etc. on forms they sent in about their interests on the same floor, so actually the dorm floor I was on was fairly Christian. The end of my freshman year, I ran for hall council president (of the whole dorm building, eight floors total) and lost because people considered me too puritanical and were afraid of what I would do. That summer I decided to stop wearing handmade clothing and get myself an entire new wardrobe.
As for the OP: What is the enforcement supposed to be like? Is this just a suggestion, or are there fines to go along with it, or what? Or is it just some meaningless bullshit 'feel-good' legislation?
I think it's the same kind of thing as February being "African American History Month" and that kind of thing. You know, National Day of Prayer, etc.
