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Originally Posted by kellymellars
Obscene, Indecent, and Profane Broadcasts
Consumer Facts
It’s Against the Law
It is a violation of federal law to air obscene programming at any time. It is also a violation of federal law to air indecent programming or profane language during certain hours. Congress has given the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the responsibility for administratively enforcing these laws. The FCC may revoke a station license, impose a monetary forfeiture, or issue a warning if a station airs obscene, indecent, or profane material.
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Profane Broadcast Restrictions
The FCC has defined profanity as “including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance.”
Like indecency, profane speech is prohibited on broadcast radio and television between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
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Hi, Kelly:
I can't but agree with our other friends in this thread about censorship. First and foremost, as Vicente said, if someone asks for a translation of some terms, we should consider that he/she must probably doesn't know their meaning and then cannot possibly understand wheter they are offensive or not.
Then again, as Exx have said, yes, this is a forum in which
proffessional translators exchange their expertise, knowledge and even doubts about our proffession, which is the use of different
languages. Foul language, obscene words, etc., whether you like it or not,
are part of any language, and, according to Octavio Paz, are perhaps the most vital part of language:
"En nuestro lenguaje diario hay un grupo de palabras prohibidas, secretas, sin contenido claro, y a cuya mágica ambigüedad confiamos la expresión de las más brutales o sutiles de nuestras emociones y reacciones [...] Son las malas palabras, único lenguaje vivo en un mundo de vocablos anémicos. La poesía al alcance de todos." (Paz,
El laberinto de la soledad, p. 67.)
Finally, who can qualify the quality of language in an
international forum, full of exchanges between people from very different countries? I could say that "culo" is an obscene word, but Exx and millions of spaniards would say it's as innocent a word as "nalgas". And the same would happen the other way round. The very words of the FCC can be subject to interpretation: what does "obscene programming" or "profane language" exactly mean? These criteria have always been as subjective as the period in which they are expressed. During the fifties they meant something very different than during the sixties, or the seventies.
I think we should stick to the original idea of these forums, which is to exchange information and expertise about what is, for many of us, our gratest passion: the use and knowledge of language.
Saludos