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Venus Pax wrote:If this is indeed a crime, I'm going to have a reeeeealllly small class size this year.

Expect a SWAT raid on the teacher's lounge, too!

Ah, he's also the code enforcement officer, so he is a professional busybody. And apparently a hypocritical one, at that.

SCone wrote:Ask yourself why ANYONE would bother with this issue if it really was ONLY a single cuss word, as the woman is saying?

You only have to read some of the responses to know that there are those who, if they were Peace Officer/Fire Marshalls, would do the same thing.

JLaw wrote:Big deal? So what? I don't want my 8 year old son hearing and repeating this language.

At the age of 8, he has undoubtedly heard "that" word, and many others. You can't control what he hears; you can't control what he repeats, but you can surely influence him to know that certain word are unacceptable.

My personal motto is that profanity is like coffee: it's only effective if you save it until you really, really need it. My wife, on the other hand, is a notorious potty-mouth. By some miracle, our 5 year old has discerned which words he's allowed to repeat, and which words are off-limits.

We keep a dry-erase board on the front of the refrigerator to jot down shopping list items. Our daughter, who became much less circumspect in her language after turning 18, and who is currently experiencing the eruption of wisdom teeth, made a list using the "D" word preceding three items: Anbesol, Ibuprofen, Painkillers. My wife came along and added a few items concerning "kids" and their "needs". Silly fun stuff.

Back to the 5 year old: he reads at a 4th grade level, so when he spotted the board, he carefully erased every instance of the "D-word", and told Mom he didn't want anyone to see it and "be hurt" by the "bad words".

My son has heard much more, and much worse, than was uttered at this Wal-Mart incident. Because he knows it's not acceptable for him to repeat, he doesn't.

DoubleJ wrote:guess it's just the Liberterian in me. Where's Kevin to weigh in on this'n? Huh????

Right here with you.

SCone wrote: § 42.01. DISORDERLY CONDUCT. (a) A person commits an
offense if he intentionally or knowingly:
(1) uses abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar
language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance
tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace;
(2) makes an offensive gesture or display in a public
place, and the gesture or display tends to incite an immediate
breach of the peace;

If your language or gestures incite an immediate breach of the peace, then this is a self-punishing violation. In other words, it's only an offense if those within earshot pile on and administer corrective action.

This is a "time, place, manner" offense. It's well known that certain words, especially racial perjoratives, carry different weight depending on who says them, to whom, and where.