# Is it permitted to call the President a bunch of evil names? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 24, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373 "2010-06-24T16:47:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Joanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@Joanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joanie)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373/21 "2010-06-24T19:12:07Z")
Thank you RNATB. I have expressed my thanks to you in more detail in that other thread. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373/22 "2010-06-24T19:25:29Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > I also think you can call the president whatever you want, as long as you don’t call for his injury/death or use words from the prohibited list (I know “cunt” is on it, but I’m not sure about others, and my search-fu is failing). This is a popular misconception that there is a general “prohibited words” list. In fact, the sticky on [restricted language in the Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508858) says the following: > [@](#): > > The following expressions should not be **directed at other posters.** > > cunt and variants, e.g., cuntlapper > motherfucker > cocksucker > fuck you and variants, e.g., go fuck yourself, fuck off and die > suck/lick my dick/cock and variants Bolding mine. Since the President does not post here (as far as I know) you may call him whatever you want. (However, the Pit would be the most appropriate place for any of the listed terms. Also, calling him one of these names in GQ would be considered a political jab, and hence not allowed in that forum.) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373/23 "2010-06-24T21:45:06Z")
I’m not a mod, but yeah, you can call the President names or otherwise insult him in most forums, as long as the comment is reasonably on topic. If the topic is, “How’s POTUS doing?” you can fire away, pretty much, though you probably don’t want to just post an obscene rant outside of the Pit, and you probably want to wait until it gets moved out of GQ if that’s where it was started. If the topic is “I like kittens” and you post “Obama is a cunt”, then you’re probably going to get moderated. Bush got called everything under the sun during his run. Obama will likely draw less ire here, but he gets some heat as well. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373/24 "2010-06-24T22:03:39Z")
Off hand I’d guess that racist names would not be allowed, right? Names like liar, idiot, moron, Cheney 🙂 would be. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373/25 "2010-06-25T02:52:53Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Off hand I’d guess that racist names would not be allowed, right? I think that would fall under the hate speech rule and applies across the board to everybody regardless of station or political affiliation. ---
**Author:** ![Joanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@Joanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joanie)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373/26 "2010-06-25T03:24:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Off hand I’d guess that racist names would not be allowed, right? Names like liar, idiot, moron, Cheney 🙂 would be. Calling him a\*\* “Cheney”\*\* was a very nice way to employ an indirect insult. I am a fan of the indirect insult although if I want to retain my membership to this board, I understand that I will have to give up using indirect insults. Nonetheless, I am still a big fan and I sure did appreciate the clever way you did that. I wouldn’t point it out if I thought there was any chance that would land you in hot water with the mods. But because it is an insult towards a public figure, I’m pretty sure that you will not have any problems. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373/27 "2010-06-25T17:14:27Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > This is a popular misconception that there is a general “prohibited words” list. In fact, the sticky on [restricted language in the Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508858) says the following: Ah, thanks for clarification **Colibri**. I knew I’d seen that list somewhere, I just failed to find it yesterday. I will try to keep in mind I can only call non-posters cunts. Now I’m tempted to suggest the name President Obama or Ex-President Bush the next time someone has a “find me a new screen name” thread. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373/28 "2010-06-25T19:01:25Z")
**Joanie** , it is fine to ask me a question like this with a PM, as you did–although it would have been better to PM one of the IMHO mods. There’s no need, however, to PM a moderator _and_ start a thread asking the same question. As a general rule, if you’re not sure about something, take a look at the list of moderators at the bottom of the index page for the forum (or see the full staff list [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showgroups.php)), and PM one of the mods in that forum. If you’re in a hurry, and don’t want to take a chance on a mod being out for the day, go ahead and send it to all of the mods in that particular forum – just make sure and say you did that in the message. So that everyone else knows the answer, here’s what I sent to **Joanie** in a PM yesterday: > [@me](#): > > There is no specific prohibition against foul language in any of the forums, although thread titles outside of the Pit should be “work safe,” so please keep the F-bombs out of the title. Remember that a lot of people read the Straight Dope at work, and try to be courteous. If you need to use obscenities to make your point, go ahead, but don’t put them in huge red type or in the thread titles. Thanks. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > If a mod moves your thread, they’ll post to the thread to say so. Also, there will be a link in the original forum, saying “Moved: [your thread title]” which will take you to it. The link (vBulletin calls it a “redirect”) in the original forum isn’t always there. Here’s the rule of thumb that I follow: - If I move a new thread that has no replies, I won’t bother with the redirect - If I move a thread people have been replying to, I’ll leave an expiring redirect that lasts a couple of days. That way, participants will still see it the next time they check in, but it won’t stay around long cluttering up the thread list. - In the rare cases when I move a thread that’s been around for a long time, I’ll leave up a permanent redirect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-permitted-to-call-the-president-a-bunch-of-evil-names/544373.md?page=1)