# Is this an obscene word? WARNING: may offend!!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 20, 2003, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827 "2003-04-20T09:25:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Ego\_Mk2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ego_Mk2)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/21 "2003-04-21T13:34:02Z")
This thread whomps.
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### Author:  [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/22 "2003-04-21T17:00:04Z")
…ass?
😃
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/23 "2003-04-21T17:17:29Z")
I’m so used to hearing words like schmuck and putz used figuratively, I have a difficult time imagining them being used literally. I can’t picture a horny Israeli girl telling her boyfriend “I need your hot throbbing putz!”
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### Author:  [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/24 "2003-04-21T18:22:41Z")
Bah ha ha! **Nemo** , that would just be hysterical!
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### Author:  [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/25 "2003-04-21T19:49:28Z")
I’d thought there weren’t really any laws about what you could and couldn’t say on TV… IIRC, Standards and Practices for each station looks out for that station’s best interest - if we air this program that has these bad words, will our advertisers run someplace else?
Which would explain why the ads on comedy central tend to be for beer and video games, I guess.
Question: How do I say the following sentence in Yiddish?
“I may be a big schmuck, but I have an enormous cock.”
?
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### Author:  [@Tree\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tree_Boy)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/26 "2003-04-21T20:34:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Green Bean \*
> \*\*As far as the censorship…it makes no sense at all. I was watching Robocop on TV, and they changed the word “asshole” to “airhead”…apparently “asshole” was too offensive, but seeing a guy get soaked in toxic waste, then having his skin melt off, and then having him explode when hit by a car was hunky dorey. \*\*
This obsurdity was the premise for the entire South Park movie. One phrase from Sheila Broflowski sums it pretty well:
“Men, when you’re out there, in the battlefield, and you’re looking into the beady eyes of a Canadian as he charges you with his hockey stick (or whatever he has), and people are dying all around you, just remember what the MPAA says: “Horrific, deplorable violence is okay, as long as people don’t say any naughty words.” That is what this war is all about!”
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### Author:  [@modro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/modro)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/27 "2003-04-21T22:29:43Z")
Suddenly the word Schmuck has all new meaning to me, same with Putz. I always assumed them to mean idiot or something similar, so seeing them actually mean something more offensive is pretty surprising…
Makes me want to use them in conversation more 😉
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### Author:  [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/28 "2003-04-21T23:24:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Engywook \*
> \*\*I’d thought there weren’t really any laws about what you could and couldn’t say on TV… \*\*
[Think again.](http://ftp.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Enforcement/Orders/2001/fcc01090.doc)
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### Author:  [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/29 "2003-04-22T01:43:52Z")
The whole television censorship thing is just bizzare.
I was watching (well not really watching, but it was on) Caddyshack on TV a while back. Where Ty (Chevy Chase) asks Danny, “Do you do drugs?” the real response is “Every day!” They edited it to be “No way!”.
Then last night on “The Man Show” they had a skit with an umbrella that was supposed to keep your dead relatives from seeing you jacking off. It even had the words “Jacking Off” printed right on the umbrella. Had a guy acting out the said jacking off.
I have no problem with jacking off on TV, but to get so touchy-feely that you can’t have a guy in a comedy say he smokes dope every day…sheesh!
Schmucks.
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### Author:  [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/30 "2003-04-22T02:34:04Z")
The following is a partial list of potential FCC violations and the fines for each:
Transmission of indecent/obscene material $7,000
Violation of broadcast hoax rule (Remember “War of the Worlds?”) $7,000
Broadcasting telephone conversations without authorization $4,000
Violation of enhanced underwriting agreements $2,000
Violation of Public File rules $10,000
Unauthorized discontinuance of service/programming $4,000
Exceeding power limits $4,000
Violation of transmitter control and metering requirements $4,000
Failure to provide hourly station ID $1,000
Failure to maintain required records $1,000
I found that [here,](http://kzsc.ucsc.edu/handbook/policies.html#8) but then headed over to the [FCC](http://www.fcc.gov/) and found their [Obscene and Indecent Broadcasts Policy](http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html). I really had no idea. There’s a link from that page to a list of recent actions. This thread is cool. I learned some things. 🙂
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### Author:  [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/31 "2003-04-22T04:36:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by presidebt \*
> \*\*Transmission of indecent/obscene material $7,000
> Violation of broadcast hoax rule (Remember “War of the Worlds?”) $7,000
> Broadcasting telephone conversations without authorization $4,000
> Violation of enhanced underwriting agreements $2,000
> Violation of Public File rules $10,000
> Unauthorized discontinuance of service/programming $4,000
> Exceeding power limits $4,000
> Violation of transmitter control and metering requirements $4,000
> Failure to provide hourly station ID $1,000
> Failure to maintain required records $1,000
> \*\*
South Park Using the word “SHIT” over 200 times and before NYPD Blue says it even once…PRICELESS!😛 😛 😛 😛 😛 😛
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### Author:  [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/32 "2003-04-22T04:53:51Z")
Wasn’t there a sportswriter in Los Angeles named Peter Schmuck?
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### Author:  [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/33 "2003-04-22T06:11:55Z")
I was thinking the same thing as **Dr Lao** , the editing was done when the rules were different.
On tv, occasionally I’ll hear a curse or rude/crude phrase in another language that would never be allowed in English. I wonder how that effects the censor’s decisions…
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/34 "2003-04-22T09:33:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by mhendo \*
> **Australia is also good about not editing out the swear words in movies etc. when they air on television.**
And not just that, but childish, puerile humour, too. Fans of America’s Funniest Home Videos would be shocked to see what makes it to the air on Australia’s Funniest Home Videos. On the latter I once saw a severely overfed baby vomit up a good litre or two of milk… There’s a fine line between entertainment and child abuse, and Australia’s Funniest Home Videos dances madly upon it. 😃
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### Author:  [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/35 "2003-04-22T10:05:00Z")
Is yutz an equvalent to the word c\*\*\* ? Or is it the equvalent to pussy?
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### Author:  [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-an-obscene-word-warning-may-offend/169827/36 "2003-04-22T12:36:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Geoduck \*
> \*\*I believe “shmuck” is the preferred spelling- my Leo Rosten book is on too high a shelf tonight; “schmuck” is the Americanized form. My dad speaks Yiddish. We always used the word in the same way as one would call a person a dickhead. \*\*
_Schmuck_ is German for jewelry or decoration.
_schmuck_ in German is also an adjective for pretty or attractive. (note the lower case for adjective vs upper case for nouns in German). The spelling s-c-h-m-u-c-k is German, not “Americanized”. Americans wouldn’t add a “c” in there.
Reference for above is Oxford Duden Concise German dictionary.
Schmuck is cited in my Websters Encylopedic Unabridged as:
[quote]
_n. Slang._ fool; oaf; jerk. [\< Yiddish: male member, lit., pendant; akin to OHG _smocko_, G _Schmuck_ ornament, finery]
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