# Words and phrases that are criminal **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837 "2013-04-04T17:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/1 "2013-04-04T17:06:00Z")
I was thinking about times when it would be criminal to say something, in spite of first amendment protections. While I am sure it is criminal at specific times to say certain words and phrases (the proverbial yelling “Fire” in a theater; or specific threats of violence to individuals); I can’t come up with any words or phrases that will ALWAYS be criminal. In the U.S. Are there any words/phrases/statements that are invariably not protected speech? ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/2 "2013-04-04T17:25:20Z")
I imagine a non-ambiguous physical threat against the president would always lead to legal issues, though not always time in the slammer. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/3 "2013-04-04T17:37:57Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > In the U.S. Are there any words/phrases/statements that are invariably not protected speech? If there were we wouldn’t be allowed to post them here. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/4 "2013-04-04T17:43:12Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > If there were we wouldn’t be allowed to post them here. hmmmm… yeah I guess that’s true. if there is, could you allude to it, somehow to make it ambiguous. I’m just not coming up with anything that is absolutely, totally, always against the law to say. What about actions that would fall under protected speech… like having a noose on your car and driving around. Even that seems to be not always illegal. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/5 "2013-04-04T17:48:20Z")
I don’t think that any words are. Well, there’s the one that rhymes with gaganokowagafog, but I’m not going to say it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/6 "2013-04-04T17:53:52Z")
Stick 'em up! Of course it’s never the words (or shouldn’t be). Some words lead to actions which are illegal. Doesn’t matter how you say it. However if we were going to make words illegal, we could start with ‘marmite’. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/7 "2013-04-04T18:10:44Z")
The concept of [illegal numbers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number) came up a number of years ago: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > An illegal number is a number that represents information which is illegal to possess, utter or propagate. Any piece of information is representable as a number, and therefore if the information itself is illegal in some way, the pure number itself may be illegal. [Here’s a particular case.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AACS_encryption_key_controversy) Presumably if you made a YouTube video in which you spoke an illegal number (and gave it proper context), you might attract legal attention. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/8 "2013-04-04T22:00:07Z")
In Canada and most European countries it is a crime to say “Hitler was right” or “The Holocaust was a Jewish fiction”. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/9 "2013-04-04T22:07:21Z")
This isn’t the US, but it is an example from England > [@](#): > > ‘Insulting’ words crime which made it illegal to call a police horse ‘gay’ is to be changed > A law which has been used to try to convict a student who said “woof” to a police dog, or called a police horse ”gay” is to be changed. > > Christopher Hope > > By Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent > > 7:07PM GMT 14 Jan 2013 > > Home secretary Theresa May said the Government will accept a House of Lords amendment to remove the word 'insulting’ from Section 5 of the Public Order Act. > > The amendment had been promoted in the House of Lords by Lord Dear, a former HM Inspector of Constabulary. > > Six years ago police tried to prosecute Oxford student Sam Brown after he said to a mounted officer: “Excuse me, do you realise your horse is gay?" > > Mr Brown, who made the comment during a night out with friends in Oxford after his final exams, was arrested under section 5 of the Public Order Act for making homophobic remarks. > > However, after he refused to pay a £80 fine, the Crown Prosecution Service declined to pursue the case. > The following year Kyle Little, a 16-year-old from Newcastle, was fined £50 with £150 costs for saying “woof” to a Labrador dog in front of police officers. > > Eventually the magistrates’ decision was overturned by a crown court. He had been arrested and charged under the Public Order legislation. > > The amendment had been pushed for by comedian Rowan Atkinson who had warned that criticism, unfavourable comparison or “merely stating an alternative point of view” could be interpreted as an insult and lead to arrest. > > Writing in The Daily Telegraph last month, Lord Dear, said that the law had “no place in our country” because the law was being “used to undermine free speech because of the way it is framed”. > > Last month House of Lords vote saw peers vote overwhelmingly by 150 to 54 in favour of the change. Campaigners welcomed the change. Simon Calvert, Reform Section 5 campaign director, said he was “very pleased” by the Government’s statement. > > He said: “This is a victory for free speech. People of all shades of opinion have suffered at the hands of Section 5. > > “By accepting the Lords amendment to reform it the Government has managed to please the widest possible cross-section of society. They have done the right thing and we congratulate them.” > > A ComRes poll commissioned last year by the RS5 campaign showed that 62 per cent of MPs believed it should not be the business of government to outlaw “insults.” > **['Insulting' words crime which made it illegal to call a police horse 'gay' is...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9801377/Insulting-words-crime-which-made-it-illegal-to-call-a-police-horse-gay-is-to-be-changed.html)** > > A law which has been used to try to convict a student who said “woof” to a police dog, or called a police horse ”gay” is to be changed. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/10 "2013-04-04T22:12:09Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > In Canada and most European countries it is a crime to say “Hitler was right” or “The Holocaust was a Jewish fiction”. I’m not sure it’s true in _most_ European countries, although the EU seems to be trying to make it so. I’d be astonished if it ever happens here in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/11 "2013-04-04T23:07:06Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > In Canada and most European countries it is a crime to say “Hitler was right” So I couldn’t say: “Hitler was right: this strudel is delicious!”? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/12 "2013-04-04T23:32:10Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The concept of [illegal numbers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number) came up a number of years ago: > > [Here’s a particular case.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AACS_encryption_key_controversy) > > Presumably if you made a YouTube video in which you spoke an illegal number (and gave it proper context), you might attract legal attention. Along the same lines - any series of words which reveal classified information is almost always illegal. However I’m guessing that would only apply if the person could reasonably be expected to know that the information is correct. If I say, 'the nuclear activation code is “12345” ’ and that turns out to be right, then I’m probably OK. If someone from within the military states the same information in public, then he probably isn’t OK. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/13 "2013-04-05T00:10:53Z")
Well, suppose that if you recited the Lord’s Prayer backward, it actually summoned Satan! I figure that would very quickly become banned by law. “Demogorgon! Hastur! Bloody Mary!” “Belgium…” Since magical incantations don’t seem to have any effect, that seems to be moot… ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-that-are-criminal/654837/14 "2013-04-06T13:47:17Z")
Everyone who has read To Kill a Mockingbird has heard of the [Ladies Laws](http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006032013817), which fined people for using vulgar language in front of “women and girls.”