“There are some words, not many, just a few — that we decided, we won’t use them all the time,” said the late comedian George Carlin in his famous routine about the “seven dirty words.” If you aren’t familiar with it –– the skit tries to pinpoint a definitive list of words you can never say on radio and television [See NSFW video below.]
Ironically enough, Carlin’s list of naughty words has since become more-or-less the industry standard of what you can’t say on the radio. It made us wonder—what can’t you say in Spanish on the radio? Nobody ever made a list for us!
To help us figure it out, we invited Mexican-American comedian Felipe Esparza to come and talk with us about the joys and pitfalls of cussing in en español. We also speak with NPR Standards & Practices Editor Mark Memmott. And, a conversation with Jessica Gonzalez from the National Hispanic Media Coalition about how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has failed to enforce the same standards in Spanish-language media as in English-language media. –– LatinoUSA
PREVIOUSLY ON CURSING IN SPANISH: