Swearing - What's Acceptable?
Education Minister Steve Maharey had to apologise when he was
caught in the house yesterday saying eff you to another MP. So when
is swearing acceptable? And what is an acceptable profanity and
what isn't?
The Broadcasting Standards Authority
actually ranks offensive words according to their unacceptability.
And it depends where you are. It's ok for the aussies to have a
tourism campaign that includes the word "bloody" but not ok for the
British who have banned it. And it's ok for us to use the
word "buggar" in that well-known commercial, even though buggar is
number twenty three on the BSA hit list - that's last on the list
actually. Mark Sainsbury talks to raconteur and radio host Gary
McCormick, David Wilson from the Censor's Office and linguistics
professor
Laurie Bauer
from Victoria
University.
Monster's Mountain
Every Easter a mountain in the Cardona Valley becomes 'Monster's
Mountain'. You can hear the roar of Monster Tajima's car, all the
way to the very top of the 15 kilometre "race to the sky". The
Japanese driver has never been beaten on the course - and this year
he is aiming to take his 8th title and do it in under eight
minutes. That's never been done before. Jendy Harper meets the
Monster Man.
Leaves on the Lawn
Well the lazy, hazy days of summer are on the run, but even so the
Easter break just might allow us a couple of hours to recline with
a good book. And it just so happens we've found a real treasure of
a bookshop in the Bay of Plenty at Ohope Beach just over the hill
from Whakatane, to be exact. It's a mum and dad enterprise with a
difference. It's been growing over the last 12 years and is now a
confirmed "must stop" for holidaymakers and campers traipsing
through that part of the world. And the number of books they're
selling would make the eyes of established book retailers water, as
many battle falling sales. Michael Holland meets the clever book
sellers who count Good Friday as one of their biggest days of the
year. Address of the book sale on the lawn is Pohutukawa Drive,
Ohope Beach.
