Not an Unpublishable Word

NZ Truth, Issue 1030, 22 August 1925, Page 5

Not an Unpublishable Word

— -«■ But, if Misused, May Get You Gaol

In Any Case, Gisborhe Would Certainly be Shocked!

According to the slang dictionary, \he word "bloody" is simply, "an expletive used, without reference to meaning, as an adjective and an adverb, simply for intensification." The law seems to regard the word according to the manner and motive of its application. Some intensifications (as m bul-lock-driving) may be justifiable. Others are not.

A middle-aged man came before Mr. E. C. Levvey, S.M., at Gisborne the, other day, on "a charge of using indecent language. . The charge arose out of a Saturday evening incident, when accused and two ''companions were ordered by a limb of the law to straighten themselves up and go home. ■•'•,■ •* :,. The accused, told the . somewhat youthful but keen member of- the .force that he was "bloody Well

cranky," and that he had no right to interfere- with a private citizen. Thereupon the majesty of the law was invoked, and the constable, shocked by the^awfulhess of such an expression used m the pure little village of Giisborne, arrested the accused.

The fact that the word was m everyday use and was to be found m standard'authors was commented upon by the . Magistrate, ' who, however, convicted the accused and discharged him.

Senior Sergeant Fitzpatrick handled the case for the police, while Lawyer J. S. Wauchop appeared for the accused, who pleaded not guilty. "The facts of the case," said the senior-sergeant, "are that the accused and two companions were under the influence of liquor on Saturday evening, and when they were passing Constables Brown and Gatehouse they made some remark, and were told to straighten, themselves up and go home. Accused remained m the street looking for trouble, and told the constable that he was bloody well cranky and had no right to interfere with him."Constable Brown gave evidence that the " language had been used when there were a large number of people m the street. To Mr. Wauchop: The offensive re- i mark had been made when the accused was told that he had had too much drink. Mr. Wauchop: How many men would you collect, m four hours if you arrested everyone you heard using that word m the street? — We don't often hear it used m front of women and children. Constable Gatehouse corroborated the evidence of the former witness, and said that when he had had a few drinks the accused tried to be funny. Mr. .. Wauchop : You didn't give him much chance of being funny on this

occasion, did you? — No. You often hear this word used m the street? — Yes, but not so loudly as it was used by the accused. The Magistrate said that he thought the word was an every-day one, used by all_ classes. In this case the offence would* of course lie m the manner m which it was used. For the accused Mr. Wauchop said that "bloody" nowadays was the same as "zounds" and "gadzooks" m former times, and was part of the English laguage, being particularly used m Australia and New Zealand. Accused said that he was not drunk at the time, and' used the word because of the manner m which the constables spoke to him. Roy McLeay, a companion of the accused, said that the language was only used m a conversational way. His Worship, dealing with the significance of the word, said that if could be used m two ways, and m one it could be coarse an,d crude, but it still remained only an adjective. It could, however, be abusive, and he thought that the accused had been somewhat abusive* Under the circumstances he Avould convict the accused and discharge him. Mr. Wauchop: I would ask that you do not publish the name, your Worship. If the whole of the details were published it would not matter, but the Gisborne newspapers would'not pub-

lish the word, and people would get the impression that accused had used much worse language than he had. His Worship : There is no reason why they should not the word. It is used by many standard authors, and there are many worse things appearing m their papers every day.-, Mr. Wauchop: You will find that it won't be published. The Magistrate thereupon ordered that the name, should be suppressed.

"My wife is a fine singer. I have known her to hold her audience for hours at a time." ■ •• ■ "Indeed!" "Yes; after which she would put it m the cradle and rock it to sleep."

RECENTLY a widow woman married a motor-car driver. She met Mm toy accident— lie ran down her first husband!