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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 144458, 20 August 1914, Page 7

An amusing discussion of a familiar but vulgar adjective look place in the Supreme Court, Wellington, on Monday. The incident arose through Mr. T. 31. Wilford asking a constable, under cross-examination, whether the word was obscene. 3Xr. H. H. Ostler, Crown Prosecutor, _ remarked that counsel was not entitled to put points of law to the witness, and his objection was upheld by Mr. Justice Hosking. 3ir. Wilford then went into a consideration of the question from the conventional point of view, and submitted the following instance of usage: “Suppose a man said, 'Yon were a b fool to do that’ ?” (Laughter.) “I am afraid most of us would ho in the dock,” responded His Honour. “1 don’t think anyone would suggest that that is obscene.” 3lr. Wilford called attention to the use of the word in a play recently staged in London, and said that it was iiow_ fashionable in conversation to substitute “Bernard Shaw” for the adjective in question. “Probably in certain quarters,” said His Honour, “it is used in much the same way ns the word ‘very’—just to impart a little emphasis, and not to insult a person. I heard it once used by a man who split up the word ‘Hooray’ and put it in the middle, but no one thought that that was an oh-Eccuit-V-”