Heard this on local news (Channel 16), and did a quick web search, finding this article, because it touches on the whole free speech thing.

A septic servicer in Massachusetts has been receiving complaints from parents of local schoolchildren because of the slogan on the back of his truck. The slogan is, of course, “Shit Happens”.

Now the trucks pull out onto the main road in front of an elementary school where 6- to 8-year olds are subject to their school-board endorsed indoctrination program. Such unshielded eyes might be exposed to the S-word.

Of course, when I was 6, I already knew what the S-word was. By the time I was 8, my friends and I were using it regularly (without parents or teachers around, of course). Does anyone really think schoolkids are innocent when it comes to language?

The funny thing about language is that people are so offended by mere words. What is the difference between the common usage of “crap” and the common usage of “shit”? 4 letters and someone’s perception. When someone says “effing” instead of “fucking”, the mental reason for uttering the “unoffensive” version is exactly the same as the reason I’d use the offensive one.

Really, profanity is in perception and context, and frankly, this septic service guy has every right to say “shit happens” on the back of his truck. It’s shouldn’t be his problem that someone else is offended by some language that is witty and appropriate given what he does for a living.

Some people call it profanity. I call it catchy advertising.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 6th, 2005 at 11:30 pm by Michael G. and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.