Bloody Hell Is a Place Full of Offended Brits
Tourism Australia's latest ad campaign asks: "So where the bloody hell are you?" British authorities have ignored that particular question to ponder whether censors can permit public airing of the country's own favorite adjective. Bloody was declared verboten in March. The decision has since been repealed, but Aussies have run into another hitch: delicate Canadians. Their complaint? A CBC spokesperson explains:
There are people in this country who when watching television with their young family just might take exception to the word hell.
To find out which words offend its public most, the BBC has commissioned an extensive study (enigmatically titled "Delete Expletives?") that manages an impressive 12 pages of throat clearing before we get to the list of bad words. Bloody comes in at 27th, in between crap and God. The full rankings are here (.pdf).
