Law Lessons (4) Displays the Virtue of Brevity and Expressiveness

In late 1996, the Court of Appeal in New South Wales passed upon the use of the word fuck by a policeman to his (female) subordinate. Although the decision turned on other points, a question arose whether it constitutes offensive behavior to use the word, and its variants, in a police station. The decision in Commissioner of Police v. Anderson (CA NSW unrep 21 October 1996) thus provides an interesting starting point for a bit of harmless etymology.

4 Letter Word