Taboo Words

This Volokh Conspiracy blog entry cracked me up.

How to rise to the top of the SSRN download rankings:

The 16,170 downloads that he got for this paper have enabled the author to rise to the top of the Social Science Research Network's rankings for legal scholars with the most downloads over the last 12 months. When I post my next paper on SSRN, I'm going to have to seriously consider putting some words in the title that can't be repeated on a family-oriented blog such as the VC!

Here's the abstract from the paper, I've censored it a bit, but after reading it, I'm thinking the paper must be interesting.

This Article is as simple and provocative as its title suggests: it explores the legal implications of the word f***. The intersection of the word f*** and the law is examined in four major areas: First Amendment, broadcast regulation, sexual harassment, and education. The legal implications from the use of f*** vary greatly with the context. To fully understand the legal power of f***, the nonlegal sources of its power are tapped. Drawing upon the research of etymologists, linguists, lexicographers, psychoanalysts, and other social scientists, the visceral reaction to f*** can be explained by cultural taboo. f*** is a taboo word. The taboo is so strong that it compels many to engage in self-censorship. This process of silence then enables small segments of the population to manipulate our rights under the guise of reflecting a greater community. Taboo is then institutionalized through law, yet at the same time is in tension with other identifiable legal rights. Understanding this relationship between law and taboo ultimately yields f*** jurisprudence.

That last sentence just makes me laugh. Cynically I wan t to query if there is any other type of jurisprudence.