Cursing is a way of life for most of us. It punctuates and adds spice to the conversation like chili sauce. People on television feel the same way, which is why televised galas like the Billboard Music Awards and other events are notorious for the F-Bombs that come out of nowhere and into the living room of a six year-old child who can add this elastic word to her repertoire.

Since these televisions shows are broadcast live, the Federal Communications Commission has been grappling with foul language in the public domain for quite some time. For many years, the FCC said "the hell with it" and looked the other way when someone dropped the F-Bomb on live TV. That changed recently, when Bono from U2 gushed that an awards ceremony was "really, really, fucking brilliant." The FCC took offense since other stars had used similar language at other awards ceremonies and, after abruptly changing its policies on "fleeting expletives," decided to fine the network. Like everything else in our world, this dispute ended up in court, which ruled that the FCC is now allowed to punish the networks for "fleeting expletives," that is, curse words spontaneously uttered on live television.

This week, the United States Court of Appeals in Manhattan tore apart the FCC's justification for targeting fleeting expletives. In the old days, the court noted, the FCC didn't care about these things. But the puritanical Bush administration decided to clamp down on fleeting expletives for reasons that can only be described as transparent, according to the court.

The FCC said that it was changing its policy because excusing fleeting expletives "unfairly forces viewers (including children) to take 'the first blow." Putting aside the double-entendre of describing viewer reaction to spontaneous swear words as the "first blow," the policy made no sense. First, according to the court, the FCC did not target spontaneous cursing during a televised news interview. So if Condi Rice says "fuck" on 60 Minutes, that OK. But that exception swallows the rule. Also, the FCC decided to overlook the F-word when it's a necessary part of the creative work, like the movie Saving Private Ryan, broadcast on network television, curse words and all. This, too, swallows the rule. Kids watching the movie learn all about the F-word even if Bono can't say "fuck" during the music awards anymore.

But the most interesting part of the decision striking down the FCC's new rules on public cursing was the true meaning of the word "fuck." The FCC said that "fuck" and "shit" will almost always refer to sexual or bathroom activity. Nonsense, according to the court, which said that "this defies any common-sense understanding of these words, which, as the general public well knows, are often used in everyday conversation without any 'sexual or excretory' meaning." Sometimes we use the word fuck or shit the old-fashioned, way, like "fuck that shit," or, "Frank's full of shit," or "where is the fucking screwdriver?" I like this kind of common-sense judicial reasoning.

One judge disagreed with the outcome of this case. But here, too, the judge in dissent gave us a much-needed discourse on the true meaning of fuck and shit. This judge did not that these words are not always taken literally. He said, "I agree with the majority that the word is often used without a necessary intention on the part of the speaker to refer to sex. A student who gets a disappointing grade on a test, a cook who burns the roast, or a driver who returns to his parked car to find a parking ticket on the windshield, might holler out the F-Word to express anger or disappointment. The word is also sometimes used to express delight, as with Bono's exhilarated utterance on his receipt of his award. Some use it more as a declaration of uncompromising toughness, or of alignment on the side of vulgarity against prissy manners, without necessarily intending to evoke any sexual meaning. Some use it to intensify whatever it is they may be saying, and some sprinkle the word indiscriminately throughout their conversation with no apparent meaning whatsoever."

But, the dissenting judge said, the FCC can still consider the totality of the circumstances in banning this language from network broadcasts. In what has to be an unprecedented judicial discussion on the relative shock value of "fuck" and "shit," this judge concluded that "fuck" is definately more offensive than "shit." He said: "As each of the instances under review in this case involved the use of the F-Word, and because I find that the Commission has given a rational justification for its rule as applied to use of the F-Word, I do not consider the Commission's standard which makes it a decency violation to use the word 'shit.' . . . The potential for harm to children resulting from indecent broadcasting was clearly a major concern justifying the censorship scheme. In this regard, it seems to me there is an enormous difference between censorship of references to sex and censorship of references to excrement. For children, excrement is a main preoccupation of their early years. There is surely no thought that children are harmed by hearing references to excrement."

That's right, fuck is worse than shit because even little kids know about and are fascinated by shit. This too, in its own way, is common-sense legal reasoning. So there you have it. "Fleeting expletives" naturally flow from everyday discussion, and you can even say it on TV. That's your excuse when some puritan objects to the F-bomb. And if you prefer to spice your conversation with the S-bomb instead, just tell the Ol' Fogey that even a pro-FCC judge on the Court of Appeals said that "shit" is preferable to "fuck." And if its good enough for the Court of Appeals, it good enough for me.