The same applies to scientific writing. When a clinic note morphs into a case report, it is the care with which we write that determines the difference between publish and perish. How we structure our thoughts and ideas, even word choice, may help sway the reader (or peer reviewer) to our point of view.
Language is how we crystalize the world around us. We cannot hope to solve a problem we cannot name. The suspicion that some words are less welcome than others could lead to self-censorship, subtly guiding investigators toward proposals with fewer minefields.
George Carlin & 7 Dirty Words
George Carlin knew about the importance of word choice. Carlin was the sort of comedian you might watch with your friends—but not your mother. He knew which words would make you uncomfortable and played with that discomfort to comedic effect. In one famous monologue, he said, “there are a lot of words you can say whenever you like … . No one has ever gone to jail for screaming ‘topography!’ But there are some words that you can go to jail for. There are some words that we have decided that we will not say all the time.”2
George Carlin’s Seven Dirty Words monologue might have faded away had it not been for WBAI, a radio station in New York that played a recording of it. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) promptly received a complaint from an irate father, who likely noticed that the act expanded his son’s vocabulary in unexpected (and unappreciated) ways. The FCC, in turn, issued a letter of reprimand. The back-and-forth between the radio station and the government eventually led to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The question posed to the Supreme Court was an interesting one: Does the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the government from abridging the freedom of speech, also protect George Carlin’s enthusiastic exploration of the outer limits of the language?
In Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, the Supreme Court found that the First Amendment guarantee of free speech did not mean that radio stations could broadcast whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. The Supreme Court ruled that the government had a compelling interest in shielding children from offensive material and in preventing unwanted speech from entering the home, which took precedence.2
Although George Carlin passed away in 2008, his legacy lives on through both YouTube clips (in which you can—on your own—find recordings of his “Seven Dirty Words” performance) and law school lectures, which reference this landmark First Amendment case. Even if you were not aware of George Carlin, you are aware of his legacy. Every loud bleep! and obscured image on network television is an homage to his impact on our daily lives.
7 Dirty Words, Scientific Edition
Now, science may have received its own list of seven dirty words. In December 2017, The Washington Post published an article alleging the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) was given a list of words it was instructed to avoid in documents related to the next year’s budget. The seven terms are: vulnerable, entitlement, diversity, transgender, fetus, evidence-based and science-based. According to the report, Allison Kelly, a leader of the CDC’s Office of Financial Services, indicated that budget drafts that had included the words vulnerable, entitlement and diversity had already been returned for correction. Instead of “evidence-based,” officials at the CDC were encouraged to use such phrases as “[the] CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes.”3
