Pakistan’s telecommunications industry is roiling over orders from the government to ban nearly 1,700 “obscene” words from text messages, 586 in Urdu and 1,109 in English.

 

The state-run Pakistan Telecommunications Authority ordered mobile phone companies to impose the ban, but then delayed its implementation after word got out, prompting loads of criticism on social media websites.

 

The list of banned words and phrases included “Jesus Christ,” “devil,” “quickie,” “fairy,” “athlete’s foot,” “idiot,” “damn,” “deeper,” “four twenty,” “go to hell,” “harder,” “looser,” “sex,” “no sex,” “lavender,” “flatulence,” “butt,” “mango,””jack the ripper,” “pud,” and “Wuutang,” an apparent reference to the U.S. rap group Wu-Yang Clan.

 

One Pakistani remarked on Twitter that thanks to the uproar over the list, “kids are swearing more elaborately & frequently than ever. Well done.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Pakistan Defers ‘Obscene’ Text Message Ban Deadline (Agence France-Presse)

Pakistani Derision at 'Obscene Text' Ban (by Nosheen Abbas, BBC News)