bong hits 4 jesus: Court rules that students who mention drugs are pushing them

[Dennis Baron]

There's a new post on the Web of Language

The U.S. Supreme Court has effectively criminalized any student  
mention of drugs in school.

In Morse v. Frederick, decided June 25, 2007, the court found that  
Joseph Frederick, a student who unfurled a 14’ banner reading "BONG  
HiTS 4 JESUS" at a school event, was rightfully suspended in 2002 by  
school principal Deborah Morse for promoting illegal drug use.

Frederick displayed the banner during a school-sponsored outing to  
watch the passing of the Olympic Torch.  He contested the 10-day  
suspension, arguing "that the words were just nonsense meant to  
attract television cameras."  The 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of  
Appeals agreed with Frederick, but the U.S. Supreme Court sided with  
Morse and the Juneau School Board.

Delivering the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts didn’t  
buy Frederick’s claim that he was just a publicity seeker.  While  
acknowledging that the message on the banner is "cryptic," a word  
usually applied to language that is intentionally obscure or  
difficult to understand, Roberts insisted that the principal’s  
interpretation of the banner as advocating drug use was a reasonable  
one.

To find out why it may not be so reasonable, read the rest on


the Web of Language


www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage


Best,

Dennis

Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org