Fondling is not a crime

The Pakistan telecoms watchdog has banned people from texting ‘offensive’ words.

I’ve stuck quotes around ‘offensive’ because the list they’ve drawn up is a really mixed bag.

You’ve got ‘flatulence’ in there. And ‘fondle’. Those aren’t offensive words. They might be linked to topics you wouldn’t talk to your granny about, but they don’t hurt anybody. They’re not racist, or disablist, or sexist.

It seems to me we need to make a distinction between words that actually offend people, and words that make prudish people turn up their noses. What do you think?