Are there words so bad that they aren't allowed on television?


**_Warning:** We're all adults here, but just in case, this question may
contain words, in both Japanese and English, that some may not like to read._

A long time ago, when I was working with a translator, a native Japanese
speaker, the term `気違い{きちがい}` ("insane person") came up. She told me it was
one of the worst insults one can use. So bad, in fact, that you wouldn't hear
it on television.

I wasn't clear to me then, or now, if she meant that as her opinion, hyperbole
to express how bad the word is, or that there really are some guidelines or
rules about words that can be uttered on television.

In any case, I took it to mean that `気違い{きちがい}` is much more offensive than,
say `「この野郎{やろう}！」`, which means "You asshole!"...
[maybe](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3459/can-%E9%87%8E%E9%83%8E%E3%82%84%E3%82%8D%E3%81%86-really-
have-that-many-meanings).

Then, a little while ago, I'm reading a Tintin book, [`タンタンの冒険{ぼうけん} -
青{あお}い蓮{はす}`](http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%9D%92%E3%81%84%E8%93%AE-%E3%82%BF%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%83%B3%E3%81%AE%E5%86%92%E9%99%BA%E6%97%85%E8%A1%8C-14-%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7/dp/4834011798)
( _The Adventures of Tintin_ \- _The Blue Lotus_ ), and on page 13, when
Tintin is running away from a sword weilding madman on drugs, he yells
`「きちがいだ！」`

Since this is a book for young readers, I guess my impression of `気違い{きちがい}`
is wrong...?

First question is, just how bad is `気違い{きちがい}`?

Second question, is there a list of words considered too bad for television?
(If so, references please, lets not just speculate.)

_(Please no overly technical linguistic terms. Thanks!)_




  1. You are right. Using the word `気違い` is insulting and is not allowed on mass media. The reason is because its use often means that you are mixing up intellectual disability, insaneness, and other mental diseases, which have nothing to do with each other, and it connotates that they are all harmful. In the old days, mass media would write a news article such as "a patient of a mental hospital escaped and killed someone", and people will discriminate all the people belonging to any of the categories referred to as `気違い`, thinking that they may do a similar thing. In the worst case, there are ignorant people who even confuse physically disabled poeple with mentally disabled people and with insane people. 

  2. Japanese broadcasting has taboos, on which factors other than political correctness have strong influence. You can easily obtain a list by doing a search with the words '放送禁止用語', so I will not place a link here. You can often see political pressure on them. Among the famous is to mention the nature of the religional sect soukagakkai: [video 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggn46I0Ersg&feature=player_embedded), [video 2](http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2394265) (Video 1 is already deleted, and I added the link intentionally to show you the political pressure). Another famous taboo word is the female genital. Male genital is not a taboo, and this shows sexual bias.

**Edit** [The original
video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6aaxqBKpvc&feature=feedrec_grec_index)
on youtube came to my attention, which shows the moment of an NHK announcer's
mentioning the connection of 公明党 and 創価学会 being blocked probably by a superior
in NHK due to a political pressure by 創価学会.




Oh yes. From what I understand, Japan is _over_ zealous about keeping possibly
politically incorrect terms off the air; see the [Wikipedia
article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotobagari) on "word-hunting" which does
indeed mention 気違い. See the main [Japanese Wikipedia
article](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%94%BE%E9%80%81%E7%A6%81%E6%AD%A2%E7%94%A8%E8%AA%9E)
on 「放送禁止用語」(un-broadcastable words) for more information; it links to this
[list of un-broadcastable
words](http://www.geocities.co.jp/WallStreet/4845/odio/kinku.html).

One thing to note is that the list of words considered unfit for broadcast
includes words in common usage that few people find offensive, not just words
you wouldn't say in front of your grandmother. The word 「床屋」(barbershop) is a
prime example. There was a barbershop in the Edo period that had a
[tokonoma](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokonoma); people referred to it as
「床の間のある店」(the shop with the tokonoma), and then just 「床屋」for short. However,
the kanji「床」can mean "bed," so there are people who think it means that
barbershops were fronts for brothels, even though this is not historically
true. Thus 「床屋」is on the list of un-broadcastable words, even though it is
used in common parlance without raising any eyebrows.

