The winning quote came from a column about pay equity written by Andrea Vance.
Ms Vance is no slouch. An experienced journalist, she has worked in television and newspapers for more than 20 years.
The full quote is, "Turns out you can have it all. So long as you’re prepared to be a c ... to the women who birth your kids, school your offspring and wipe the a ... of your elderly parents while you stand on their shoulders to earn your six-figure, taxpayer-funded pay packet."
Well, maybe it packs a punch but I hated it and any sympathy I had for the equal pay regime simply evaporated.
The use of the c-word and the a-word may be a remnant of Ms Vance’s days with the News of the World — a Shock! Horror! weekly which before it was shut down in 2011 engaged in phone hacking, police bribery and other unsavoury practices in pursuit of stories.
The Vance column was mentioned in Parliament during an ensuing debate and Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden earned infamy by using the c-word in the House.
I was appalled by the use of that word in public, especially by a woman. What an old-fashioned, pathetic remnant of a lost world I’ve turned into.
But dinosaur or not, I still cringe every time language which to my mind is unacceptable is used in public. For the record, I never found the "bugger" ads funny.
Now, one year on from that parliamentary profanity comes another cringeworthy moment, this time from Dame Lynda Topp speaking at the Aotearoa Music Awards just days after the death of her twin sister Dame Jools.
Dame Lynda urged the government to provide more funding for the arts and the audience, sympathetic to her recent bereavement and understandably in favour of being paid more, were right behind her.
Even I, not a great art and culture practitioner, was happy to support Dame Lynda until, to my mind, she blew it with barbs directed at Minister of Arts and Culture Paul Goldsmith who was in the audience — "I see young artists struggling . . . because they are trying to put through some sort of crazy mother ... ing arts submission to get a few lousy dollars from the government," and "I did a speed read on the Budget this afternoon, there doesn’t appear to be any money for music, but in big, big letters in the top of the news: $2.1 billion for defence. What the f ... !"
Had I been in the audience I would have slunk away, ashamed of the speaker for descending to such grubby language to make her point.
But, in fact, the audience loved it as one report confirmed — "Loud whooping and cheering met her blunt fierceness, with the audience rising for a standing ovation."
It seems that "blunt fierceness" wrapped in obscenity is becoming more acceptable in public use.
Donald Trump is skilled in "blunt fierceness" and I avoid listening to his rambling nonsense at all times.
One commentator noted that in a recent speech he threw in a "hell," an "ass" and a couple of "bullshits". In another speech he gave us ten "hells", three "damns" and a "crap." The audiences didn’t seem to mind.
They cheered and whooped and applauded. One American academic suggests such grubbiness appeals to politicians because we tend to believe people when they swear.
In this country we don’t believe politicians whether they swear or not so there’s no need for Lucky Luxon and his crew to start effing and blinding in the lead-up to the elections.
On the other hand, television will continue its offensive offensive and give me yet another reason for not watching it — apart from the cricket, of course.
The latest foulness is something called Am I the A**hole?
It is described as "telling a story of possible assholery to a panel who then decide who is the biggest asshole of the day".
It’s not just the concept and the language which offends me, it’s the fact that New Zealand audiences watch this stuff.
But let’s be positive. There is a place for the naughty word — it’s in a quiet corner as the skilled storyteller delivers the punchline of a much loved joke — but it’s not in a public place.
• Jim Sullivan is a Patearoa writer.
