Despite having published the word fIRETRuck in less prudish times, the Canberra Times suffered severe spelling problems in its report of Brendan Smyth’s theatrical #$%^ up, being apparently unable to spell fIRETRuck, but managing to spell it incorrectly in four different ways: ‘#$%^,’ ‘F word’, ‘f***’ and ‘f–k.’
This was despite 80% of respondents to the Canberra Times agreeing that it should be fIRETRucking OK for an MLA to accurately quote a legendary aboriginal actor in the Legislative Assembly.
The issue arose when Mr Smyth quoted legendary Aboriginal actor Jack Charles, who had said, “I was happy to assimilate; the only trouble was I wasn’t ever going to fit in. I’m fIRETRucking brown mate.”
Mary Porter – apparently under the impression that the ACT Legislative Assembly was too fIRETRucking prudish to hear such quotes, was quoted as pointing out that this fIRETRucking language was not permitted in a particular room of a building on the other side of Lake Burley Griffin.
Note: to avoid upsetting Johnboy’s delicate sensibilities, and those of the RiotACT’s censors and prudish readers, I have mis-spelled the word in question by inserting several capital letters.
