Link: Source
It started like this:
A new four-letter-word has some teenagers in Danvers afraid they might get their mouths washed out with soap.
The word is… meep.
Some say it was those pesky Muppets who started it. Remember Beaker? Some say it was the Road Runner. [...] But Danvers High School principal Thomas Murray doesn’t care who started it, he just doesn’t want to hear it on school grounds. Murray called every student’s home with an automated message and sent out a mass email banning the word from school.
“Please be advised that any student who has the letters ‘meep’ on their clothing or uses the words verbally will face suspension from school…the police are monitoring this situation as well.”
The police? Really? It’s been a long time since I was in high school, but I still remember what it was like to be young, and chafing under what seemed like arbitrary and capricious rules set down by school authorities.
So in solidarity with the students of Danvers High, and on my own initiative, I took about five seconds and sent an email to Principal Thomas Murray ( murray@danvers.org ), Assistant Principal Mark Strout ( strout@danvers.org ), Assistant Principal Cornelia Varoudakis ( cvaroudakis@danvers.org ), and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lisa Dana ( dana@danvers.org ). All of these addresses are publicly available on the Danvers High School website.
My subject line said (in full), “meep.” The body said (in full), “Meep.”
Yesterday I received a reply email from Assistant Principal Mark Strout, which said (in full) “Your E-mail has been forwarded to the Danvers Police Department.”
Only a complete idiot would try to make and enforce (to teenagers, yet!) a rule that says “You’re not allowed to say meep.” And email a stranger in another state (an attorney, yet!) that there’s (impliedly) something illegal about sending an email that says “meep.”
In conclusion, meep.
Message Thread