When a newspaper in Baltimore had “douchebag” on its front cover in September, you can imagine how many complaints it fielded from the older audience. But does the relatively young insult really fit into the “bad word” category yet? Kansan columnists weigh in.

Our generation views profanity a lot differently than our parents’ generation. My mother still cringes if I say the word “crap,” so I can only imagine how she would react to the word “douchebag.”

For some reason the word is not held to the same standard as other forms of profanity. Publications have used the word, and it does not seem to fall under the umbrella of obscenity that other words have.

The word is less of an insult than other profanities, and despite flak the word “douchebag” might get, I will continue to use it.

—Erin Brown

“Douchebag” is a “giggle word” that kids love to say when they first discover its existence and love to hear from the mouths of grown-ups, who are supposed to be, well, grown up.

So it’s no surprise that when a club owner in Las Vegas named Michael Minelli sued the author of a book called “Hot Chicks With Douchebags,” the result was some of the most beautifully absurd legal paperwork in the history of the United States judicial system.

Pictures of Minelli, accompanied with a description of his alleged douchebaggery, were published in the book without his consent. In response, Minelli sued the publisher for libel. The complaint, available for viewing on TheSmokingGun.com, features a douchetastic list of allegations. Allegation 18 simply states: “The Publication refers to the Plaintiff as a Douchebag.”

That’s the issue with any “bad word”: context. On the playground, they’re no big deal. But when a judge has to preside over a case where a “bad word” plays a prominent role, it becomes a spectacle. A wonderful, hilarious spectacle.

—Alex Nichols

Mothers of River City, heed the warnings before it’s too late! Are certain words creeping into your child’s language? Stuff like “swell,” and “so’s your old man”? Well then, you’ve got trouble, with a capital “T” and that rhymes with “P” and that stands for “pool”!

The standards for what is profane and what isn’t change all the time. Every now and then, a new term is used as profanity. Its place in the modern vernacular is changed, at least for a while, into something seemingly inappropriate. Douchebag is a fun term now, but I’d be surprised if it still is in 20 years. By then, some other hygiene product will have taken its place as many people’s insult of choice.

—Ben Cohen

A few days ago, a student used the insult “douchebag” to describe a character we were reading about in front of an entire English class, including the professor. Everyone laughed, and no one seemed to be offended. And there wasn’t any need to be.

Even the feminist movement has started to embrace the word as an insult. A feminist magazine started a blog called “douchebag decree.” It is a weekly post about people the writer deems to be douchebags.

Some protested this word used as an insult, but a word that came from the idea that women are dirty and need cleansing is better used in that sense.

Douchebag isn’t so bad. Like all words, it has to be dictated by the audience. Printing the word in The University Daily Kansan is more acceptable than printing it in The New York Times or Washington Post because it’s used in the everyday lives of its audience.

We can call our friends douchebags because they know there is no ill will behind it. But this does not mean we should ignore the real world.

—Zachary Graham

Douchebag is the new fuck. It’s the new all encompassing word that can mean anything and be everything. You can throw it into any part of a sentence.

A friend used the word douchebag in front of my parents over Thanksgiving break. When my parents tried to use another word to explain what my friend had said about someone, my friend stopped them and said, “No, he’s just a douchebag.”

It’s the new be-all-end-all word. It’s time to embrace it.

—Ross Stewart