The Russian dilemma

Several months ago the Russian Duma (parliament) decided to put an end to use of swear words in the mass media. Recently a first step in this direction was taken.

Roscomnadzor (Russian Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications) compiled a list of four swear words, repeated use of which could revoke the license of the media outfit.

Unfortunately, the bureaucrats in charge of the new measure discovered that they are facing a conundrum: the directive makes them unable to publish the list. To circumvent the problem, they have formulated the following dense rule:

Obscene designation of the male sexual organ, obscene designation of the female sexual organ, obscene designation of process of copulation and obscene designation of women of loose conduct, as well as all derivatives of these words...

I bet this new rule will make a lot of linguists and lawyers happier than the proverbial clams.

Hmm... clams?

P.S. Russian language is rightly known as one of the richest, and that list of derivatives, mentioned above, includes hundreds of words. The trouble is certainly brewing as we speak here.