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When a radio station played part of the routine on the air, an organization called Morality in the Media filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, which threatened sanctions over the “indecent� airing. The owner of the radio company appealed, and ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court, where the majority ruled 5-4 that the First Amendment allowed some government regulation of the public airwaves, though the ruling limited the scope.

Carlin, in his autobiography, “Last Words,� wrote that he took a “perverse pride� in being involved in a case that is taught in law schools: “I’m actually a footnote to the judicial history of America,� he wrote.

Soon, he might also become a footnote in the history of Perryville, Missouri, a small town near the Mississippi River south of St. Louis. The culprit this time is a debate that is playing out in many places across America, and that is where to draw the line in terms of political speech. In October, an alderman in Perryville brought it to the attention of the board that he had received some complaints from town residents about some folks putting signs or flags in their front yards that use one of Carlin’s “seven words� — the one that starts with “f� and sounds like “truck� — and that word is inserted before the last name of President Joe Biden.

Perryville is hardly the only town in this region or elsewhere that is dealing with this issue. Across the river and farther north, Edwardsville residents have been debating on Facebook a similar banner posted on a building near downtown for all to see.

Is it free speech? Or is it indecent?

That was the debate spurred by Carlin’s comedy bit nearly half a century ago, and the jury is still out. Even in death, though, Carlin is guiding the discussion.

The Perryville Board of Aldermen asked the city’s staff to prepare an ordinance to ban offensive language on banners or flags that are displayed publicly. City leaders researched, trying to find out if there was any FCC prohibition against specific language they could borrow. There wasn’t, City Manager Brent Bureck told me. In their research, they came across Carlin’s case, and so they used his “seven words� in writing the proposed ordinance.

So there , is a proposed ordinance titled: “Prohibition of the display of certain words,� and this section: “No person shall display any sign, banner, flag, or other written material that is visible or viewable off of the property on which the message or speech is displayed if the message or speech contains the words ... .�

Because this is a family newspaper, I’ll stop there. But trust me: Google Carlin’s seven words and you will see them in the exact same order that he used them and the exact order spelled out in the proposed ordinance in Perryville. The issue came up for debate Nov. 9 in Perryville, and the local newspaper, the Republic-Monitor, posted a story that night saying that the Board of Aldermen had passed the prohibition.

Whoa, Nellie, says Bureck. That’s not what really happened. Apparently, the newspaper had a deadline and pushed a button too early. These things happen. What really happened, he says, is the aldermen suggested the city staff go back to the drawing board and spend some more time mulling the issue.

“I don’t know where we go now,� Bureck says.

He’ll likely find that other cities have tried to address such obscenity by prohibiting it with no success. Already this year, with the same “(Expletive deleted) Biden� signs at issue, there have been disputes in towns in Indiana, New Mexico, Tennessee and New Jersey. The American Civil Liberties Union who was fined by a New Jersey judge for her Biden sign.

I suspect that Carlin, were he alive, would side with those who wish to fly their flags, offensive or not.

“Nobody ever knows what’s going to be on the list,� Carlin said of offensive words. “Because it’s always somebody else’s list.�