The papers on obscene words so far published date from the early days of psychoanalysis (Freud, 1905; Ferenczi, 1911). This makes it plain that four problems have not been given

consideration: 1. Information is lacking regarding the conditions under which the ego condones obscene words. 2. One fails to find any reference to the mitigating of the sense of guilt to which the employment of such words gives rise. 3. Emphasis was placed too much on the anal, and too little on the oral. 4. Obscene words were treated solely from the standpoint of the man uttering them, while nothing was said with regard to the passive desire to hear obscene words on the part of both men and women.