[tps_title]Matt Rice’s Favorite SpongeBob SquarePants Episode[/tps_title]
“Sailor Mouth”
SpongeBob SquarePants, like most great children’s entertainment, is not merely for kids (or at least in its prime it wasn’t). There were occasional life lessons and a lot of silly humor, but there were also plenty of adult jokes and storylines that taught kids how to appreciate a grown-up type of humor before they could even really understand it.
“Sailor Mouth” is a prime example. In it, SpongeBob and Patrick learn bad words from reading dumpster graffiti and, believing them to be “sentence enhancers,” begin using them freely. The words are, obviously, censored, but you still get gems like, “Don’t forget to ask us to *beep* the *beep* fries.” It’s dirty, yes, but it’s subtle enough to be harmless and actually carries an anti-swearing message.
Of course, that didn’t stop media watchdog groups (often the same people who criticized SpongeBob for supposedly being a gay character) from speaking out against the episode. Parents Television Council claimed that the episode encouraged swearing, while Nickelodeon hilariously responded, “It’s sad and a little desperate that they stooped to literally putting profane language in the mouths of our characters to make a point.”
Beyond being a wonderful piece of satire that, like a lot of great satire, was painfully misinterpreted, “Sailor Mouth” is easily the funniest episode of the series, with many quotable lines (“There are 13 bad words you should never use.” “Don’t you mean there are only 7?” “Not if you’re a sailor.”) and an original story that carries a message all kids should hear. After all, to quote Patrick Star, “Classy sophisticates like us should not stain our lips with cursing.”
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