Geroge was the Walrus, and the Walrus is Dead

George Carlin died of heart failure Sunday at 71. He has left behind not only a series of memorable routines, but a legal legacy: His most celebrated monologue, a frantic, informed riff on the infamous seven words, led to a Supreme Court decision on broadcasting offensive language. And Howard Stern thinks he's pushing legal issues? Ha.

The counterculture hero joked about misplaced shame, religious hypocrisy and linguistic quirks — something our resident grammar cry-baby can relate to - such as: why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Or ... "Why do they lock gas station bathrooms?" he once mused. "Are they afraid someone will clean them?"

In one of his most famous routines, Carlin railed against euphemisms he said have become so widespread that no one can simply "die." "'Older' sounds a little better than 'old,' doesn't it?," he said. "Sounds like it might even last a little longer. ... I'm getting old. And it's OK. Because thanks to our fear of death in this country I won't have to die — I'll 'pass away.' Or I'll 'expire,' like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital they'll call it a 'terminal episode.' The insurance company will refer to it as 'negative patient care outcome.' And if it's the result of malpractice they'll say it was a 'therapeutic misadventure.'"

Carlin constantly breached the accepted boundaries of comedy and language, particularly with his routine on the "Seven Words" — all of which are taboo on broadcast TV to this day.

When he uttered all seven at a show in Milwaukee in 1972, he was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace, freed on $150 bail and exonerated when a Wisconsin judge dismissed the case, saying it was indecent but citing free speech and the lack of any disturbance.

When the words were later played on a New York radio station, they resulted in a 1978 Supreme Court ruling upholding the government's authority to sanction stations for broadcasting offensive language during hours when children might be listening.