Every era has its third-rail speech codes. It wasn't that long ago that saying certain things would literally get you burned at the stake. We consider ourselves enlightened today because nobody cares if you say those things.

The irony, though, is we've just adopted a different speech code (political correctness) where expressing a taboo notion will get you metaphorically burned at the stake.

I wonder what people a century from now will think of our modern speech codes. If past speech codes are any guide, they won't think positively about it.