Italy rules 'no balls' insult is a crime

[Dr. Strange]

Italy's highest court has ruled that telling a man he has 'no balls' as an insult is a crime punishable with a fine.

more at http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1676580/Italy-rules-no-balls-insult-is-a-crime

I suppose this might fall under the "blasphemy" exception to free speech.

And elsewhere in the Italian justice system:

Public prosecutors in L’Aquila, Italy, have requested a four-year prison term for the six scientists and one government official charged with manslaughter after a magnitude-6.3 earthquake hit the city and its surroundings on 6 April 2009, killing 309 people.
http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/09/porsecution-asks-for-four-year-sentence-in-italian-seismology-trial.html

[sadbear]

1. What if he's a eunuch?

[snooper2]

2. ROFL, what a bunch of tools..

Wonder if they would ban this too

[Blue_Tires]

4. brilliant...one of my favorites...

[dipsydoodle]

6. I've got a ball cleaner too.

Its designed to polish the ball bearings used in pinball machines - just uses walnut media and maybe some Flitz additive to do that.

I actually use it to clean the hardware on antique banjos which it does without stripping the nickel plating. Imported into the UK from the US and mis-declared.

[dipsydoodle]

7. Greeks just use

"you father was an ass" Its the primary implications of that they find so offensive. If you go to Greece or Cyprus the use of the expression in Greek is best avoided.

[seabeyond]

3. dont miss with their balls, but a nation of pornifying their women works for them. meh. nt

[4th law of robotics]

8. Your false equivalence is . . . false.

[Blue_Tires]

5. Want to REALLY insult an Italian?

"My hometown soccer team is better than YOUR hometown soccer team!"

[Dr. Strange]

10. I did that once.

He started yelling at me; so I put my hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down. He immediately fell to the ground clutching his shoulder and calling for a red card.

[lapislzi]

9. And here I thought it was a cricketing term.

Guess they don't play much cricket in Italy.

[ronnie624]

11. "It refers not only to the target's lack of virility

but also to his weakness of character, lack of determination, competence and coherence -- virtues that, rightly or wrongly, are still identified as pertaining to the male gender."

A judge actually uttered these words?

Wow.

[LeftinOH]

12. ...but what is the phrase in Italian? I need to know. n/t

[redqueen]

13. LOL

No evidence of any fragile male egos there!