Swear words on tombstones might soon be illegal in this New Zealand city

Vincent Drummond-Paulo died last December. He was 19 years old. Which might explain the following inscription on his tombstone:

Drummond-Paulo’s family lovingly crafted this epitaph, his gamer name (“Reaper 91xx”) followed by a list of his favorite songs: Black, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Sickman, Do I Wanna Know, and I Don’t F**k With You.

“It’s our memory to our son and what’s on the back of it is just what he was,” his mother, Jeanna Scott, told local news site Stuff.co.nz. “I [didn’t] think it was hurtful to anyone.”

But another visitor to the cemetery in the New Zealand city of Palmerston North took offense to the grave stone, filed a complaint with the city council, and had it covered up, the site reports. Scott said that no one had told the family the epitaph was unacceptable when they had the headstone made.

Now the council is considering a law that would mean all headstones would have to be approved by city officials, and swear words would not be allowed.

“There definitely should be rules, and we will be working with council staff to ensure such an incident does not happen again,” said Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith.

Stuff.co.nz asked some locals if they were on board with banning swear words on tombstones, with most saying they were OK with swear words if that was a person’s final wish.

One local woman said when asked if swear words should be banned: “No, cause it’s their last words…if you start putting rules down like that it’s like going into the third world war, eh?”