the.com/obscenity

The law's way of saying 'I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.'

means Material or conduct judged offensive to accepted standards of decency, especially in its depiction of sex or vulgarity.

from From Latin obscenus, meaning inauspicious, ill-omened, or offensive, which itself has disputed roots — possibly tied to caenum, 'filth,' though some scholars connect the ob- prefix to a sense of something 'set apart' or 'off-stage,' as in too repugnant to be shown. The word passed through French obscène into English by the 16th century, carrying the sense of something that violates moral or public decency — a judgment that has proven far easier to feel than to define.

legal test
Supreme Court literally ruled it defies definition, 1964
community standards
what counts varies by zip code, legally
etymology
from Latin obscenus, meaning ill omened or disgusting
protected speech
first amendment stops exactly where obscenity starts
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