The City of Cambridge uses the word 'profane' in obscure ways (one time to categorize a cheerful graffito proclaiming gay identity on a dumpster!). According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary it means: 1 : not concerned with religion or religious purposes : secular 2 : not holy because unconsecrated, impure, or defiled : unsanctified 3a : serving to debase or defile what is holy : irreverent 3b : obscene, vulgar 4a : not being among the initiated 4b : not possessing esoteric or expert knowledge

What does it mean in this case?

I would like to explain to readers that my civil and civic-minded comment, rejected by this platform, requested the City's definition of the word 'profane' so I could understand what was being reported here. I pointed to an example from past uses of the category to censor non-profane speech, and copied the Merriam-Webster dictionary's full entry of definitions for 'profane.'

All graffiti on public and private property with owners permission is removed whether deemed profane or not. It is illegal.

Thanks AB Cambridgeport, but legality is not the only issue. We should know about it if people are writing racist, anti-semitic or anti-immigrant graffiti in our city. The category "profane" as currently used tells us nothing about whether that is happening. If people are writing sacriligious graffiti or swear words, so be it, paint will take care of it. But hate speech is a serious civic issue.

Thank you for reporting your concern to City of Cambridge via Commonwealth Connect.

We have reviewed the information you provided our staff and will be investigating this issue further.

Because graffiti removal equipment cannot be used in cold weather, all requests received mid November thru March will be removed in the spring. Obscene or offensive tags will be immediately painted over until removal can be scheduled.

This boiler plate response is not accurate as graffiti IS being removed as weather permits. Please continue to encourage graffiti reports by changing the City’s response to reflect actual DPW strategy. The employee who does the graffiti and tag removal does an excellent job! We greatly appreciate the timely attention and the pictures of the cleaned spots.

Thank you for reporting this issue to us. We are pleased to report back to you that this issue is now resolved. Tell us how we're doing by completing a short survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/CambServiceRequests