Italy's top court has apparently changed tack on the acceptability of vulgar language.
The court, which this summer made headlines by greenlighting the use of the F-word, on Wednesday said it was not OK to say a subordinate was ''doing f**k all''.
The Supreme Court of Cassation upheld a Rome boss's conviction for insulting an employee last year.
The court heard that the company chief used the following language, in Roman dialect: ''You've really broken my balls now, I'd like to know what the F... you're doing here, since you're doing f**k all''.
Judges said the boss was guilty of insulting the worker because he did not provide examples of the alleged slacking.
The court, whose rulings set precedents, has an uneven history of verbal-abuse verdicts.
In July it said it was no longer an offence to tell someone to f*** off because the term was so widely used.
It quashed the conviction of an Abruzzo town councillor who told a deputy mayor 'where to go' during a stormy council meeting.
But a year ago judges said it was OK to hurl abuse at someone provided the other side gave as good as it got.
The court said a woman was entitled to call an acquaintance a ''bastard, fool, a cretin and a drug addict'' because the insults had been ''mutual''.
Earlier last year judges issued another ruling on reciprocal insults, acquitting a woman who called a colleague a 'bloody n**ger'.
Upholding an earlier ruling, they said the woman's reaction was justified because the immigrant co-worker had ''cursed'' her family and her insult was an ''equivalent'' response.
