Don’t be offensive

“Things Your Mama Should Have Taught You.”

If there isn’t a book by that name, there ought to be.

But without Mama, there is Nanny. Nanny Government.

That’s a term that’s come to mean over-involvement by government in affairs that are none of its business.

But we have to admit, the city government of Brooksville, Fla., has a point.

The city has issued a new dress code that requires workers to wear underwear and use deodorant.

Didn’t Mama tell these workers about hygiene?

The dress code also contains other prohibitions. You have to wear underwear, but you can’t expose it. You can pierce your ears, but not your nose. You can’t wear sexually provocative clothing — even with deodorant — or clothing that carries profane messages.

The policy passed City Council by a 4-1 vote. The lone dissenter argued that the rules take away “freedom of choice.”

Well, yes. But when people fail to wear deodorant, attention must be paid.