The comedy world is mourning the death of George Carlin, whose famous "Seven Words" routine once got him arrested in Milwaukee 26 years ago.

Carlin died of heart failure yesterday in California. He was 71.

The feisty comic constantly pushed the envelope with his jokes. Perhaps his best-known routine was "The Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV."

When Carlin did say all seven at the Milwaukee show in 1972, he was arrested for disturbing the peace.

The words were later played on a New York radio station. That resulted in an eventual Supreme Court ruling regarding the government's authority to monitor offensive language over the airwaves.

He said earlier this year he takes a perverse pride in knowing that routine -- and the legal fallout -- made his name a footnote in American legal history.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)