PopEater recently ran this post about Charlie Sheen’s very public meltdown.

Notice the word turpitude. Turpitude means depravity, baseness of character, or corrupt or depraved acts. It is often used in the phrase “moral turpitude,” a legal term that describes depraved behavior.

Worried about her grandson’s turpitude – as evinced by his constant detentions and a three-day stay in a juvenile jail – Mrs. Worthington offered to pay for military school.

It’s hard to fathom the kind of turpitude required to make a movie that could get banned in modern-day Europe! When I read the screenplay, I nearly threw up.

Three related words are:

Base – morally low, mean, dishonorable; of little or no value; crude and unrefined; counterfeit

Debase – lower or reduce in quality or dignity

…and, of course, depraved, meaning morally bad, corrupt, or perverted.

Now, take a look at the use of turpitude in the Sheen article:

Do you spot the problem?

Turpitude is a bad thing. Sheen certainly wasn’t fired for a lack of it — he was fired for turpitude itself. Perhaps we could say he was fired for a surfeit of turpitude.

Anyone want to start a band called Surfeit of Turpitude?