I think it's seen by many as informal and crass, rather than offensive or something like that. In Australia a lot of people swear like a sailor in their work s

I think it's seen by many as informal and crass, rather than offensive or something like that. In Australia a lot of people swear like a sailor in their work setting (and, just in general really). This put me off a bit initally. Since in school you'd never swear around figures of authority (because you'd simply get in trouble for it). So having to transition to a workplace where everyone is saying "fuck this and fuck that" infeont of colleagues and higher ups was a bit odd. But I'd never swear in a job interview (although I believe I have before), I'd also never swear when meeting someone new - I try to gauge first if they're as much of a potty mouth as me, then I go for it. As for > What are they trying to signal with that? I don't think they're "signaling" anything intentionally. I think they must just believe it to be unprofessional or disrespectful. And in my opinion that's perfectly fine. In fact I sometimes wish I could get my points and frustration across without swearing - in _my_ opinion it tells me you hace better self control, and a certain professionalism. But I don't think you'd agree with me on that :)