4 ms·

As a non-American, seeing people get upset about a bit of colourful language is quite amusing.

vacri 15y ago
Same here. That americans even have the term "F-bomb" as if it's something explosive is very amusing. The main article goes on at length for such a mild word as 'shit'. He's complaining about the mildest of swear words being used not in a professional publication nor a boardroom sales pitch, but on a personal blog site, and then as a slide for a talk. Talks are usually about a meeting of peers, communicating on a peer level is usually expected. From personal experience with long history of doing phone support, swearing helps. My rule of thumb is swear to one 'level' less than the user. If they're saying 'fuck', you can say 'shit', if they're saying 'shit', you don't swear. I've found that if you're not swearing and they are a lot, it puts them offside and they feel uncomfortable. One more unnecessary thing to manage. But the author's sensitivities are ratchetted way too high. Do I want to 'help' my industry 'outlaw' swearing? Fuck no. I'm more interested in the content of what someone says than the way in which they say it. I'd rather listen to a profanity-laden speech about a tech topic than a slick-as-snot marketroid drone on about nothing important. It's 2011 - we should be offended by context, not by mere words.
dorian-graph 15y ago
I'm a non-American as well. Other nationalities aside from Americans often have words in their language that cause others to be upset. I can think of some in the Philippines where I lived for a few years (If there's any Filipinos, I'm not fluent in Tagalog so I'm not aware of the 'bad words' there though I'm fluent in Hiligaynon and decent at some other local dialects) and I have friends who can speak Japanese, German, French and other languages who while living in those countries said they came across equally offensive/upsetting words.
michaelcampbell 15y ago
As an American, I feel the same way, but in an eye-rolling "sigh" kind of way.

vacri 15y ago

Same here. That americans even have the term "F-bomb" as if it's something explosive is very amusing. The main article goes on at length for such a mild word as 'shit'. He's complaining about the mildest of swear words being used not in a professional publication nor a boardroom sales pitch, but on a personal blog site, and then as a slide for a talk. Talks are usually about a meeting of peers, communicating on a peer level is usually expected. From personal experience with long history of doing phone support, swearing helps. My rule of thumb is swear to one 'level' less than the user. If they're saying 'fuck', you can say 'shit', if they're saying 'shit', you don't swear. I've found that if you're not swearing and they are a lot, it puts them offside and they feel uncomfortable. One more unnecessary thing to manage. But the author's sensitivities are ratchetted way too high. Do I want to 'help' my industry 'outlaw' swearing? Fuck no. I'm more interested in the content of what someone says than the way in which they say it. I'd rather listen to a profanity-laden speech about a tech topic than a slick-as-snot marketroid drone on about nothing important. It's 2011 - we should be offended by context, not by mere words.

dorian-graph 15y ago

I'm a non-American as well. Other nationalities aside from Americans often have words in their language that cause others to be upset. I can think of some in the Philippines where I lived for a few years (If there's any Filipinos, I'm not fluent in Tagalog so I'm not aware of the 'bad words' there though I'm fluent in Hiligaynon and decent at some other local dialects) and I have friends who can speak Japanese, German, French and other languages who while living in those countries said they came across equally offensive/upsetting words.

michaelcampbell 15y ago

As an American, I feel the same way, but in an eye-rolling "sigh" kind of way.