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"I’m content with losing a handful of people if that means I connect much stronger with everyone else." - definitely the main takeaway from this. I'd rather hav
by tomcreighton 15y ago
"I’m content with losing a handful of people if that means I connect much stronger with everyone else." - definitely the main takeaway from this. I'd rather have half my audience write me off for swearing than have the entire audience not care about what I had to say.
- brlewis 15y agoAs you can see from the comments here, people's reactions to swearing are all over the map. Zach guesses that for his audience swearing will lose a handful and connect stronger with the rest. Even if that guess is right for his audience (which is not a given), it might be wrong for yours. I recommend seeking other ways to help the audience care about what you say.
- tomcreighton 15y agoThe thing is, I agree with you - adding swear words isn't a panacea to make your talk instantly more engaging. Far from it! But neither do I think it's a lazy way out. I'd be really surprised if any of my professional peers were offended if I were giving a talk and dropped in a swear word or two ... and I'd rather do so, and get a good reaction from a smaller percentage than water down my enthusiasm and reach nobody strongly.
- brlewis 15y agoA lot of the people reacting in the comments here are your professional peers. For some, it offends their religious or cultural sensibilities. For some, it offends their taste. Some associate swearing with linguistic laziness. Others associate it with uncontrolled anger. A few might associate it with an abrasive boss. For some swearing just means enthusiasm, but what I'm saying is you're going to get all sorts of different reactions, and it's hard to say exactly what array of reactions you're going to get. That said, if for you the only options are swearing or watering down your enthusiasm, by all means swear.