Profanity Doesn't Work
hanselman.com
Profanity Doesn't Work
1–10 of 93 posts
Re: Profanity Doesn't Work
#2Fuck that.
Re: Profanity Doesn't Work
#3What always amuses me is the tendency of some people to "censor" out profanity (f* vs fuck and s* vs shit), as if by not actually typing the word, the writer could write about profanity and yet not be "sullied" by it, or something to that effect.
Seriously, loosen up. This almost puritanical aversion to profanity is unhealthy.
Re: Profanity Doesn't Work
#4Fuck that.
Could you elaborate?
Re: Profanity Doesn't Work
#5Know your target audience. Sometimes it's appropriate to take an tone with the audience to get a point across or make that impact. A blog has a pretty wide audience.
My opposition nature now wants to start a conference with swearing as a central theme.
Re: Profanity Doesn't Work
#6I'm not sure what industry Scott actually works in? I can look at our code-base here at work, and there are plenty of swear words through out. The classic foobar as an extension on fubar, as in fucked up beyond all recognition.
Then there was that article a few years ago (which I can't even remember the actual argument, but I think it was about censorship) that the linux kernel source code would be black listed because it had 7000+ counts of the word fuck in it.
Swearing almost goes with the territory of being a programmer.. Oh wait, we're not supposed to call our selves programmers any more. Colour me confused! Ok, so I add value to my organisation, I remove obstacles, and if I happen to swear while doing it, oh well!
Re: Profanity Doesn't Work
#7What always amuses me is the tendency of some people to "censor" out profanity (f * vs fuck and s * vs shit), as if by not actually typing the word, the writer could write about profanity and yet not be "sullied" by it, or something to that effect. Seriously, loosen up. This almost puritanical aversion to profanity is unhealthy.
Most times for me this is a habit due to e-mail profanity filters.
Re: Profanity Doesn't Work
#8What always amuses me is the tendency of some people to "censor" out profanity (f * vs fuck and s * vs shit), as if by not actually typing the word, the writer could write about profanity and yet not be "sullied" by it, or something to that effect. Seriously, loosen up. This almost puritanical aversion to profanity is unhealthy.
Actually, there is an effect on the reader. Being indirect softens the blow for folks who are offended by it, much like a euphemism does.
Re: Profanity Doesn't Work
#9What makes swearing any more offensive than say, not wearing a tie at some conference? Is there anything inherent in the tie and words or is there a cultural attachment to these things that raises emotions?
So then, do we always cater to the current cultural trends, or do we pave our own ways in some way? Some times we're not always looking to please, attempts to be polite can lead to concealment of details that matter. So sometimes it's worth not being polite, and politeness, too, is in the eye of the beholder.
Offensive is largely still a subjective matter, you have to decide how much you value this subjectivity.
Some people get offended and start throwing shit at the wall, and some people don't give a fuck.
Re: Profanity Doesn't Work
#10I think he's correct in his assumption that it's only really in America that people are offended by swear words on a slide. I'm in Europe and no one I know would blink twice to see that - although I'd defo leave it out in a sales pitch!
I personally thought the unnecessary swearing was quite amusing. It's nice to see someone not taking themselves too seriously (for a change). Also reminded me of Ted Dzuiba - anyone know what happened to him? His articles on theregister were highly amusing.. Almost as funny as the comments where people just bemoaning the swearing. That was hilarious.
Also reminded me of this, which was on HN a while back: http://andrewvos.com/2011/02/21/amount-of-profanity-in-git-c...