profanity on comp.lang.python (was Re: Pyro stability)

[Cliff Wells]

On Wed, 2006-11-08 at 06:49 -0800, Beliavsky wrote:
> Cliff Wells wrote:

> > The LA Times had a story that claimed that 64% of U.S. citizens use the
> > word "fuck" and that 74% of us have heard it in public (I'll assume the
> > remainder are your fellow AOL users).  I expect extrapolating these
> > results worldwide wouldn't be far off the mark (the Brits were quite
> > successful at spreading this versatile word).
> 
> If this is supposed to justify using bad language in a public forum, it
> is poorly reasoned. Having heard "f***" does not mean they were not
> annoyed. 
> 100% of people have seen trash on the street, but that does
> not justify littering. 

Poorly reasoned or not, it was clearly poorly read, since the article I
mentioned also claimed that the majority of people also used the word.
Odd, I'd think with your selective reading skills you'd simply be able
to ignore words you don't like.

Regardless, I think the idea that certain words are profanity is fairly
silly.  They are words.  It's the meaning and intent behind them that
can be offensive.  If someone says "fuck off" then I'd expect you to be
offended *since that was the intent of the message* (of course if you
manage to not be offended then that makes you the better man, but
apparently that's rarely strived for).  On the other hand if someone
says "that's fucking great" in a positive way and you are offended by
it, well I'd say that's *your* problem and your best bet is to turn off
your TV, your PC, your radio, stop reading and try to limit interactions
with other people lest you be overwhelmed by how they really speak and
act.

> If a group of people don't mind profanity, there
> is no harm in their swearing to each other. But Usenet is read by a
> wide range of people, and needlessly offending some of them is wrong.

I halfway agree with you.  I tend to limit my profanity in public forums
and when speaking to strangers, etc.  On the other hand, when in public
I also expect to hear that language from others and am not offended by
it.  

And expecting anyone to escape without offense on Usenet is pretty
unrealistic.

> The OP used "f******" just for emphasis. English is a rich language,
> and there are better ways of doing that.

Hm, lots of people disagree with you.  In fact, simply because that word
*does* happen to be less widely used in this group it gave it extra
emphasis and was probably the most effective word he could have used in
this particular instance.  I don't think anyone here will have forgotten
his endorsement anytime soon.

Incidentally, using **** to disguise "profanity" when the intended word
is perfectly understood is pretty silly too.  I strongly suspect you'd
be just as offended if I said "f*** off" as if I'd typed it out.  Once
again, intent and meaning are what matter rather than a particular
sequence of characters.

Regards,
Cliff