War Of The Words
When I posted over on LND Central about the PC Magazine article, I used the word “shittier” in the posting. Now this raised the ire of a reader who replied that I should post without profanity. I respect the fact that he doesn’t want to read that on a public forum as such, but I guess I want to know what everyone thinks about profanity, and profanity in posts in general.
Now I DO NOT want this to turn into people defending what I did, or attacking what I did. I just want to know what everyone thinks IS and IS NOT acceptable.
For example, “shittier” to me is no big deal. In fact (as I pointed out over on LND Central) shit has become a mainstream enough word that it’s been said on broadcast TV without repercussions now. South Park even aired an episode that said the word 162 times. Granted, that was before the whole Janet Jackson backlash, but I guess I really want to know what you all think.
Personally I don’t think you should cuss in front of kids, or in mixed company where you don’t know everyone that well. But amongst friends, or even in certain texts I don’t see a big deal. To me these things are all just words, and we give too much power to individual words. They do convey a more sharp meaning, but is “shittier” really that much worse than “crappier?”
I don’t know. The poster basically stated that he would never hire someone that used profanity on an online forum. As I had done so, I guess that means he wouldn’t hire me as well. Is that really what most people think? Would you disregard all of my previous work experience due to the utterance of one word in a public post?
Once again, I really am curious, and I would love to see a healthy debate. Please let me know your thoughts, respectfully please. 🙂
April 30, 2004 @ 6:50 pm
I’m a full-time English teacher and I cuss on my personal blog all the time. I have a potty mouth. My friends and family know it. It’s just how I communicate. Not usually out of anger, and never in a professional setting, but it’s how I speak. So, when I write an entry on my non-teacher, personal site, it’s often sprinkled with profanity. My readers know to expect it. It’s part of the conventions of my site. If they don’t like it, they don’t have to read my site any more. I’m an adult and I enjoy cussing. Hell, yeah!
April 30, 2004 @ 7:52 pm
Hm. This is interesting in a couple of directions. I confess that my eyebrows went up when I saw the word in question (ok, I’ll say it: shittier). The reason I was surprised by the word choice doesn’t have anything to do with being offended, though – you’d have to work a *lot* harder to get there.
I think I was surprised because of the location (lndc). I would definitely not have been surprised if you said the same thing here. In fact, I read the article here first (greyhawk being before lndc in the ol’ RSS reader) and didn’t even notice the word, but I definitely did notice it on lndc.
I wonder if it goes back to Rich Schwartz’s description of a blog as the author’s house, where their manners and norms are expected to be respected. Lndc is more of a community than a blog, so rather than it representing all of our houses at any one time, depending on who posted a given article, it would represent a more public place. And since it is a site devoted to our shared professions, it would be closer to a Users Group meeting than a recreation hall. Other online communities, like slashdot, would have different linguistic norms (like lots of l33t speak…*shudder*).
A question for you: would you have written the same way on LDD as you did on lndc?
Cursing is accepted to a lesser or greater extent in varying social situations (you know this, but I’m getting to a point, I promise). It’s one thing for South Park to devote an episode to teasing the FCC, but there would be a different reaction if a news anchor used the same terminology.
Shite, Robert, answer the damn question already! Here, then: It depends (any good computer geek knows that’s the real answer to every question…). I have to say it is not acceptable language on lndc. I also wouldn’t consider it acceptable on LDD. I wouldn’t – and didn’t – even notice if it showed up on this site, nor would it register if we were having a chat on ICT or AIM. In the physical world, I would expect it at a ballgame but not the opera, in your home but probably not your office, and we all agree that if there were children around the raised eyebrows would become a glare.
As an aside, I’d like to point out that my militant opposition to judging people on appearance or surface impressions would never allow me to decide whether or not to hire someone based on whether or not they cursed in an online forum. I also wouldn’t care how many tattoos or piercings they had, visible or not (John? Anything you’d like to share?). But I’m kind of a fanatic about that and I am most certainly in the minority. Most people are quite happy making snap judgments about people based on surface impressions, and business owners and managers would have to take into account that people, be they customers or potential colleagues, would overwhelmingly have that tendency.
Enough. Off to watch West Wing (TiVo rules!)…
May 1, 2004 @ 2:47 am
Well, as to your question about if I would have posted that word on LDD, I think the answer is possibly yes. I didn’t even think about it when posting, that’s really how much of a non-issue it was for me. It’s just how it came out. It’s not like I said f@%king f&#% or anything, so to me it didn’t even really register as being offensive.
Now that someone was offended, I would definitely not do it in the future on a site like LNDC or LDD. But, I just really wanted to know what everyone in general feels like. Was this guy the majority or the minority?
I’m with you, I don’t think appearances measure talent in any way, so you’ve got someone on your side there.
I did go out and do some searching on a number of domino based blogs and found a few VERY well respected people with the word shit in a post or two. I really hope no one would completely disregard what they have to say based on it. Same with me. I hope the gentlemen in question doesn’t judge me based on one utterance of a word.
Anyway, I’ll keep it cleaner over there, but I’ll say whatever the gosh darn heck I want to here
Anyone else care to chime in?
Take Care,
John
P.S. Nice to see you reading Erin! And Rob, yes I do have a tattoo, and if you ask real nice I’ll let you see it.
May 6, 2004 @ 7:51 pm
Well, well, I meant to come here since you mentioned this blog post over on lndcentral. Finally got around to it.
Well, as the chief engineer down in the engine room of lndcentral.com, let me tell you that a) I didn’t even really notice it and b) I don’t have any problem at all with it.
Basically, what I always tell folks when they apologize after the s-word slips over the tongues is that it’s totally ok if it correctly describes the situation. So if a situation is shitty, that may not be nice, but shitty situations seldom are.
So there
May 10, 2004 @ 5:34 pm
So this poster said he wouldn’t hire someone who cussed like that eh? Sounds like a right prissy twonk to me
But seriously, I read his response, and whilst I agree one should present a modicum of professionalism in forums such as the LDD / lndcentral et al, I don’t agree with the notion that off-shoring and the odd swear word actively contribute to the downfall of America. I think you guys — in fact, all of us — have far bigger issues to resolve than those…