----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Seeberger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 5:51 PM Subject: Re: Civility request
> > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Richard Baker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 9:57 AM > Subject: Re: Civility request > > > > John Giorgis said: > > > > > In the meantime, the Etiquette Guidelines are the Guidelines for the > > > List. > > > > I've just been thinking about an interesting discussion with my friend > > Kate, who is American. She told me that I'd been swearing a lot recently > > and I became very puzzled because I swear only very, very rarely. > > Eventually it emerged that she considered the word "damn" to be a > > profanity and that this classification would be generally accepted in > > the US (or at least among her peers and family). I very much doubt that > > "damn" would be considered swearing by most people in the UK, and I was > > quite surprised by this cultural variation. > > > > Would saying "damn" be acceptable on Brin-L? Where is the boundary? > > > > Rich, who is, for once, not being facetious. > > > Damn is pretty much accepted and Piss wont raise too many eyebrows. > I think the line falls somewhere just before Sh!t which is currently just > behind F^ck for most of the list. > Of course an exceptionally creative use of Sh!t or F^ck might be perfectly > acceptable if enough people are suitably impressed. (Except John of course, > who will object no matter what). :-) > > Its a funny thing. Belief in "bad" words is something very much like voodoo, > it only works if your belief gives it power. > On the other hand.........use of profanity to magnify or intensify a > statement is a sign that one has a poor grip on ones vocabulary or talks > faster than one can think. > I have an experiment to suggest. One could peruse the Usenet and see if there is a correlation between the use of explatives and rude posts. I would suggest that there is. I would further suggests that lists that discourage their use have a lower probability of flames. In short, I suggest that, while there is not a 1 to 1 relationship (there can be extremely rude posts that contain no single word that is objectionable in any way), the correlation still exists. Dan M.
