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May 13, 2011

Watch Your Effing Mouth!

Ars Technica, one of my favorite tech blogs, has an interesting poll where they ask their readers about whether or not they should censor curse words on their homepage or not. As both a professional and an educator (college level) the concept of speaking my mind vs. keeping it clean / opting for political correctness / trying to be sensitive to others / whatever excuse you want to take, is one that comes up often. I've been in offices where people will whisper that so-and-so is acting like a dick in such hushed tones that I'd half expect to see angry nuns roaming the halls with metal rulers just looking for knuckles to smash. Conversely I've been on the receiving end of tirade by a CEO, for a trivial matter no less, that would have made George Carlin take notes. Sometimes it is utterly hilarious how far adults will go to not act like adults.

As for myself I tend to leans towards moderation. Sometimes it is just downright unprofessional to go off on four letter rant, especially in front of an audience that isn't paying you to do so. On the other hand I won't treat either my business associates or my students like glass. We're adults. If the word asshole makes you swoon, my feeling is that perhaps you should move back in with your parents for a few more years. Id like to think we should all use a little of that better judgment that graduating from our teen years supposedly gives us access to. When giving a presentation to prospective clients, maybe think of a better metaphor then explaining all the various positions your service is going to let them violate their competitors in. Conversely, though, when giving a talk on the various mishaps of the business world, sometimes there is just no better word to get your point across then by calling a clusterfuck what it is.

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