Why its better (and harder) NOT to swear
October 21st, 2007Developing software for Mac OS X is a great experience. There is an amazing group of people in the developer community that are happy to provide countless hours of assistance and support to help other developers and to just make the platform even better.
When I first started writing software for the mac, one of the first things I did was to begin subscribing to a multitude of blogs from mac developers. Over the past few months, in response to Daniel Jalkut’s blog entry titled Subscribe Less to Read More, I’ve tapered down my reading list to include mainly those developers whose software related opinions and contributions that I most value.
In the past few days however, I’ve been dismayed to read more than one blog entry and, tweet, from this group of people that I highly respect supporting the view that not only is using profanity ok, but that it somehow makes you funnier, more expressive, and better able to convey emotion.
This is simply not true. There are scientific studies on both sides of the debate. There are legal arguments for and against government censorship of obscenities. Those against it claim that such behavior violates the 1st amendment. Those for it state that obscenities fall under the clause of “unprotected language”, the same clause the prevents hate speech from being protected by the first amendment.
To me none of this debate is relevant because the issue was settled long ago by a higher power:
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
I love this statement by George Washington, written as a letter to the officers in the American army on July 1st, 1776:
The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in our American army, is growing into fashion. He hopes the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing of heaven on our arms if we insult it by our impropriety and folly. Added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.
General Order by George Washington, reprinted in the Feb 15, 1926 issue of Time Magazine
So what can you do if you want to stop swearing? The Cuss Control Academy has some great tips. Here is a choice quote from their site:
…swearing never earns you respect or admiration, enhances your reputation, makes you more pleasant to be with, exhibits your intelligence or vocabulary, or reflects strong character. It doesn’t demonstrate respect for others, help you win arguments, set a positive example, get you romantically connected, or help you get hired or promoted.
You can also become an advocate for change. Earlier this year, 14 year old McKay Hatch became so fed up with people using obscene language around him, that he started the No Cussing Club within a month he had 50 members. There are now members in 16 countries.
So what am I going to do? The first thing I’m going to do is display this badge (which I’m making available for public use) on my blog as a testament that any blog entry I write here will always be free from obscenities and foul language.
Secondly, I want to issue a challenge to each and every mac developer whose blog I subscribe to. Eliminate profanity from your writing. You are all humorous, witty, and make very intelligent contributions to the community, however the use of profanity does not enhance those traits as some people seem to think lately, rather it detracts from them.
Golly gosh fiddlesticks! I notice my blog is in your of list you’ve issued a challenge to. I guess that gives me the right to respond.
I try to keep my blog relatively professional. A quick google on site:toxicsoftware.com shows up just one mild profanity. That’s how I intend to keep _MY_ blog. But if my language on twitter offends you then please don’t hesitate to click that “stop following” button. It is rare that I have anything interesting to say on twitter anyway so you wont be missing much.
While I can kind of appreciate your motive, you really lost what little sympathy I had as soon as you dismissed the argument by referring to your “higher power”. Personally I find discussion of personal beliefs and opinions in technical blogs annoying and often (as in this case) offensive.
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for your response. I enjoy reading your blog, and I particularly liked your recent post about your work getting the SpaceNavigator working with Lego MindStorms. I taught a short course to an elementary school class with the 1.0 MindStorms robots and it was a lot of fun.
This blog isn’t the avenue I typically choose for sharing my religious beliefs, however given the circumstances of what I’m speaking about, something that I see as a moral issue involving the developer community, it seemed appropriate to me. It would feel wrong to me to claim a moral position on an issue without disclosing the basis for my morality. And God is the basis for my moral beliefs.
I can certainly respect your preference not to read about personal beliefs on technical blogs, however I believe that a blog is a personal thing and like you said regarding twitter, people are free to read it or not. I hope that you will continue reading it, however if not I certainly won’t be offended. If I wasn’t offended after you beating me three times in a row in WeeWar, I certainly won’t be offended by you unsubscribing from my blog. : )
Likewise I hope that no one is offended by my challenge. Everyone is certainly free to use whatever type of language that they feel is appropriate for their blogs. Just as everyone is free to decide which blogs they will and won’t read.
Lee, here’s my blog response to your entry above and Jonathan’s comment. Peace.
This most has the most profane statement possible, far more profane than even the worst curse words: You claim your imaginary “god” has some sort of rule of law, and thus you think men should be subject to whims written down by a crazy person about 2,000 years ago.
Even more profane is that there are millions of “christians” who are happy to incarcerate, maim or murder other people who do not follow their insane belief system.
Violence done to people in this guise is the most profane of all curses, and right now y’all are in the middle easy slaughtering brown people by the score.
When you endorse that by quoting “scripture” you are more profane than any of those you complain about.
Well said.
It’s too bad swearing has become more common in society.
It’s nice to see people like yourself adhering to a higher standard. Keep it up.
There is of course evidence showing swearing in certain settings, can reduce stress. In the environment I work in (law enforcement), this certainly holds true.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/7047536.stm
@AdamF - Unless of course there are people in your office that are offended by swearing, in that case it would certainly not reduce their workplace related stress.
Lee
Sure, post about whatever you want. I’ll either subscribe or not. Definitely not saying you shouldn’t post about your beliefs if you choose to. However you did specifically include my blog in the list of blogs you were calling out and you did frame the blog post within the context of your beliefs.
Jon.