MetaFilter posts tagged with language and swearing

"I notice the 'wank' has remained fairly constant."

Artw — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:18:04 -0800

"The editor's guidelines are as follows: First, remember the reader, and respect demands that we should not casually use words that are likely to offend. Second, use such words only when absolutely necessary to the facts of a piece, or to portray a character in an article; there is almost never a case in which we need to use a swearword outside direct quotes. Third, the stronger the swearword, the harder we ought to think about using it.Finally, never use asterisks, which are just a cop-out." - Swearing in The Guardian: A chart

1898 baseball cursing policy, amply illustrated

LobsterMitten — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:17:13 -0800

"In terms of language, it is also the most offensive official Major League baseball document that we have ever seen." An auction house obtains a one page letter sent to baseball players in 1898, outlining the league's new anti-cursing policy. Includes lots of examples of the kind of language that is not allowed. Nervous auctioneers not sure how to exhibit it. Purely of historical interest, naturally. It says at the bottom of the document "may not be mailed - must be delivered by express". I wonder if it couldn't be mailed because of its obscene content?

The BBC profanity index

Kirth Gerson — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 11:14:33 -0800

The BBC uses a survey , apparently, to rank words by their perceived offensiveness.

The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey

nthdegx — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 11:41:15 -0800

The Origins and Common Usage of British Swear-words.

I'll see you in MetaTalk, supak!

Quartermass — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 14:11:30 -0800

Is your favorite swear word losing its potency? Stock up on some new ones with the Swearsaurus, a "vast array of swearing, profanity, obscenity, blasphemy, cursing, cussing, and insulting in a massive 165 languages"

Multilingual Swearing

ThePrawn — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 14:16:03 -0800

Malu cachu (that's Welsh, I'll leave the interpreting to you) - a comprehensive guide to swearing in 165 languages. This probably offers the most appeal to the younger crowd, subverting classroom etiquette undetected--but it's not without its draw for the inebriated. It may also be a good idea to cross check your business name before going global. A representative of AmaCorp visiting Japan is likely to catch a few odd looks.

How To Attract The 18-34 Crowd: Say

MiguelCardoso — Sat, 22 Nov 2003 14:17:53 -0800

Oh fuck! Are you interested? Let me guess: you're 18 to 34 years old, right? Oh it's a dandy little word, for sure. But is it enough? Here's yet another brilliant marketing idea dreamt up by the 35-50 ~~thoroughly fucked-up Texan~~ reader-research crowd! [Via Arts and Letters Daily.]

I slap my balls against it!

jonson — Thu, 23 Jan 2003 13:36:51 -0800

The English have landed! In the spirit of international confederation, Nerve.com offers this all too brief list of common curses, epithets, and scandalous phrases, along with their French counterpart, and more interestingly, a transliteration of the French so one can better understand the Idiom.

aj100 — Mon, 02 Jul 2001 10:05:24 -0800

You Stupid #@$! In England, children are learning how to swear. What the #@%&? Aren't they learning enough of this #@&! on the street? I believe that the standards for streets smarts have really slipped over the years. Children should be learning their four letter words at the same place they learn about sex, on the street!

vitaflo — Fri, 19 May 2000 13:18:48 -0800

All you F****** A******* better proceed with F****** caution before clicking this Godd*** Mother F****** link. Bobby Knight, in his own words... (warning: extreme profanity)