Don’t like swearing? GFY!
July 14th, 2008 by Todd Van Hoosear
Brazen headlines attract eyeballs, but I still can’t bring myself to swear in print. This is as close as I’ll probably ever come, a nice TLA* with two relevant meanings–feel free to pick the one least likely to offend you or most likely to humor you.
So on Friday night, I joined up with Chris Brogan, Len Edgerly, Doug Haslam, Susan Getgood (and her husband), Pistachio, Adam Zand John Wall and my lovely wife Mailin to roast Scott Monty, who is for some crazy reason leaving the fair state of Massachusetts for Detroit.
A roast, for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, is where a bunch of people get together to both honor and make fun of an individual. At a roast, the greatest honor you can pay someone is to make fun of that person. The best part of it is, that the person being made fun of gets the last word!
A roast is also an opportunity to let loose a bit. For some, well, myself at least, that meant the use of curse words. Yes, sweet, innocent little Todd cussed at Scott Monty. In fact, I got the entire room to drop the F-bomb in unison (there’s audio of this somewhere–I will find it and share it).
Which brings me to my question. Do you swear in your professional life? At the office? At home? Online? Are you trying to cut back, or do you even give a crap? I find myself cussing a bit too much for my liking. Do you?
But to anyone who might be offended at my bad language, you should hear some of the vulgar, horrendous stuff that was used in the private Friar’s Club roasts.
Oh, by the way. Guess who produces the Comedy Central roasts, which recently included Gene Simmons? Yep. Dennis Leary.
* Three letter acronym, of course!
This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 9:20 pm and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I’ve never had a penchant for swearing in any format. Others’ use of curse words doesn’t bother me, though. I have sworn once or twice in my life for effect but was difficult for me to do.
OMGWTFBBQ I’m slightly more likely to use abbreviations that incorporate swear words, but again mostly just for effect.
Cheers,
Connie
July 14th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Thanks, Connie. You’ve always seemed like a very nice person to me. Perhaps swearing is effective, but at what cost I wonder?
Oh, BTW, I have to give Adam Zand credit for raising this issue, the bastard…
July 14th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Only in my personal life, to be truthful.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Wait, you’re only nice in your personal life, or you only swore in your personal life…
July 14th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I think my use of curse words has been on a downhill slope ever since middle school, when every other word I used was dirty.
I still pepper the occasional cuss during some work-related discussions, but only with members of the same gender (never swear in mixed company), and not that liberally.
Of course, everything goes out the window when alcohol gets involved, making “work” road trips in Vegas very interesting (of course, that’s also the best time to get work-related gossip as well).
At home, with the two small kids and one 2.5-year-old who starts repeating everything, we’re really not swearing at all anymore. We have slipped occasionally, only to hear the curse come right back at us from the daughter, and then we have to fight the urge not to laugh or react lest she repeats it non-stop.
On a related note, I was watching the Red Sox game the other day when Kevin Youkilis hit his first grand slam, and I yelled out “Yoooooouk!” Now my daughter won’t stop yelling that…
July 14th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Van Hoosear, I don’t know WTF you’re talking about. Only a %@#* moron would let someone roast him. Hey, wait a minute… Aw, *%#@!!
Thanks for participating on Friday. You really have a knack for roasting. It must have been all of that pent-up anger, plus your working knowledge of Michigan.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Keith, yeah, I feel like a real heel when I swear in front of kids. Just did it at a softball game tonight.
Scott, I think I might have some pent up anger issues. The cure? More roasts!
July 14th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
I may curse a bit with my close co-workers / those on my team, if that’s the kind of environment I’m working in (and often a PR agency is) and the conversation calls for it. But I wouldn’t say I’m known for it. I do not curse in professional dealings with colleagues, internal clients, execs, clients, media etc. or with suppliers and service providers.I don’t usually get offended if people do but it’s not my professional style.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I laughed at your post. I laughed at your presentation. I laughed at Monty’s reply. I think I’m crying with laughter.
So, um, GFY!
July 15th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Being ex-Royal Navy, swearing then was part and parcel of every day life, (hence the term “Swear like a sailor”).
These days, I would never swear in professional circles (on or off-line).
I detest people who swear in public without due consideration for those around them, but otherwise I don’t get offended at other people swearing.
There is a time and place for bad language.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Detest is a strong word, Chris. I might lose respect for someone who swears inappropriately, but I’m not sure it goes very far beyond that…
July 15th, 2008 at 9:26 am
What’s f’d up about this is that many of the same people that shudder about casual use of profanity find it perfectly acceptable to casually / inappropriately reference other things that nobody wants to hear (like their religious faith). Things that are natural (like swearing) are hissed at. Things that should be referenced only amongst people who actually invite the conversation (someone’s religious beliefs, someone’s political views) are viewed as defensible utterances. I don’t have any scientific proof or anything, but I also feel like the same type of people that find swearing offensive are the same ones that think it’s appropriate to pimp out their favorite charities to their co-workers, or otherwise impose uncomfortable requests (”buy my kids girl scout cookies, please …”). The stuffy type that has beefs with swearing (oh my!) has some serious issues bubbling under the surface (to which swearing pales by comparison), IMHO.
July 15th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Todd: When I say “detest”, I’m talking about the situations where I’m on a tube or train with my 3 kids (9,12,14) and some bozo is ‘effing and blinding away like the proverbial navvy.
I have absolutely no time for people who don’t respect those around them.
(btw. French détester, from Latin d?test?r?, to curse … long shot at a joke.. never funny if you have to explain it though
)
But, I can quite as easily change “detest” for “dislike intensely”
But it does go to show how different words in the same language but used on different sides of the pond have different meanings. “Detest” isn’t a ‘harsh’ word over here (UK).
Also reminds me of when I first met my young sweet and innocent Irish catholic girl (now wife of far too many years). She used to dislike my dark side use of the English language, but would quite happily go around saying “feck this and feck that…”.
She was mortified when I pointed out to her it was just a ‘polite’ way of saying something slightly different when used over here.
(Wiki has a good entry on feck rather than me quote it here).
@Travis People have a right to be offended at swearing if it is offensive. There is nothing wrong with being offended by it at all. I don’t have a problem with you swearing, but you don’t use language like that in front of my kids. It’s about having respect for those around you.
If you object to someone selling you girl scout cookies, then say so. They won’t sell cookies in your presences again. If they do, tell them to “feck off”.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:55 am
John Wall has posted the audio from the roast. Prepare to laugh and possibly be offended.