The existing norm seems to be that profanity is okay as long as it’s not gratuitous, and this doesn’t seem gratuitous to me.
I’m a little skeptical that there are many people who have gotten as far as being interested in rationality, and are inclined to investigate a gently moderated community blog on the subject… who will be turned away because someone swore on said blog. It seems to me that noticing that swear words are not worth worry is an early, basic, and common step in becoming more rational (or contrarian, or identified with being smarter than Those Sheep, or levelheaded, or open-minded, or most of the other avenues via which rationality may begin to seem attractive).
same here. Also, viewing or hearing profanity causes a huge brain hijack, due to the fact that they are taboo (I plan to edit in more detail here in 8-10 hours time when I look at the relevant book). I consider that sufficient reason to keep swearing to a minimum.
I already do, somewhat. The place where I work is full of casual profanity, and I’m neither particularly distracted nor morally offended by it. But the mechanism my brain is using appears to involve flagging each context separately in terms of profanity use rather than deciding that profanities in general are more or less acceptable. As such, LW is a low-profanity environment and any use of profanity is an instant attention-hijack.
Is profanity still considered taboo? I would consider it impolite, and not to be used in a formal context. I’d be surprised at a politician or official figure swearing publicly. However, I can’t think of an informal area of my life where someone swearing won’t occasionally crop up.
This not being a formal essay or article, but a series of musings (or so I read it), minor swearing doesn’t seem out of place, especially in the form of a fairly common phrase.
I think that if someone wouldn’t say it in front of their parents, in class, or on TV (on purpose—what slips out is a separate matter entirely), then it’s fair to say it’s still taboo. I’m not saying that people don’t or shouldn’t swear, only that it’s still suppressed in most contexts and only crops up under conditions of high emotion.
The existing norm seems to be that profanity is okay as long as it’s not gratuitous, and this doesn’t seem gratuitous to me.
I disagree only slightly. I have somewhat of an aversion to this instance of swearing in as much as it weakens the impact of the expletive. I want that word to retain its power, not be wasted on idiomatic usages. It may not be gratuitous but it is casual.
Profanity is a valuable commodity—usage of it can even be considered somewhat of a commons problem!
The existing norm seems to be that profanity is okay as long as it’s not gratuitous, and this doesn’t seem gratuitous to me.
I’m a little skeptical that there are many people who have gotten as far as being interested in rationality, and are inclined to investigate a gently moderated community blog on the subject… who will be turned away because someone swore on said blog. It seems to me that noticing that swear words are not worth worry is an early, basic, and common step in becoming more rational (or contrarian, or identified with being smarter than Those Sheep, or levelheaded, or open-minded, or most of the other avenues via which rationality may begin to seem attractive).
Valid points. I withdraw my remark.
I don’t worry about them but I do find them grating and distracting.
same here. Also, viewing or hearing profanity causes a huge brain hijack, due to the fact that they are taboo (I plan to edit in more detail here in 8-10 hours time when I look at the relevant book). I consider that sufficient reason to keep swearing to a minimum.
I’m not saying that LW is the place to work on it, but might it be worth your while to at least partially desensitize yourself to profanity?
I already do, somewhat. The place where I work is full of casual profanity, and I’m neither particularly distracted nor morally offended by it. But the mechanism my brain is using appears to involve flagging each context separately in terms of profanity use rather than deciding that profanities in general are more or less acceptable. As such, LW is a low-profanity environment and any use of profanity is an instant attention-hijack.
Is profanity still considered taboo? I would consider it impolite, and not to be used in a formal context. I’d be surprised at a politician or official figure swearing publicly. However, I can’t think of an informal area of my life where someone swearing won’t occasionally crop up.
This not being a formal essay or article, but a series of musings (or so I read it), minor swearing doesn’t seem out of place, especially in the form of a fairly common phrase.
I think that if someone wouldn’t say it in front of their parents, in class, or on TV (on purpose—what slips out is a separate matter entirely), then it’s fair to say it’s still taboo. I’m not saying that people don’t or shouldn’t swear, only that it’s still suppressed in most contexts and only crops up under conditions of high emotion.
I disagree only slightly. I have somewhat of an aversion to this instance of swearing in as much as it weakens the impact of the expletive. I want that word to retain its power, not be wasted on idiomatic usages. It may not be gratuitous but it is casual.
Profanity is a valuable commodity—usage of it can even be considered somewhat of a commons problem!