[Leon]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Eric, not making excuses, and Glenn and I are on good terms, but some of the recent posts by somewhat newer guys got me thinking about the cursing.

I live in Seattle, where the 'F' bomb is just another word to anyone under 30. They fling it without hesitation, anywhere they happen to be, without regard to anyone around them. It might slightly offend super-old people who weren't born and bred in the PacNW, but natives and anyone in their 50's or younger barely seem to notice. And of course, any of the 'lesser' curse words are just standard stuff for younger people, regardless of where they are from. There are exceptions, but they are rare (my kids, for instance).

I don't know about the East coast, but in the South the situation was different. Even the cruder businessmen types would generally keep that stuff within their smaller groups - not fling it around when talking with baristas, etc. Old people would be horrified, younger people might wince a bit. The only exception, really, was drunks, but they could be avoided in public.

Those are extremes - I don't know what it's like in California or Florida; the midwesterners certainly have cleaner mouths but I don't know - perhaps that is changing?

So, given that it's totally acceptable to be as foul as you want in some parts of the country, in musical lyrics, radio talk-show hosts, etc., what's okay in an internet forum? Basically, my thinking is that it's probably perfectly acceptable in so many forums, that there's no longer such a thing as a 'gentlemen's forum', or at least there won't be in the near future. The progress of technology has allowed us to dispense with 'watching our language' - there are no bars of internet soap.

No ill-will toward Glenn with this post - I'm sure he just uses those words to emphasize his points. I'm just curious how others feel about this. It would be interesting to get thoughts from various parts of the country.

Also, I use 'douchebag' frequently - in my opinion it applies to many on the internet, and doesn't seem like too offensive of a word.

Very well put Scott. I, and the other mods, wouldn't want this place to be sterile. And when I am around my own friends I admit to using the F bomb frequently. But I wouldn't dare do it around my little girl, her friends or most adults in the area of Texas I live in. And as long as there is an edit feature on this board, and I get to try to keep it civil, this will mostly be the forum Eric is speaking of....with all of our little spats and arguments in between. We don't need, or want, potty mouths on the forum. It's that simple. Anyone that doesn't like it is welcome to their opinion. I hope that doesn't sound too harsh?