26 April 2008

Well, gosh!

The Cuss-o-meter has been showing up on blogs everywhere, so I thought I'd give it a try. If you haven't seen it before, it's a program that measures what percentage of the postings on your website or blog contain obscene language.

I scored 0.2% (that is, 0.2% of my postings contain profanity) -- spectacularly better, I must say, than the average figure of 9%. Since right now I have about 1,050 postings, 0.2% would be just two postings -- and I think there have been a couple of times when I let comments through that contained swear words which were used in a non-offensive way, so that probably accounts for those.

People who actually like swearing and take pride in doing it (I call them "cusstards") are a dominating presence in the blogosphere, but I very much doubt that their habits in face-to-face interaction mirror their internet practice. Think how startling, and tiresome, it would be if profanity were even one-tenth as common in the real world as it is on the net.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's shocking how so many drop the f-bomb every other word now, filling up the spaces left by what once were good manners.

26 April, 2008 15:46  
Blogger tina FCD said...

I usually do it when I'm mad. Sorry. :(

27 April, 2008 15:43  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

I'd say profanity is most tolerable when it comes in rare bursts provoked by genuine and serious anger, and least tolerable when it's used to intimidate -- or routinely used in a casual way by the vulgar and unimaginative.

27 April, 2008 17:18  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Of course how you speak reveals a lot about your place in society & maybe about the people you were raised around. Not so much a measure of intelligence, I think.

Personally, people who swear don't bother me unless I'm with someone that is bothered by it, then it makes me uncomfortable. For instance if I'm with my mother, swear words make me cringe. If I walk into a grocery store & hear swearing, it doesn't bother me in the least.

BTW, I'm home. :)

27 April, 2008 19:57  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Welcome home :)

27 April, 2008 20:35  

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