This guest post on using swearing on your blog was written by Justin Dupre from Blogosis.
I’m thinking of a word that starts with F- and ends in U-C-K. There are two answers to this. If you are the good blogger, which I know you all are, (Italics for emphasis, people) you would know I’m thinking of a “fire-truck.” Of course, 99.9 percent of you thought different.
Blogging using cuss words has become a trend for some new bloggers hitting the scene, but I’m wondering is it really to any avail? I want to take this time on Problogger to analyze the pros and cons of putting the S-word, B-word, or any other X-word that might be whispered into your eat by that devil on your shoulder.
Let’s start with the pros of blogging without cussing:
- Your blog will have a friendlier, less hostile look. Saying a swear word creates a more hostile atmosphere to the sentence you have just said. This applies to blogging, as well. Keeping your blog friendly encourages people to enter and comment.
- Your blog will be appropriate for all ages of your audience. Some niches have readers from all age groups, kids under 10 to grandparents in their 60s and up. If you were 12, how would your mother feel if she caught you reading a blog that dropped the eff-bomb every other word? I can tell you little Carlo (from Carlocab.com) would not be reading you. Your grandparents might be downright appalled if they stumbled upon one of your blatant attempts to show off your swearing vocabulary (that is, assuming they know how to use Stumble Upon).
- Your blog will be more appealing to those who have strict religious beliefs. I don’t want to go too far into this because this always causes problem, but those that believe in a god might be shocked by some words bloggers use in their articles. This population is huge, too, so if you avoid swearing you can attract them to subscribe, as well.
Pro’s of using those naughty words:
- It is easier to attract a younger audience! This is a bit odd, but some children are just learning these kinds of words. If you show them how to use these words to effectively get link-bait, or how to offend Google for screwing you over again, you might just have them hooked. (I don’t condone showing children how to swear. These are just the facts, baby)
- Most users online are well accustomed to this kind of language. If you haven’t been hearing the F-word since you were 6-years old, you aren’t from an English-speaking country, or your father locked you in your basement/room/closet as a child. We’ve heard it on the television, movies, plenty of YoutTube videos, and if you want to check out iTunes you can download the latest Snoop Dog album to gain some more knowledge in this phenomenon. Cuss words are a part of our society.
- Using bad words makes it easier to find your voice. In any kind of writing, you need to find a unique voice. There are less bloggers that I watch in my niche that use a foul-mouth (-fingers?). When something is less common, and you do that less common thing, you are (more) unique! Revelation, isn’t it folks.
I don’t particularly enjoy swearing on my blog, Blogosis. I might throw in an ‘a$$’ or a ‘I3!tch’ every once and a while, but I don’t overdo it. I want to keep my blog open to the widest audience I can. I have studied the demographics of my audience, and a little more than about 60% is in their 20s-30s. They are well aware that all these words are part of daily vocabulary, and probably part of theirs. It is kind of a toss-up. You can swear and cuss your head off, or just avoid it. The easy choice would be to let my hands run wild but I attempt to be a little more retained than that (unless I am talking about Google.)
In order to gain my unique voice, I write a little more alternatively than others in the ‘blogging/writing’ niche. Every once in a while I might write extremely intellectual posts, but I attempt to keep it fresh with humor (which I hope you’ve experienced here). There are plenty of other alternatives to get the same effect as swearing might for some blogs (minus the offensive attitude they admit). Let me make a list:
- Make it funny. That’s easy. Put a joke in, make fun of Google, or tease another blogger (I choose you, Carlo-mon. Kids are fun). Keep it playful, though. Jokes can get offensive, too.
- Make a reader smile. Make someone excited to be able to read your post. I love to hear my friends smiled over something I wrote to them.
- Write about or from something that inspires you. People love to hear what inspires others, because we are always searching for our true inspiration (It is like the question of life, constantly challenging us).
What does Darren tell you in every post? Write original content, write original content, and oh yeah! Write original content. This is the only way you will be successful, so stop linking to bigger blogs that will never notice you, and start some creative blogging!
Whether or not you want to swear is completely up to you, but before you drop the nuke of all destructive words, know your blog’s demographics which you are blogging for. Dropping that bomb on them may lead to a bomb destroying your subscriber count.
I wouldn’t know what a link to a bigger blog looks like. But being creative is fun and fun keeps folks at the keyboard.
It is also my opinion that writing F plus a few words and then the other part is just about the same thing as writing bad language. It’s simple math not English. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Or the fewest letters. :)
I’ll be honest, my language is a little bad, but not horrendous. Occassionally I drop the f-bomb, but no worse. My mum reads my blog for one, and I use it to emphasise, rather than shock.
Interesting point here: What about cultural differences? Point I’m referencing is when a certain a-list blogger began a post with a C-Word. Rightfully, a LOT of bloggers were offended, but being British where that word is not horrendously shocking, I wasn’t.
However, when a blogger used a swear (rhymes with banker), I was offended as it’s quite a powerful word for Brits! I’ve seen it used on things like the Simpsons and WWE Wrestling, but nobody seems to bat an eyelid.
But like your said, it’s about knowing your audience.
To be honest, I tend to swear way too much in non-internet life, but on my blog, I refuse to allow any kind of salty language from myself or from commenters. To me, if there are readers that are sensitive to that kind of thing, there’s just no good reason for me to alienate them. Not to mention, I’d like my blog to be a place where parents would feel secure in letting their kids visit.
It’s the same principle in real life. If I were to invite friends or relatives to my home who are uncomfortable with bad language (and I knew it), I would clean up my act out of respect and to make them more comfortable.
That said, words are still just words and if a person reads something online that makes use of bad language, I hope that person would not let that be the only factor weighed in deciding whether to read on or leave forever.
Every time I hear/read the word ‘cuss’ my ears start itching. As if the word ‘curse’ is too harse, or something.
As long as someone still manages too sound literate, I don’t mind the odd curse word. When cursing is used as interpunction, I’ll stop reading.
Rhys is right, it’s a matter of culture and language.
In one of my recent blogposts I used a word that rhymes with wussy to portray weak ego of some people that are in my market.
It wasn’t aimed at woman at all, though I found 3 of my list to unsubscribe because they felt attacked. Might be these 3 woman were really feministic, since 40% of my list are readers – and that’s a whole lot more then those 3 unsubscribes.
Generally I must say that using bad language is sometimes needed to get your point across. There are people that don’t ‘get it’ until you shout it at them. (Lots of people won’t agree with me)
But from marketing guru Dan Kennedy I’ve learned that if you’re a business man and you’re not getting death threats you’re not pushing hard enough.
Everybody has right on his/her point of view!
Just my 2c,
-Dave
Each to their own: bloggers should know their audience and what sort of language that audience is likely to use themselves.
What I can’t stand, however, is people who half-swear: if you want to write the f-word, then write it. Have the courage of your convictions. Don’t write f***. If you can’t use the whole word, find a different word.
The only f word or wors I use on my blog is finacially free.
http://livelymoney.blogspot.com
I think you also have to consider your future. What happens if your future employer looks at your website and see you writing fire truck all over the place. Is it something you really want to live with the rest of your life?
WWDD … What Would Darren Do? If Darren started swearing, what would his kid think when he checks out his father’s website later down the road?… Hey Dad! What does fire truck mean?
I agree with Sue to an extent, each to their own.
It’s not exactly professional to use swear words but then some people aren’t going to that corporate sensation sort of an image.
I’d say play it safe and just utilise words that actually mean something- you wouldn’t hand in a university paper or report at work riddled with cuss words so why do it in published work online?
Interesting points there. A perfect example of swearing to gain a unique voice is Vic’s blog at
http://bloggerunleashed.com
He has some very ‘unique’ views on things, including John Chow. But I can see some people not appreciating the amount of ‘f words’ he uses
Keep up the great work,
Hafiz Dhanani
You really dont need cuss words to be extremely impactful
spend a few minutes reading the archives of PerezHilton, TheSuperficial and TMZ…….
You will encounter some of the most vicious cut throat insults – most never using profanity.
some of the insults are actually witty
My mum reads my blog.
I always bear that in mind when I’m not sure whether something is appropriate to publish or not, how to moderate my comments and whether to swear. It ensures my blog remains suitable for all audiences.
Great post.
Been reading this place for a while after being recommended to me by a certain Ricky Cadden. First time I’ve felt compelled to comment mind…
In my mind there are, as you say, two kinds of bloggers – those that do and those that don’t.
I personally am in the latter half of those categories.
Aside from stretching my vocabulary it also challenges me to find new ways of weaving linguistic patterns into my posts.
But hey – again, as you say – depends on your audience…
My Mum reads my blog too, but anyway swearing in blogs doesn’t really work for me.
If you run AdSense and swear, you lose some customers who might have stop words set up, and there is always the threat of losing your whole account if you get too crude.
I was just thinking about this the other day. No swearing please.
@ Sue @ TameBay
I wouldn’t think of it that way. I used to blog with f*ck or sh*t and write about b*tches because I didn’t want those words to be indexed on my site. That simple.
When I was ten my school teacher told the class that swearing was simply indicative of a lack of vocabulary. Being a rather impertinent, and precocious little brat, I had to beg to differ and told her that it wasn’t necessarily characteristic of a limited personal lexicon but may represent, for some individuals, simply an extension of their internal dictionary. In other words, knowing how to swear could reveal that such a person actually has an expanded vocabulary, contrary to my teacher’s assertion.
Did I get a detention for my response? You effin’ bet I did!
db
I’m not a prude, but if the first time I visit a blog or website, I see a lot of swear words, I’m likely to leave and not come back. If one of the blogs that I read regularly happens to have an occasional swear word, I’ll just shrug it off. However, if the trend is towards more and more cussing, then, eventually, I’ll leave.
I was in the navy for almost 9 years and I really hate the phrase “cuss like a sailor,” because not all sailors necessarily cuss. When I first joined up, I was pretty young and away from home. There were no restraints to cussing and so I did. But then, for some reason, I realized that if I continued that way, at some point I’d be in a situation where I say something in front of my mom or someone else that I’d regret. So I made a conscious effort to keep that sort of language under control.
There were a few times in my last couple of years of employment where I was frustrated and used some minor swear words. The surprised looks I got from some of my co-workers were priceless. Because I was not known for using such language, the very few times I did had a much greater impact. However, that’s not a good reason to do it.
There’s actually been a few times in my office where a coworker’s language would be so bad that I told him I didn’t care for it and asked him to take it someplace else.
Just wondering where do you get the images for your posts?
True enough. If a blog has excessive cursing I won’t leave a comment. I don’t like cursing and never have.
I’m one of those that would rather not read a blog that uses any bad words. I’ve quit reading several that use them. I can think of no reason to use those words. All they do is make you sound trashy!
Due to my extremely rigorous religious upbringing, even though when I speak with friends I swear like a sailor, I simply cannot bring myself to cuss on my blog without a few substitute characters. I mostly do it because I know my blog has quite a few relatively young readers, and I’m sure they get plenty of cussing with their peers and in their life without me subjecting them to even more.
I’m also a bit of a comment nazi, and make sure that if someone uses profanity in a comment that we bleep it out with the random # or *.
I wrote a post about the blog’s stance on curse words (http://www.nofactzone.net/?p=2962), and also put this text directly above my comment box: “REMINDER: Please remember that in the spirit of keeping this a family-friendly blog, we would appreciate you refraining from inappropriate language in your comments. Thank you.” Since adding that text into my template, we haven’t had any problems with cussing in the comments.
Cussing on a blog?!! Holy cow! Why would anyone do that! ;)
I to will tend to avoid a blog if swearing is used. I see swearing as a mental inability to come up with a good argument about something in which you are frustrated. So instead of using a true description or argument to persuade or demonstrate to others your opinion, you use a 4 letter (sometimes 5) poor argument.
I fine my students 10p everytime they swear. Couldn’t do it myself :)
I had a hard time using the word “boobs” in my post for today and one other word.
I will see what kind of reponse I get.
My blog is more of a humor blog.
great advice. the swear box is cute. keep it turned off!!!
:)
It’s my experience in general that what cursing can certainly add emphasis if used properly, that it’s instead overused to the point of being a crutch or substitute for creativity. This is also the case for music, books, movies, etc, not just blogging.
Use it sparingly, so that when you *do* use it, it will be much more significant.
I would say to use the best form of communication you can find.
sometimes a good Fbomb is the only way to explain something.
don’t just drop a bomb for the sake of dropping a bomb…articulate.
From a technical standpoint, it probably isn’t wise to curse and I have turned on the prfanity filter on my forums and CMS application.
First, Google gives users the ability to exclude those sites that use profanity through their advanced search options. In addition, and I’m looking for the source where I read this, some webmasters have seen ranking penalties once profanity was used more than a few times (which does make sense since they don’t want to be liable for returning non-appropriate content to users).
So, I would say if you can not use it to steer away from it because I don’t really see the benefits unless you’re blogging in a niche that requires some edginess.
I do use the occasional wordy dirty, but they’re few and far between. Sometimes I use “strike through” code when using colorful language, followed by kinder, gentler words, more for a humor effect than anything else.
I’d say “Amen,” but that would bring too-religious a feeling to my heartfelt thank you for this post. My feeling about cussing (as you say) is that it’s unnecessary except in extreme circumstances, and how often does that happen while you’re blogging? “Oh no, my computer is sliding over a cliff!” In which, case, sure, go ahead and swear while you can still reach the keyboard before it plummets to its death. But otherwise? Really, why? You mention the younger bloggers who swear regularly on their blogs, but to me, that’s exactly what I think of when I read a blog that often uses parentally-unapproved language–that they’re too immature to write like grown-ups. If the only adjectives you know are the blue ones, what does that say about your level of writing?
There is a time and a place for language like that. A Blog is not the place. Sure, people can justify it like they can anything else; but the bottom line is that if they have to resort to something like that in order to get attention, they probably have little of value to begin with.
And Justin, this is your big guest spot on Problogger? And you write about this?? In your parlance the translation is ‘wtf?’. I think you could have done better than writing this garbage subject. You lose me on your own blog, buddy.
We all feel the urge once in a while to use swear words but my preference is to avoid using such words in writing.
I curse when I talk among friends and co-workers. It’s just part of my personality. That carries over to my writing. That being said, I curse way more in spoken voice than I do in writing. I’ve also been trying to make an effort to cut down on the amount of cursing I do vocally, and in writing.
There is a small staff of people who write for my blog and they have all asked where I stand on cursing in their writing. My statement is something like, I have no problem with it if the cussin’ fits the article, but if it’s cussin’ for the sake of cussin’ it is pointless.
I read a how-to-blog article 2+ years ago, maybe on Lifehacker, it said something to the effect of – hold nothing back, apologize for nothing, write true and you will be happy and someone will read it, somewhere.
I don’t swear on my site because I don’t want to alienate anyone unnecessarily.
Besides which, if you take a look at something you’ve written that has swearing in, and remove the swearing, you’ll usually find it makes a better impact without the cussing.
I have seen the F word used as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun and I’m sure a few other parts of speech that I just can’t recall now. It certainly can be a versatile little word.
That said, when I read a blogger who expresses angst, anger, happiness, just about every emotion with the F word it makes me wonder about the size of their vocabulary.
I tend to stay away from swearing on my blog (for the most part) for the reasons cited above. But thanks to blogs like ViolentAcres, who is perhaps an extreme case, I have definitely thought about changing my tack.
OFMG! i was thinking of ‘flaming duck”. but i get the point. thanks for another excellent article.
~C
Steven Pinker’s latest book – The Stuff of Thought – has a whole chapter on why we swear, the grammar of swearing, and the nature of taboo. It’s fascinating stuff. More to the point, is that in interviews about his book you get to hear his charming voice discussing the various four-letter words out there most eloquently. It makes for an odd listen. The Guardian interview was especially entertaining.
db
Very timely post for me right now.
I blog about musical instruments. Last weekend was our industry’s big trade show, where all the new products are introduced. One company actually came out with a guitar amplifier called the “F*cking F*ucker.” Seriously. Without the *.
So, bloggers had to decide whether to write the product name as is, or as I did, where everyone understands anyway. Either way, they were forced to drop the F-Bomb multiple times.
Hi – interesting points. Barbara at Blogging Without a Blog also brought up the swearing topic a couple of weeks ago. And she quite rightly pointed out that schools, colleges etc could easily block your site because of inappropriate content.
Also, as you mention – there are a few influential teeny bloggers out there – and they’re not going to be recommending a blog that they’re banned from reading themselves.
Why didn’t you post my comment?
Very not cool.
I can only speculate as to why. I’d hate to think the worst.
I’m done on the topic.
Justin by your Alexa and your SERP rankings I can see I need to learn from you so maybe I will stop using that word and pay attention to your blog see If I can learn how to blog and hopefully make a little money. I love it when experts make a post of this kind it is so helpful and knowledgeable your many years as a blogger shows how gifted you are.
Vic
BTW I did not see your feed count on your blog I must imagine it has to be huge.
I am reminded of something I once read in a book called Self-Editing for Fiction Writers.
Swear words can have a much larger effect if, for instance, they only occur once in the entire f*cking book.
(I swear very little on my blog, unless there is something that really, really annoys me, or it involves my web serial, which has a character who simply swears as a matter of punctuation. I think there’s a total of 1 F-bomb per 100 posts.)
I don’t have a problem with a swearing once inawhile, but I’ve seen sites that drop the F-Bomb 8 times in a paragraph. I won’t go back to those sites. If you can’t get your point across with out swearing every other word then you’re an idiot. :)
I have such a terrible potty mouth it doesn’t even register when I let a swear fly. I do agree, however, that it’s totally possible to have the same impact using different language. Sometimes I wonder if I should clean up my act. I’ve blogged on the subject and my readership, though limited, has made it clear they are not offended and my frank dialogue is in fact what they love about me. Ultimately, I never want to censor myself. If something potentially offensive flies out of my head, then that’s what hits the page.