As a Kiwi, living in Australia I totally agree and understand, during code review in ops if something crap - I’ll things like ‘hmm, this looks a bit crap, maybe refactor for improved readability?’ Or ‘this has code smell written all over it, we can’t accept this kind of quality into production’ - I could just as easily say ‘Ross, this is shit - just rewrite it’ and my not so hypothetical Ross in this situation would read that - probably laugh, agree and rewrite it the next day OR ask for clarification stating why he doesn’t think it’s shit.
My point is, what matters is the product, the code, the result and the quality there of. The communication around it is entirely based on the relationship and expertise of those around you.