edit: Though I agree with harrywincup that the wtf-approach at first seems like nasa did nothing good.
If everything is fucked then nothing is fucked. If everything is WTF then nothing is WTF.
Swearing may be 'fun' but it still isn't what should be front facing for a business.
B) Why do you think he doesn't like the F-word? It's possible to respect a word for its emotional power while thinking it gratuitous or counter-productive in some cases.
A squeamishness around swear words ('cussword' is not a word I've ever heard a non-american use) is I'm afriad one of the perceived traits of America by other english-speaking nations, so from a purely Bayesian point of view it's an assumption he could make with some confidence. Just like we (Englishman here) don't understand why one arab would get unspeakably offended by another arab hitting him with a shoe unless someone told us that it was the highest insult, culturally (it is not apparent that this is the most insulting thing you can do in and of itself, it's a conditioned, learned response). There is a quote, attributed to lots of people, but seemingly either George Bernard Shaw or Oscar Wilde, that Britain and America are 'two nations divided by a common language'. There is real incomprehension and bafflement in the UK, for example, that a swear word or nipple on US tv seems to cause comparable levels of outrage to a shooting spree.
So, I wouldn't jump down the GP's throat too much, even if his assertion was put forward rather abrasively.
> or example, that a swear word or nipple on US tv
> seems to cause comparable levels of outrage to a
> shooting spree.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A#Controversy_regardi...
In this case "what the fuck" is a well-established idiom. Many people don't even notice the vulgarity.
As for "what the fuck" being a well established idiom - I guess that depends on your demographic, but I don't see it showing up much in the respectable media, or in academic papers.
"Respectable" media are beholden to their advertisers, who in turn are concerned that specific demographics might be scandalised by certain words and affect their bottom line. I don't think HN or much of the internet fits into this category.
Academic papers are an interesting case. I suspect their avoidance of the word fuck is a combination of their inherited sense of propriety and the fact that such an ambiguous word as "fuck" rarely has a place in scientific writing.
(Other than belaboring the point, an example of which I have just given)
probably something else before that
The first question that emanates would be on the order of "What's ESA?" No one in the world knows what it does.
Cheap shot making with pejorative intentions doesn't move forward the debate that we ,as a race,ought to do more in advancing our collective knowledge. Petty bickering doesn't help.