I don’t see much swearing in Lemmy. I don’t know if it’s because of the slur filter or because of our (implicit) norms. This got me thinking.

Sometimes I genuinely want to react to a post with something like “WTF is this s#!t” (with the actual words), to share my disapproval. For example, I think that’s an appropriate response, given my beliefs, to the announcement of FLOC or that of Reddit going public or stuff like that. Other times I want to swear as a joke. For example, saying “eff me”.

I’m reluctant to say that, however, because I think it kinda makes discussions less enlightening (to the extent that socializing gut reactions and joking isn’t enlightening). I also slightly worry about polite people being antagonized and bigots getting all excited. Finally, I slightly worry that my swearing can in fact be discriminatory (is the above example discriminatory? /c/NoStupidQuestions).

I do know that words like “assh0l3” are part of a common human experience where s%!t is, you know, undesirable. Or diseases and afflictions (excluding disabilities). Or messing something up, making a mistake. Or the fact that sex is, the vast majority of the time, pervasive but private, meaning that playing with the taboo tugs some strings. These human experiences would remain with or without systematic discrimination. Hence my preference for these swearwords. I could be wrong about this. What do you think?

A final thought is that there’s a part of me that thinks this post is silly; Lemmy is a community of complex human beings, not prudes putting up an act. Swearing is part of people do, and if it’s non-discriminatory, it doesn’t have to stop being part of what we people do. Gut reactions and jokes can be candidly expressed without being assh0l3s about it. But, I could be wrong. Hence my question.

What do you think about non-discriminatory swearing?

• Is it okay if it’s used to show gut reactions or as a joke?
• What’s a useful way to think about how it interacts with polite or bigoted people (or people in general)?
• How can I know whether a swearword is discriminatory?
• Would I straight up break the rules by swearing in a non-discriminatory way?