Stephen Fry on the Joys of Swearing
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters post it in swearing and profanity debates as the best statement against taking offense at profanity.
What it is
A short clip of Stephen Fry defending swearing as a rich and essential part of the English language and rejecting the idea that it is unnecessary.
Recommended by 5 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2011 to 2016.
What Hacker News said
Recommends stevelosh · 2011-11 · on “Think twice about that F-bomb in your next talk”
I'm with Stephen Fry on this one: "There used to be mad, silly, prissy people who used to say swearing was a sign of a poor vocabulary. Such utter nonsense." [this video]
Recommends glenjamin · 2011-11 · on “Swearing”
I'm rather bemused by this whole thing, I'd be intrigued to know the demographics of the people who take such, issue with use of swear words. Perhaps it's an American thing, but in Britain I'm not aware of anyone I know who'd react in hysterics at the thought of a strong word appearing in something as public as a slide deck! Swearing at someone can be extremely rude, but using such words passively to add emphasis seems perfectly normal to me. The following video sums it up nicely IMO [this video]
Recommends shocks · 2013-05 · on “I Don't Want Your Fucking App”
And as usual, any HN post that contains profanity is immediately overrun by 'offended' fuckheads that simply don't understand the joke and are offended by fuck all. Stephen Fry says it best: [this video]
Recommends anu_gupta · 2014-03 · on “WTF, HTML and CSS?”
From the fucking lovely Stephen Fry "The sort of twee person who thinks swearing is in any way a sign of a lack of education or a lack of verbal interest is just a fucking lunatic." Profanity is an essential and rich part of the English language. It's really only prudes and people who need to feel morally superior have a problem with it, and they can fuck right off, frankly. [this video]
Recommends bhrgunatha · 2016-08 · on “Why swearing is good for you”
Stephen Fry, whose intellect and vocabulary are way beyond mine, on swearing. The bleeping on the second video is so deliciously germane. [1] [this video] [2] [LINK]
Cites Crito · 2014-01 · on “Rename GTFO to GOAWAY”
The word "fuck" evolved past "sexual acts and bodily functions" _centuries_ ago. Do you have the same objection of "screwing off"? I anticipate you claiming that you have objections to the phrase, but do you have the same magnitude of objections? Or is one worse than the other? Second hand smoke smells. That is an actual reason to not blow smoke into somebodies face, it isn't just tradition. Putting weird political rants into your documentation would presumably not serve a purpose. The word fuck, despite your disapproval of it, has versatile meaning and can be used in a variety of ways in general speech. If you want a political equivalent, it would be like referencing luddism in documentatio