From: utzoo!decvax!duke!unc!bch Newsgroups: net.flame Title: Re: watch your language Article-I.D.: unc.4751 Posted: Wed Mar 9 12:09:25 1983 Received: Thu Mar 10 01:26:45 1983 References: unc.4749 Even if Tim's assertion that the net uses "mostly spoken English" is true (which I seriously doubt,) this does not justify the use of profanity or personal derogation in submitted news items. Remember that anything submitted to the net may have literally thousands of readers, so that the form of "mostly spoken" language that is used should probably resemble the language used in public speaking rather than the language used in casual conversation. Further, the words used by one person as spacers or inflectives are not necessarily the common currency of speech for all of us. When translated to the screen, they no longer have the context of inflection, situation, gesture and timing to aid in their interpretation. Your humorously or innocently placed #$% in the middle of a sentence may not only offend a number of unknown readers, but may actually obscure whatever it is you think you are trying to say.