[anti-abuse-wg] Language on List

On Tue, 31 Jan 2017 11:08:44 +0200, ox wrote:
>then again, I may be very wrong - so help me out :)

The universal rule of ladies and gentlemen is to avoid giving
offense.  So one does not discuss or use references 
(unless in a professional context e.g. doctor) to excretion or
sexual behavior.   One avoids any negative references to
other persons and to political or religious beliefs.

Those are good practices for this list.   So excluding crap
and merde which are offensive words.

Re: "generalised swearing. It's a part of modern language" --
that's a culture-specific interpretation.   Such behavior
doesn't occur in most of the world and it never occurred
when I was growing up in 1950s America; then
I went abroad for 45 years and coming back to America
smutty language is indeed widespread.  It's not 'modern':
it's  a degenerate  phenomenon of certain cultures.  It's
unknown in much of the world.  It's repugnant to refined
sensibilities.   Behaving this way doesn't betoken one's
"modernity" -- it betoken's one's personal coarseness.  

Jeffrey Race