Whato chaps! While going for a reflective jaunt across the IrishBlogs.ie estate, I happened upon a post from a blogger who, while not taking umbrage with the way I carry and present myself, did helpfully point out that some of my inflections and tone could be on the coarse side. Rather.
It would seem that I am creating uncircumventable or near-uncircumventable language impediments into my communication flow which trouble him. Now, in plan english and in my natural voice:
Michele has an interesting post about people that use expletives in blog posts. Such as Twenty Major and of course myself. He doesn’t like them or use them at all on his blog, like many people, but I do use expletives as do many people around me, both friends and family. I don’t think Michele and I are going to agree on this or other things (bless lack of sycophancy), much the same way I think ads on personal blogs are vulgar and he, who liberally uses ads on his blog as liberally as I use expletives here, does not think that ads are vulgar.
There’s only one small part of the post that bothers me and kind of locks in on why I am against those that try and impose rules on how others communicate, either directly or in an off-handed alternative way:
other bloggers make use of expletives when they don’t need to.
I genuinely think attitudes like that are dangerous. The need is defined by the person that does the writing and communicating. If people are going to second guess themselves for the sake of others, I think this is unwelcome. Like I don’t think there should be a bloggers code of conduct, I’d worry that faux rules of civility would start to be imposed on others if we critique the choice of words someone uses, ignoring the overall message.
I don’t change the way I write from the way I talk. My blog posts are exactly how I communicate with others, expletives and all. I think if you expect people to change an essential, though small part of their character for the sake of constructed rules then it is the same as telling people to change their accent to something more “mid-Atlantic” because you find it harsh on your ear or brain.
Expletives are an essential part of all communication and language and if you remove some words, others will just take their place. That vacuum will be filled. You can express one word in 10 sentences or you can express 10 sentences in a single short sharp shock.
W.C. Fields said never trust someone who doesn’t drink, should you trust someone who has a disconnect between the way he blogs and the way he is in person? I talk about my natural voice when I blog and this is how I am in person.
What say you? Expletives, should we check ourselves before we wreck ourselves?
Update: Just to clarify a point in case someone got the wrong end of the Damien stick, I respect Michele and his opinion and if I didn’t I wouldn’t have given his post the time of day. We often argue and often agree and I like the fact that his post yesterday actually got my brain to work and to reflect on what I do. Also, one hundred euro reward for anyone that sends an mp3 of him cursing. 🙂
