A Question was posed "why was the abuser who used WTF not deemed to fall foul of 'swearing rules'?"
and the Answer by the Spare ED was
“Because "WTF" doesn't have any of the offensive punch of an actual swearword, it is already sterilized and, as it becomes more used, it seems to less be saying the words that make it up and more a direct expression of its meaning.”
Surely the only reason the abbreviation “WTF” is used is there is no way (assuming the automatic censor is working) the full F-word would pass? It is <B>not</B> a case of it being sterilized and <i>if</i> it is a case of the more it is used the less it is saying the words that make it up, why do you not go the whole hog and have no censorship at all in order to reduce the impact of ANY profanity?
You have removed a username because of its sexual connexion when you admitted you originally had no idea of that fact and yet you continue to allow a widely known abbreviated phrase containing the F-word.
I think WTF should stay...............unfortunately since being on this site my daughter has pointed out that I have started using this expression whereas she'd never heard me say it before :-(
Can we have "Cor Blimey" done in the voice of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins please. The northern contingent may want some other expression of their own though.
"Oh Cripes..." is a bit weak I think, consider the way the original expression will be used.
I have no idea Doctor Spoc PhD (Visual Arts, University of Umbridge)?
Oh, and all those who have admitted to wanting to cast their vote for various nonsense TV will be banned immediately, sorry, but that kind of language just cannot be tolerated! Jedward indeed!
Sorry Ed. I consider myself thoroughly chastised. I don't even watch the programme. I just want Simon Cowell to leave the country so it won't ever be on again.
English vocabulary is enormous; there are alternatives for just about any word in the language if people want to use them. If people want to swear then the Ed will have to decide whether to let them. Personally I think WTF is still swearing, same as feck, fcuk* and any other cute euphemisms. It takes quite a while for these euphemisms to become detached from the original in people's minds (as gosh and jeepers have become), and I don't think WTF has done so yet.
*I'll be interested to see if any of these make it through the filter.
Oh Jan, I didn't realise you were working for a higher cause! We'll let you off, this time.
Jno, my understand of feck is that it is of Irish lineage and can be used in all manner of ways. For example you could "feck something" which would mean to steal it. It is generally misattributed to mean Fluff because of its obvious similarities. [This should be qualified as "A bloke in the pub told me," but in fairness he was my university lecturer at the time!]
Fcuk is a brand so there is little getting around that!
It seems I misjudged the zeitgeist on this one! "WTF" seems to be considered swearing by community. I offer my apologies to TCL.
both feck and fcuk have non-swearing uses (eg 'feckless'), but that's not how people on AB use them: they're used as swearwords here. It's not the end of the world but it just reduces the civility level of the site.