The closing keynote address at Blog World this week saw twitter abuzz with surprised posts about the use of curse language and seemingly inappropriate humor by well known internet marketing people.
I’ve never seen so many retweets and posts about how confused people were about the meaning and context of this language at this popular venue.
I’ve noticed an increase in well-known figures using curse words in presentations and interviews. It used to be you would see somebody “let one fly” in text, but not so much in a recorded audio or video.
It also seems like the stakes have been raised in the delivery of curse words. “Damn” seemed to be a consistent favorite for awhile and now even damn is child’s play to the emergence of “f” bombs.
The “cool kids”, as I talk about in my podcast, at least know how to use “f” bombs as adjectives, adverbs, and nouns.
Is cursing at a public business presentation unprofessional? Am I and others taking this out of context?
I share my thoughts on this podcast.
Music: Paloseco Brazz Orchestra & Onlymeiter at http://ccmixter.org
CLICK HERE & you will receive a free and automatic update from iTunes when we update a new podcast on iTunes.
This subject is one where there are many different opinions. I’d appreciate yours, even if it’s different than my own. I promise to not cuss you out!
Hi Matthew – thanks for sharing this podcast and post. I think you are right on. Although, like you, I have heard and used just about every profanity known to man, I would never even think about using them in my presentations or writing, simply because I don’t want to offend people. Some people would say that is inauthentic, but I say it’s just not professional. I’m surprised to hear about your Tony Robbins experience because I wouldn’t expect that from him or anyone else in his position. I certainly can’t imagine it coming from the likes of Zig Ziglar, and I think he’s done pretty well without it, not to mention all the other people who manage to get their point across without the profanities.
@Ken, I agree with you. The situational use of language has to be considered when you are a public visibility figure. My Tony Robbins experience shocked the heck out of me until I talked with others who attend one of his seminars and discovered it’s part of his program. Zig is the man!
Matthew:
I once lost a great job opportunity by saying BS (the full word) and “hell” in my interview. Would have had the job if it wasn’t for that. I will close my comments with the quote that was given to me by the person interviewing me…
I try really hard to not curse on Twitter/FB, or in emails. Unfortunately, I periodically get wrapped up in the moment sometimes let some words fly. I have never used vulgarity, nor the F bomb. Although, every once in a great while I will post WTF? Or “effing” Or fickin/friggin. Periodically I use a$$…spelled w/ the two dollar sign symbols. Again, try hard to be mindful of cursing and using the above and unfortunately, I have rare moments where I lapse in my judgment. Jokingly with friends, I am also periodically guilty of writing “beyotch” in various forms of communication.
Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly with your blog/podcast here. I think that you are right on point. I love what Paul Colligan said.
So it really boils down to this….what I was told when I lost my interview that I wrote about above…”You can never offend someone by NOT cursing, BUT you can always offend someone by cursing.”
Cheers,
Matt
@Matt, I really appreciate your candor. I think we can both agree-it’s about situational appropriate language. When I have used situational in-appropriate language it was because I was insecure about the conversation. Either, I was not able to communicate effectively so I resorted to foul language to stop my train wreck or maybe because I was hoping to endear myself to the group. Either way-it’s masked as insecurity.
This has been a podcast I have been wanting to listen to all week. I appreciate so much your thoughts on this. The church lady I am not, but hey, the F-bomb and other like words have no place in professionalism. (and it does very little in the personal relationships either). If someone is dropping those, they scared to death of something else and using such inflammatory language to cover up a weakness. Like was said above, some of the best motivational leaders of our time have done quite well without it.
@Marketing Twins. You are spot-on as always.