***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Hello, Bertietheblue.
(1) Here in the United States, the word "a _ _ hole" is
taboo. It is not allowed on radio or regular TV. If you use
this word, you could get fired from your job. Also, of course,
the notorious f-word is absolutely banned from radio and regular
TV. Americans are often amazed at the kind of language that is
permitted on British TV. Even our newspapers would not directly
quote someone who said the f-word. Our Vice-President recently
used that word, and the TV shows "beeped" out that word. Does the BBC
"beep" out naughty words?
***** Thank you *****
In Britain, we have what is known as the '9pm watershed'. Material shown before is expected to be suitable for family viewing because large numbers of children may be watching, so if swear words are used they will be bleeped out. After 9pm though and parents are expected to share responsibility. This doesn't mean that anything goes after 9pm; what tends to happen is the later on in the night, the more likely you are to hear swear words.
Tabloid newspapers can be quite puritanical about swear words and avoid them unless quoting, in which case they will use asterisks in between the first and last letters. Among the 'quality press', ie the broadsheets, practice varies. The
Daily Telegraph is more traditional and middle-class than the other broadsheets and has an older readership; unsurprisingly, it is firmly opposed to the use of profanities, and will only print them with asterisks if necessary when quoting. The
Times (and Sundays-only the
Sunday Times) has a wider and, on average, younger audience but it is still conservative in its taste (and politics) - there might be more profanities but they will still be marked with asterisks, with very rare exceptions. In the more liberal and left-leaning
Independent (and Sundays-only
Independent on Sunday) and, especially,
The Guardian (and its Sundays-only sister paper, the
Observer) swear words appear fairly frequently and never with asterisks. That doesn't mean they print profanities indiscriminately. Here's a recent Guardian article on its policy on swearing:
Mind your language: is there too much swearing in the Guardian? | Media | guardian.co.uk
It's interesting to note the figures on swearing in that article. In the 'past year' (so, I assume, April 2009-March 2010), the frequency of usage of the F-word (and C-word in brackets) in newspapers was as follows [
edit: I assume that the figures are for usage without asterisks]:
Guardian 705 times (49)
Observer 269 (20)
Independent 279 (8 - I remember back in the 80s buying the paper, unsuspectingly, on the very day the C-word made its first-ever appearance in a British newspaper, with the publication of Tony Harrison's masterful poem V; I remember too the conservative outrage that followed when a filmed version was shown soon after)
Independent on Sunday 74 (5)
Times 3 (0)
Sunday Times 2 (0)
All other newspaper 0 (0)
Clearly, the Guardian is way ahead of all other newspapers when it comes to swearing and it seems it's on the increase (which partly explains why the Guardian felt it had to engage in a bit of soul-searching in the article quoted above). Here's a graphic for the years 1998-2008 showing the trend in the Guardian for the most common swear words:
Swearing in the Guardian, 1998 - 2008 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
As for American TV, I will only say that I'm eternally grateful that puritanical censorship of sex and swearing (but not graphic violence) does not extend to cable TV. Otherwise there'd have been no
The Sopranos, none of Al Swearengen's profane lyricism in
Deadwood, and I would never have seen the heights and depths that television can reach with the greatest TV production of all time:
The Wire.
