Is your rudeness necessary?

Posted at 22:34 on 12 October 2007

Although it would probably be a bit of an over-reaction, it is tempting in the light of David Heinemeier Hansson’s latest outburst on his blog to be completely put off the idea of Ruby on Rails for life. I won’t link to it because it is Not Safe For Work, but it has provoked quite a reaction in the blogosphere.

It is beyond me why anyone should see the need to pepper their conversations and presentations with crude four letter epithets. They either make you seem arrogant and opinionated, or else they convey an attempt to bully people into agreeing with you. This is called "intimidation", and it is not very nice. It is treating your audience with total disrespect.

Besides this, they completely rob your arguments of any authority and merit that they may otherwise have, and make you look like a badly behaved twelve year old. Truly eloquent communicators can convey the whole range of human emotions — even including the extremes — without resorting to juvenile asbo magnet language.

If you want to pockmark your opinions with expletives, that is entirely up to you. I am not going to curl up and wilt just because you do so. However, don’t be surprised if I roll my eyes and view you as a moron with nothing whatsoever of value to say for yourself if you do.