What Is name calling and swearing

[Anonymous]

I have read what Bergie had to say and i must commend it, i could not find a way to reply directly so i had to create my own posting as I'm not so good at computer type things.

I would like to know who sets the ground rules for the ground rules.

Many words and many statements are quite accpetable even highly regarded in some countries but those same words are really not what you would use in other countries.

Just about everyone that contributes to this forum comes from an English speaking country but that is where we all diverge. I ask is the standard as to what is bad language an American standard if so you will alienate many well meaning people from other English speaking countries who do not subscribe to this form of the english language.

Even name calling and simple statements can be very well meaning but misinterpretted due to cultural differences.

Before you lay down any ground rules i suggest that you carefully study the idiom of the majority of the English speaking world and this would not include North America, of which you are quite familiar.

I would give you a very simple example which would not include or have any meaning in America. If you were to call someone a cow here in Australia it would be abit insulting but not too bad. Try the same thing in England and you will have a fight on your hands, it means you are a prostitute.

Regards ian

[toenailridgesl]

More to the point, if I say to someone here in Australia "How are ya, ya old ***?" it would mean we are good friends. (TOC has a good Oz friend & business associate & will confirm this, as will Ian).
In the USA I realize I'd be looking down the business end of a .44 Magnum.
On the other hand, you blokes in the USA ( & I lived there for 7 years so I speak from authority...) could say to a friend, " Pass me a beer , you old SOB!" & the same comment here in Oz would earn you a pickaxe handle right behind the left ear.
As one of the old-timers on the net (near on 10 years...) I have learnt that the same rule applies here as it does on TV, if you don't like a particular programme or thread, don't follow it. Don't make the TV station or the moderator cancel it, just don't go there.
That's why God invented on/off buttons & Delete buttons.
Rene, on an allied note....
When the old LSOL went belly-up back in '99 all of us coots moved en masse over to Finescale Railroader Forum. This worked great until the moderator started deleting questionable & not-so questionable posts, usually without explanation & then deleted the follow-up posts. Within 2 days over 1000 regular members had disappeared and the same forum now averages 1 or 2 posts every 3 months. Please don't let it happen here. Nothing frustrates participants more than trying to follow a contentious thread than to find it has been deleted.