A few months ago I wrote an email about profanity.<\/p>\n
Specifically, how I don\u2019t really use profanity in emails despite what people think (other than if I\u2019m quoting someone else, or I want to make a very specific point). And when I do, it\u2019s usually something like the word \u201cass\u201d \u2014 which, in my way of thinking, isn\u2019t even profanity any more than word butt or booty.<\/p>\n
Anyway, that email got several responses.<\/p>\n
That response that stood out like a 4-letter word in church was:<\/p>\n
Ass? Just a minor vulgarism. Very minor; just a common (if slightly crude) name for a body part.<\/strong><\/p>\n
I had an exchange with Bob myself over the use of euphemisms. It’s a bit funny what people will get upset over, but cursing is something that is widely misunderstood, anyway.<\/strong><\/p>\n
For instance, the euphemisms “sheesh” and “fricken” are just vulgarisms, not curses, and are generally understood as “sh\u2014 t\u201d and \u201cf___ing\u201d. Similar, but more obscure, are “willy”, “dick”, “John Thomas”, etc. as euphemisms for “pee-nis.” None of those are actually cursing (“cussing”).<\/strong><\/p>\n
But the euphemisms “darn”, “gosh”, and similar, *are* curses, and are generally used in place of “damn” and “god” respectively. There is a substantial part of the potential audience that understands the difference, and objects to even the euphemisms in the case of curses.<\/strong><\/p>\n
As for me, I don’t give a rat’s ass. \ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u2014 Howard Lee Harkness<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Heh. He said \u201cJohn Thomas\u201d…<\/p>\n
Anyway, my whole take in emails to *adults* is intent.<\/p>\n
A word by itself means nothing.<\/p>\n
A word with intent is everything.<\/p>\n
For example:<\/p>\n
When growing up, Child elBenbo\u2019s brother was quite the John Thomas to our mom. And, he once tried to get around swearing by calling my mom an \u201cich\u201d when he got mad at her instead of \u201cbitch.\u201d Now, you tell me. Is \u201cich\u201d any less insulting and disrespectful than \u201cbitch\u201d?<\/p>\n
More:<\/p>\n
Is saying \u201cshit\u201d really any worse than \u201cdung?\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019re both words describing the exact same substance.<\/p>\n
How is it any more offensive that poop?<\/p>\n
Or turd?<\/p>\n
Or pinching a loaf?<\/p>\n
On the other hand:<\/p>\n
I can say something like, \u201cbitch please!\u201d in response to hearing something outrageous or as a put down with my buddies and nobody is going to care. It not only isn\u2019t \u201coffensive\u201d but it\u2019s welcome and keeps the fire of snappy banter burning for more laughs. But, if I call one of my friends moms a bitch well, thems be fighting words.<\/p>\n
Anyway, that\u2019s my take on it.<\/p>\n
Do with it whatever you want.<\/p>\n
Personally, I don\u2019t want to end up in a spam filter.<\/p>\n
(Thus I had to edit some of Howard\u2019s words above as such to make sure you could even read this.)<\/p>\n
Thus, I proceed accordingly.<\/p>\n
Okay, on to business:<\/p>\n
The April \u201cEmail Players\u201d issue goes to the printer in less than a week.<\/p>\n
The entire issue is about building a responsive list for free.<\/p>\n
One of the (many) methods I talk about for doing so is about a JV I did with someone who definitely does NOT swear in his emails (the great A-list copywriter Bob Bly) and how we both added a lot of quality leads to each others\u2019 lists using nothing but free email.<\/p>\n
Subscription info here:<\/p>\n