The f***ing filter is gone: Cursing is through the roof. Experts blame COVID, of course

A new report in the Wall Street Journal says that Americans are swearing more than ever now — and experts think they know the culprit.

According to the Journal’s report — “We’re Cursing More. Blame the #%$ Pandemic.” — all of the pandemic stresses, combined with things like company Zoom meetings that have largely knocked down walls between personal and professional lives and the ongoing “exhausted slide toward casualness,” have created what the Journal called “a perfect storm for swearing.”

The paper offered the example of one media company founder who has found it easier to let curse words slip since his guard has been down after nearly two years of the pandemic.

It’s not language he would have used before the pandemic. But he says the two-year slog has pulled his guard down and made him more casual in many of his interactions. Part of it is Zoom, he says: He has spent hours in virtual meetings with co-workers and school board members, staring into people’s kitchens and living rooms while their pets and children walk by. The old boundaries between work and home have blurred, reducing formalities and often forging foxhole bonds during difficult times.

The Journal also reported that, according to Storyful, uses of “f***,” “s**t,” and “asshole” on Facebook are up 41% from 2019 to the end of November 2021. And their usage was up 27% on Twitter.

And Inversoft Inc.’s CleanSpeak profanity-filtering software, which the Journal noted is used by companies for online forums and community discussions, said that the number of filtered words more than tripled over the last year and a half. – READ MORE