x#2&8@!@! it!
There’s a new poll on potty mouths and guess who comes out on top when it comes to swearing?
It’s not the x&&#!$& Yanks. Nor the !@#¿€‹** Brits.
It’s us, eh — Canadians!
Apparently Canadians swear more the British or the Americans, when we’re talking to our friends.
The online survey conducted by Angus Reid showed 56 ##$%&!@ per cent of Canadians say they swear frequently or occasionally when talking to friends. But only 51 per cent of Brits and 46 per cent of Americans admitted to the same foul-mouthed deed. The language does seem to be going to $#@!%%! some days.
On the bright side though, 21 per cent of Americans were more likely to say their relatives swear frequently, compared with only 17 per cent of Canadians (we’re too &$#@!@!@ polite probably to rat out our parents or our kids). However, the Brits are at only 13 per cent in this particular question on the survey.
At work, things are a little rough around the edges, too. Some days right here in the newsroom the air gets pretty ##!@%$ blue. Especially in the $%#@!!** sports department. Granted, when a stranger walks in, everyone suddenly cleans up their @%$**&^! act.
The polling was done between July 20 and 23, which may explain why Canadians didn’t fare so well with Miss Manners or anyone else about how to address each other at work.
Thirty-six per cent of Canadians reported their co-workers swore regularly, versus 24 per cent of Britons and 18 per cent of Americans.
We’ve just been through one of the worst #@$$%!!&** Julys, in terms of the weather, in a long time.
Those of us having to get up and go to work during the monsoons or heat waves were understandably a little ticked. The F-bomb may have fallen out of mouths almost as much as it rained.
The survey involved 1,012 Canadians, 1,013 Americans and 1,992 Britons — all adults. One wonders what the stats would have been had they polled only teenagers. Have you been on Facebook lately? WT@#$$!^&!, LOL.
We adults do appear to temper our tongues when we are chatting it up with relatives. A third of Americans and Britons, and a little fewer Canadians, responded in the poll that they never swear in front of the children or any other %%**&@!# relatives.
That makes sense. It’s OK to pitch a swear word at a passing driver but one’s grandmother? Not!
The results of the $#@^^%!&&! survey are accurate within 3.1 percentage points in Canada.
Soap anyone?
Mary-Ann Barr is the Advocate’s assistant city editor.