Scolding in the offices of western Europe

[IOP]

As an American, brought up by fairly strict or at least conventional Catholic parents in the 70s ~ I am still shocked at the amount of swearing in Singapore. Most Baby-boomers I know, just weren't allowed to cuss at home, so it is still a bit rattling.
...

Yeap, I think here they copy too much form Hollywood productions...
In reality, I have heard that US is more ethical then it seems to be for outsiders.

Believe me, ethics have nothing to do with it...

I will say, the US is a lot more puritanical than most people realize. Europeans can't understand why we get all kerfluffled about sex on TV, or swearing but our collective cultural experience is different and in a lot of ways, more uptight and rigid.

This is it. I'm actually from Europe, but from that part where there no so much censorship.
I remember the boom of American movies. So many people started to copy from those movies: swearing, criminal, offence, sex.
No if you come to my country, we have everything on TV, and youth absorbs it.
When gov. trys to ban it, young people starts to shout that we do not have democracy in the country and should take examples from more civilized western countries like US.
We don't have special signs on TV which indicate that this program for adults only, like in US. And youth thinks that it's right and US has the same standards.
Anyway, it's not about US or Hollywood, it's about spreading bad things - bad is always easier to spread.

[JR8]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvl0_wxh ... re=related

The Rogue Trader trailer.

Amuses me as I knew Ches and Bubble quite well, and surprisingly they do get Bubble quite well in the film, it even looks like him.

[JR8]

If I might recount an anecdote for posterity

Danny (or Bubble, that's Danny the Greek, Bubble and Squeak get it?) was the quiet responsible one. I recall him as having lots of luxuriant hair lol, being very quiet, and standing on the sidelines always drinking soda-water (he was tea-total).

Ches, Chesney, who was Leeson's main pit-trader was a different proposition. He was much more in your face. In fact I recall NYE 94 standing on the bar in the Next Page dressed in yellow fisherman;s macs and sowesters and on the strike of 12 Ches emptying a jug of G&T on me right in my face.

ah, past times....

p.s. Ches's floor badge, his trader id, was 'CNT'. So every ticket he wrote went out under that name. I wonder how many locals got that joke... hehehe...

[JR8]

And I wonder what happened to The Dominator lol.

He was a Brit, bald, about 25, 2.0 metres and about 300lbs. His party-piece was picking up serving dishes, putting the corner in his mouth and just shoveling the entire contents in.

I never knew his real name, everyone just called him The Dominator lol. That kinda went with the times though I suppose...

[snowqueen]

As an American, brought up by fairly strict or at least conventional Catholic parents in the 70s ~ I am still shocked at the amount of swearing in Singapore. Most Baby-boomers I know, just weren't allowed to cuss at home, so it is still a bit rattling.

Mostly I ignore it, but if I am shopping, let's say at the Zara in Ion to convey a recent example, I will ask the staff to change the music if it is a rap song which repeats the phrase 'So f*ck the b*tch!' over and over again. Shopping is demoralizing enough without the soundtrack of misogyny thrown in for good measure. What always surprises me is how unaware or uncaring everyone else is ~ young mothers with children, happily going about their business with angry filth blaring through a crappy sound system. Sometimes when I approach the staff behind the counter, I'll smile sweetly and say something like; Would you mind changing the f*cking disc so I don't have to listen to some f*ckwit scream 'f*ck you' while I'm f*cking shopping? They get the point and I have a little chuckle.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for a well-placed expletive, in fact I use them all the time to make a point. I believe there is a time and a place, though and they should be used with some discretion. I would never want to listen to a cleaned up version of Scaface or a Ricky Gervais podcast.

What I find hilarious is that they can't even get the word "tits" past the censors on TV, and yet walking through the mall I hear fully-intact Eminem songs played in many of the shops...I took it as the words were going by too fast for them to know what he was actually saying. I'd love to write it down and show them

There's a segment on a program called Fashion Police on E Entertainment called 'Bitch stole my look', the censors always bleep out the word 'bitch' and fuzz it out so you can't read it, but then turn over to another channel and there's the F word or Shit blaring out at you.

There appears to be nothing called 'the watershed' here where stronger, violent or sexy films are showed after 9pm. I'm surprised at what is shown here in the middle of the day.

[snowqueen]

I work with British and Aussies in the office, and it's high pressure on my ears, because they scolding too much.
So nice looking guys with so bad words in their mouth.
It's interesting what is the scolding level in the western part of Europe?
I've started to apply for jobs in Norway and Switzerland.
Are they scolding too much in the banks sector?

I see this thread has been posted twice and I responded to the other one first wondering what you meant by 'scolding'. I thought you meant workers being shouted at but this topic has gone done the line of using bad language.

[snowqueen]

Believe me, ethics have nothing to do with it...

I will say, the US is a lot more puritanical than most people realize. Europeans can't understand why we get all kerfluffled about sex on TV, or swearing but our collective cultural experience is different and in a lot of ways, more uptight and rigid.

Yeah I must admit, I never understand why Americans (particularly in the less, how should I say it, open-minded parts of the country) get so bothered about the sex thing, especially considering a lot of them have a shotgun or pistol in their garage.

Guns or sex, which is worst? Apparently sex

I love how in the press/news the US come across mightier than thou, all about religion and values etc when they have the same crappy problems as everyone else - underage sex/pregnancies, drugs, shootings, paedaphiles, corruption etc etc.

And doesn't it always come out that the ones who profess to be most religious turn out to do the most horrible things - I'm thinking of bible-belt teachers/preachers doing things they shouldn't be to impressionable young people.

[JR8]

I work with British and Aussies in the office, and it's high pressure on my ears, because they scolding too much.
So nice looking guys with so bad words in their mouth.
It's interesting what is the scolding level in the western part of Europe?
I've started to apply for jobs in Norway and Switzerland.
Are they scolding too much in the banks sector?

I see this thread has been posted twice and I responded to the other one first wondering what you meant by 'scolding'. I thought you meant workers being shouted at but this topic has gone done the line of using bad language.

Scolding, yes, it sounds akin to some form of virtual corporal punishment doesn't it?

In fact it is an archaic Anglicism lodged in Singlish that means to chastise. In this case it means people swearing (ooh... am I allowed to say that? hehe).


Frankly my view is if you can't deal with the heat in that environment then what were you thinking about walking into it, as nothing will ever change it, and neither should you presume to expect so.

[QRM]

I was quite surprised when I first heard this "scolding" concept here and Malaysia.

In the UK, at least in my line of work, Architecture, when you messed up generally you are taken aside and given a right bollicking as in a stern talking to, but never screamed and yelled at in full view of the office. (People have taken firms to court for workplace verbal abuse in Europe).

I did a stint in Malaysia and saw a senior partner yell and scream like some psychopath to a poor office boy. The bloke just stood their and didn't say anything and after 10mins everything was back to normal.

If anyone tried that to me I would be well tempted to head butt them, or tell them to Fxxk off, and leave.

I know the banking world is alot different (wife is in it). Where yelling and screaming back stabbing etc is quite a common practice.

[JR8]

QRM I think the OP is probably referring to the usual gobby banter you get in a high pressure environment. In my experience the vast majority is simply banter and the majority of that is meant in humour.

I suppose if you've not been exposed to that kind of language before, the level of 4-letter-word enriched English you find on say a trading floor might come a something of a shock. But then why would you have taken a job there, and not understood what the work environment was going to be like?

To the OP, if you are working on something like a trading floor, is it possible for you to move to a less intense environment, somewhere like private client? Of course that's not going to help if you are something like a trader!

[QRM]

If the OP was saying scolding as in swearing then thats happens all the time, every third word from a contractor in the UK is a swear word.

Depend on which part of the word, I find the American very intolerant of swearing, a chum working on one of the big banks in NY was pulled into HR and given a formal warning. A passenger in the office lift overheard his conversation where he describe a another college as a cnut.

I was pulled on a US forum for using the word "retard"! should be mentally challenged or a person with learning difficulties, ha the big irony I was actually calling myself a retard in the post.

No wonder alot of Amercians all got upset with Ricky Gervas stint as MC.

[JR8]

If the OP was saying scolding as in swearing then thats happens all the time, every third word from a contractor in the UK is a swear word.

Depend on which part of the word, I find the American very intolerant of swearing, a chum working on one of the big banks in NY was pulled into HR and given a formal warning. A passenger in the office lift overheard his conversation where he describe a another college as a cnut.

Hehehe, can't say that surprises me too much. I was constantly surprised by how conservative most Americans (in the US) seemed to be. TV is a good example (that's television not anything else lol). Not just in the language used, but in the 'prudish' dress the presenters wear. After a couple of years there coming back to UK morning TV was like watching soft-porn. I think in the US PC culture has gone so far now that there seems to be a presumed right for no one to ever be offended by anything.


I was pulled on a US forum for using the word "retard"! should be mentally challenged or a person with learning difficulties, ha the big irony I was actually calling myself a retard in the post.


I had a post moderated on a UK board for describing Gordon Brown as a twat. That was within in a discussion about the fact that David Cameron no less had just publicly called him precisely that!


No wonder alot of Amercians all got upset with Ricky Gervas stint as MC.

Quite. And that is why a lot of American humour comes across as, er, (choosing words carefully!) gentle and rather obvious to we Brits. Gervais ran into a few issues, I don't think they really appreciate a guy veering off a predictable and pedestrian path, especially at an awards show which is big business. By definition luvvies are some of the most insecure people in the world. Lastly the combined egos of the people his jokes targeted probably outweighs that of the rest of America. What he said was as to nothing compared to what he would have said if he was MCing such a ceremony in the UK.

[Mary Hatch Bailey]

No wonder alot of Amercians all got upset with Ricky Gervas stint as MC.

I'm a big fan of the Podcasts, Extras, The Office franchise, all of it ~ but Ricky Gervais was not really on his game for the Globes. An MC is expected to poke fun at the egos in the room, but they have to be funny, first and foremost. There's a fine line between irreverent and mean-spirited which I think he crossed a few times.

Since all of his comedic heroes are American, you'd think he'd understand the sensibility of the audience better, but it doesn't really matter. He's a rare talent, and excels when working in his own self-made milleau rather than an existing construct.

[Brah]

Right, interesting to see those stale and inaccurate references to American comedy being slapstick compared with the European always intellectual variety blah blah. As if that was actually ever true.

Re the scolding, not sure if this person is confusing the place curse words have in American vernacular, as I've seen the effect it's had on my Singaporean colleagues when I've dropped an F-bomb in what would be a naturally occurring situation, or,

...if the OP was referring to what I first experienced from my first experience working with a Chinese Malaysian, who was nasty, unnecessarily in-your-face about nothing-really-important and marginally competent - a confrontational, unskillful, unproductive, and unpleasant manner of interpersonal communication.

That was before I moved here, I saw more than a few instances of it since at work, on the street, in stores, etc.

I can't say I've seen this 'scolding' done ever in the States, although of course I've been chewed out a few times, some rightfully so.

And oh yeah, when I met this toxic former colleague on the street by chance years later, either from actual remorse or from my glare which telegraphed in no uncertain terms that I was considering whether or not to drop him where he stood, he apologized profusely for his behavior.

Anyway, I was pretty surprised how personal people here react to F-bombs. My colleague actually innocently and naively whined "but do you have to use that word?" after a situation that pretty much warranted it, and a couple of taxi drivers, after they had F-ed up big-time, went on verbal rampages when I uttered it. Hilarious.

But don't use the R word - it offends too many people and it's not funny.

[longstebe]

What a load of shite, nothing to do with what job your doing. You swear, you swear.