Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
42
Forums develop their own etiquette about language. And , yes, I’ve read the posts lingua mentions - if it suits them, then that’s fine. Another (non-food) board I use has an inbuilt censor in the technology turning four letter words in asterisks. But folk find a way round it - they use other words “feck”, “freak”, whatever. Or use symbols “Fuc&” - everyone knows what you’re saying without you saying it.
And, as for TripAdvisor, it rejects reviews that include their definition of profane words. I well remember having a restaurant review of a place in northern Italy rejected. I kept reading it through and couldn’t find anything wrong. Read it several times just to make sure I hadnt accidentally made a typo that had turned an innocent word into a profanity. Then it suddenly came to me. I’d been describing the pasta sauce which was donkey but, relying on my notes of the menu translation, had used the word “ass”. And that was it. Not very profane even in American English and not a word in use in British English, except as donkey. One of these days, I’m going to see if it will accept “arse” but I’ve yet to find a restaurant situation where that’ll fit well.
My understanding is that some at food talk are just having a bit of fun with the whole language issue since apparently at least one poster on CH was banned or otherwise punished for using the fuck word. I often swear and am not in anyway offended by other people doing it but I do think it is often caused by lazy thinking (talking about myself here) and it gets very tiresome if used too often, especially in print, for me. It is sure to scare some away but my gut feeling is that for some it is intentional. I am enjoying both sites for now.
The tone piggybacks on the origins of the two sites. Both HO and FTC were created by SF hounds, but there’s a larger percentage of LA hounds on FTC, and more SF hounds on HO. They’re equally knowledgeable, but the cultures of the LA and SF boards were different. The SF board during my time there tended to stay focused. The LA board has been more chatty and the climate more confrontational. On Dish of the Month, the SF board tends to be verbose, have more obscure dishes, and fewer participants; the LA board tends to have more photos, more accessible dishes, and shorter descriptions.
I’m by no means a “sensitive soul,” but the use of foul language by that one poster on FTC seems to be solely for shock value – not for emphasis or description but merely because the poster COULD use the word. It’s kind of childish, if you ask me, and I can totally get how it can be off-putting.
Who the heck are you guys talking about? It is as if you are talking about Lord Voldemort (the one who shall not be spoken of). Can you at least tell me the first letter of the name?
Ha ha ha. I just looked around FoodTalkCentral. I think I know who that person is (starting with K). I don’t recognize this person from Chowhound. Do you know if this person used the same name over Chowhound, or I just don’t hang out the LA board enough to notice this person before.
Yes, same name. Apparently he was a reliable resto-rec stalwart on his local board; there was copious gnashing of teeth when he was booted off CH. I don’t know if it was for abusing the “f” key or for a less obvious reason.
I haven’t joined FTC (I’ve visited, but to date I haven’t seen any discussions that impel me to join). But I noticed that this site has a “Mute” option and wonder if FTC does as well. Because I would most certainly mute the “K” guy . . . I’m certainly not offended by the word, but he seems incapable of writing a single sentence without some variation of the word. What’s more, at least the discussions I have read, he doesn’t seem to contribute much of substance (although I haven’t read any of the LA or SF discussions, so maybe he is really knowledgeable there).
