Canadians more foul-mouthed than Britons, Americans: poll

When I was a child my father often said "Profanity is the crutch of a conversational cripple". That expression appears to be quite quaint in light of the following article.
Canadians more foul-mouthed than Britons, Americans: poll

By Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun August 5, 2010 1:09 AM Canadians tend to swear more often than Americans or Britons when talking to their friends, but B.C. residents are more polite than most of their peers across the country, according to an Angus Reid poll.

Fifty-six per cent of Canadians polled in the online survey last month said they frequently or occasionally swear when talking to friends, compared with 51 per cent of Britons and 46 per cent of Americans. And when it comes to relatives, a third of Britons (33 per cent) and Americans (32 per cent) say they never swear in front of family members, compared with 27 per cent of Canadians. But even though Canadians might use foul language more often, the F-bomb isn't dropped uniformly across the country.

In B.C., 38 per cent of those surveyed say they always alter the way they speak so as not to swear in public, with only 11 per cent saying they never change their speech to avoid swearing. By comparison, a mere five per cent of respondents in the Atlantic provinces say they never alter their speech, which is significantly lower than 15 per cent in the Prairie provinces and 21 per cent in Ontario and Quebec.
"B. C. came out as one of the politest provinces in the country," Angus Reid spokesman Mario Canseco said. "What's pushed us over the edge is [survey results from] Quebec. B.C. is more conservative in how they use swear words."

The results were surprising to Canseco, who had expected Britons and Americans to swear more often than Canadians. The poll, which surveyed 1,012 Canadian, 1,013 American and 1,992 British adults, was initiated after Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was overheard using the F-word following a public hearing at city hall last month. Seven in 10 respondents in all three countries didn't think it was appropriate for politicians, doctors, police officers or lawyers to swear -- even if they didn't believe anyone was listening -- while between 60 and 67 per cent deemed it was wrong for athletes to swear.

More than half of Britons and Americans condemned foul language used by actors and auto mechanics, while fewer than half of Canadians were unhappy about the language used by those groups. Canadians and Britons were more likely to report that their co-workers swore on a regular basis, while Americans said their relatives swore more frequently.

If you're in Britain, you can expect to hear the F-word more often from strangers, the poll found.
The July 20-23 poll, surveyed randomly selected adults who are Angus Reid Forum panellists, Springboard America and Springboard UK panellists. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points in Canada and the U.S. and 2.2 points in the U.K.


ksinoski@vancouversun.com

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