Employee using in-appropriate word in daily conversations with his colleagues

Welcome to the communities

Its a word that sadly some people now use as almost punctuation in conversation

You could/should have a word with the individual letting them know you are uncomfortable with the constant use of that word and asking them to stop using it.

It will then come down to two things (1) if he can actually or if its so ingrained into his lexicon that he will continue to use it unless constantly and repeatedly reminded. and (2) What the attitude of your wider management team is.

Welcome to the communities

Its a word that sadly some people now use as almost punctuation in conversation

You could/should have a word with the individual letting them know you are uncomfortable with the constant use of that word and asking them to stop using it.

It will then come down to two things (1) if he can actually or if its so ingrained into his lexicon that he will continue to use it unless constantly and repeatedly reminded. and (2) What the attitude of your wider management team is.

Thankyou for your advise. I have seen our CEO using it couple of times in quarterly business reviews. Do you think it could be influenced from there?

If the CEO uses it then it will be far harder to eradicate. The shadow of the leader plays a large role here.

I am not convinced personally that explaining the etymology of the particular word will make that much difference but i suppose anything is worth a try.

@Keith & Teresa
Whist it's an amusing story I remain highly skeptical about the etymology - more likely it finds its roots in the old German "***" (to f***) or old Dutch "fokken" (to breed)....

Hi Keith,

Oh absolutely, as Dutch is a Germanic language it's almost certain they're from the same origin. I am usually pedantic in researching my facts, but as I said earlier I have deliberately not researched it too deeply because, to be honest, I find it far too useful. It sounds logical and plausible, so in this instance that's good enough for me - might as well make an 'urban myth' work for it's money :)

For the record, it is an entirely false etymology.

To the comments already given by others, I would add four points:

1. If it is only this individual with this tendency, your position is stronger than if you are the only one in the office not doing it.  If, on the other hand, most people follow his example, but he just happens to be the one sitting closest to you, your position is rather weakened.  In both cases, you need to know whether you have the company culture in your favour or against it.

2. In either case, your argument will be stronger if, rather than saying "I find this uncomfortable" you can say "this is bad for business".  If your office has open phone lines or external visitors, you can make a good argument that this sort of language risks offending a customer - which is of far more interest to the business leadership than offending the HR Manager.

3. If you can't make the argument at (2), and if the corporate culture is more in his favour than yours, you will need to bear in mind the potential ramifications to you and ask yourself how you want yourself and the HR function to be viewed.  "Politically correct" is the least bad accusation that might be made.

4. In the optimistic assumption that he is sympathetic and genuinely would like to dial it down, I can recommend the use of replacement words.  I find "feth" a particularly satisfying alternative, but pretty much any swearword in German does the job, too.

Wikipedia has it's effin' uses.......

en.wikipedia.org/.../***

- personally, can't get too excited about four letter words that are merely synonymous with usual bodily functions, excepting perhaps when deployed as a substitute / cover-up for dysfunctions in the vocabulary department.

PS

Funny what one remembers from early childhood, but this little comic ditty is still imprinted in my little brain, doubtless because it was a little smutty and was at the time very topical with it - given that  (in)famous obscene book trial:

O dear, what can the matter be?

O dear, what can the matter be?

What can have happened to poor Lady Chatterley?

Banged in the woodshed from Sunday to Saturday

Using those four-letter words.

Hi Robey, apprciate your feedback. Always good to have an outside view. I agree with all your above 4 points. Thankyou for taking time and providing guidance :).

Hmm.... not sure how this got past the sensitive words filter.