Cussing in British Shows
 

Hello All,

I have been watching Wife Swap UK (don't judge too harshly please) and have noticed that cuss words in the show aren't bleeped. I don't know what channel this is shown on but I am thinking it is on the equivalent of a basic network channel here in the States.

I think I could be watching the unbleeped version but I don't see why there would be two versions.

What are the rules about cuss words on TV in Britain?

AFAIK (I don't have a tv), if it's after the 9pm watershed then it's unlikely swearing will be bleeped.

Yeah, after 9pm pretty much anything goes with regards to swearing, other than the C word. It still draws the occasional complaint if every other word is a cuss word (like on most Gordon Ramsay shows), but we're pretty used to it over here. American stars often comment on it when on chat shows - I remember Andy Roddick was particularly impressed he could say shit on Jonathan Ross's chat show!

I guess what I find alarming is that this, relatively sane, way of dealing with 'bad' language on television isn't more uniform in the US.

If it is after 9PM and your kids are up watching TV, then they can hear some more adult language.

It is crazy that, in the US, a few religious nuts can influence TV censorship to such a degree. So much so, that when we hear swearing broadcast in other nations, we sit up and take notice.

One of the things I recall from my budding adolescence was tuning into some doctor show on Canadian television, and they were showing a sex scene unlike anything I'd ever seen on American television. It's loosened up since then, but we're still pretty Puritanical in regards to both nudity and cussing on television.

After 9 PM you can swear, but "cunt" and "cuntie" tend not to be used at all. The likes of Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver say "fuck" in every sentence... personally it doesnt bother me either way. From my experience anyone over the age of 10 knows what the words mean and use them all the time when parents and teachers arent about anyway.

*mind blown*

:orly: What the hell is that? As either an adjective or a hypocoristic formed with the diminutive suffix, I have never, in my many years on the internets (and DEFINITELY not in real life), run into the word 'cuntie'!




Nor can I think of a use for either.



:oogle:

Got nothing. Never heard of it either - must be an East Anglia thing :)

For all the lack of censorship that occurs in the UK and Canada, we more than make up for it here in Asia. You should see the list of words that are not allowed on Malaysian TV. Very amusing.

Y'know, I would love to be a TV censor for a day, so I could bleep out words like 'cabinet' and 'artichoke.'

So far as I'm concerned, it's just as arbitrary. They're just words, and your children aren't going to grow up to be knife-wielding thugs if they hear them before age 13.

I don't think we have any censoring here. I never hear anything bleeped, day or night. Not on American shows, nothing. Only the ones that come ready-bleeped lol. They do mute out swear words on the radio though.

I cant say that either of those are the sense in which I'd use it.

To call someone "cuntie" is an insulting term, that you would use towards a man.

...

One of the strangest things I ever heard was MTV playing a Mash Out Posse song censoring out all swearing and references to violence - which meant literally you heard 1 in every 2 words and then the sample in the chorus.

It's been a long time since I used "cuntie" but I would say that someone acting like a cunt is being cuntie.

I don't get US TV censorship.

You show things like volence and nudity, but fuzz it on screen- you allow swearing and bad language, but beep it out.

This feels to me like lazy editing on the part of the programme makers.

In the UK, the programme makers will generally select material for the show appropriate to the slot it is made for. If seeing violence is bad for a particular audience, surely seeing it behind a slight fuzz is almost as bad?

I actually find American shows that use these techniques unwatchable, as they end up drawing the attention to the redacted parts, rather than telling a story well.

I think the censoring here is pointless. You buy the dvd, it's uncensored, and whoever's supposed to not hear those censored words will surely hear them when you're watching the dvd!

I love it when shows aren't censored. They way more enjoyable to watch.

I was (accidentally) watching Titanic on the Women's Network last week, and they kept bleeping out the word "Damn" but were fine with leaving words like "ass" in there. It blew me away.

I like a lot of British shows, but the best stuff like Top Gear, Life on Mars, Gavin and Stacy, etc, don't really have a lot of swearing in them. It's only the crap stuff like Gordon Ramsey needs to use it.