Severity
The relative severity of various British profanities, as perceived by the public, was studied on behalf of the British Broadcasting Standards Commission, Independent Television Commission, BBC and Advertising Standards Authority; the results of this jointly commissioned research were published in December 2000 in a paper called "Delete expletives?". It listed the profanities in order of decreasing severity.
A similar survey was carried out in 2009 by New Zealand's Broadcasting Standards Authority. The results were published in March 2010, in a report called "What Not to Swear". According to the Authority, the findings "measured how acceptable the public finds the use of swear words, blasphemies, and other expletives in broadcasting".
Read more about this topic: Profanity
Famous quotes containing the word severity:
“No severity of punishment deters when detection is uncertain, as it always must be.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“When the severity of the law is to be softened, let pity, not bribes, be the motive.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)
“In compassionate men, severity is a virtue.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)