Not to pile on here, but a quick poll.  Show of hands is good. ;)  How many of you actually thought you'd be having this conversation when you first started blogging? 

Stick with me and the conversations will go to all sorts of crazy places you never expected. It's my tragic M.O.

Personally, I lean the other way. If you're going to say "ass" then say it - stuff like @$$ drives me insane. If you're not comfortable enough to spell it out, maybe you should rethink it. 

I have a horrible mouth in real life, which I try to tone down on my blog. But if a post calls for a word here and there, I don't shy away from it. Adults can handle it, especially something as innocuous as "damn."

This is my feeling exactly. (And I also have a horrible mouth in real life.)  I don't swear at all on my blog though, but mostly because I'd have to put the little $#9! signs and that drives me crazy ;)

In my case?  I'm a hypocrite.  I swear more in real life than on my site (on DQYDJ we only swear by proxy, haha).  I started off writing that way and it's become a running joke at this point, since my co-writers and I will go out of our way to avoid swearing.  In fact, we have gotten to the point where people have noticed that we never swear and called us out on it (email, comments, etc.).  Pretty funny, stuff!

That said, I will avoid stronger words like "fuck" or "shit" on my site. 

I feel like my point is sometimes made better when I swear, which is probably a detriment rather than a good thing. Since my blog is much more personal rather than mechanical, I'm pretty candid on it - if I'm describing a difficult person, I'll call them an asshole. There are a few words I won't say - the obvious ones - but I do change a letter once in awhile because I never know what will offend people.

I think damn is barely considered profanity any more.  I rarely use profanity on my blog because I rarely use it in real life. If a post calls for it I will use it and I have no problem linking to blog posts with profanity in the title. One of my favorite blogs, Mr. Money Mustache, uses profanity in a humorous way that I find entertaining. I wouldn't shy away from using the coffee mug in the banner at all.

This morning my husband told me, "If you don't put God- in front of it, no one cares." Now I have to tell him he's right. ;)

Personally, I lean the other way. If you're going to say "ass" then say it - stuff like @$$ drives me insane. If you're not comfortable enough to spell it out, maybe you should rethink it. 

I have a horrible mouth in real life, which I try to tone down on my blog. But if a post calls for a word here and there, I don't shy away from it. Adults can handle it, especially something as innocuous as "damn."

One of my favorite lines from a movie about self-censoring was, "If you're going to curse, go for the gold." It doesn't make sense to say or do anything half-assed.