Hello,

I am not a native speaker of the English language.
Today I got a language from the system that I my language isn’t okay and I noticed that I used the f-word in nearly every of those posts.
I was under the impression that this was a word to emphasise. Is it not? Is it an insult?

Are there any other forbidden words? (Despite personal insults, which I totally understand and agree with, because this is a game.)

I would rather not be banned after so many years just because of my bad use of a foreign language.

Regards from the Redhead

Excessive profanity is against the site-wide rules. You should use the f-word sparingly, if at all, to avoid getting warned, banned, or suspended.

There are other forbidden words. Mainly the words you should not use in English (because they tend to imply at least strong emotion and tend to be a little rude are):
- f**k
- n****r (the racial slur relating to black people)
- f****t (the slur relating to homosexuals)
- b***h (the term for female dogs, often used as a misogynistic insult)
- S********a

You can use some of them in a censored manner (e.g., above), sometimes use them sparingly (but only for some of the ones above), or use them in acronyms ("wtf" is acceptable except for that one time where a moderator went rogue, harassed someone using their mod powers, lost their powers, and then quietly got their powers back). You can't do the sparing-use thing with n****r or f*****t, though.

There are others that are more borderline curse words, e.g.:

- sh*t
- cr*p
- c*nt
- d*mn
- a** (except when you are talking about donkeys)

For words like that, context tends to matter.

To be safe, just don't use strong or foul language and try to be nice at all times.

Edited 6/6/2021 08:19:22

In Germany we don’t have this concept of speech. That’s why I ask.
I know that people circumvent the rules by just typing *** instead of letters. But what I don’t understand is: why is it acceptable to cheat this way? Seems totally not logic. As if made for small children who don’t listen to their parents?
In general I am writing very polite and friendly. However… this is a war game and when I m declaring someone a war and role playing, then it’s strange to write that in fluffy bunny tones.

It's indeed a peculiar cultural thing. It's just a sort of understanding that saying "f*** you" (without the censorship) or "go f*** yourself b***h" (likewise) is intended to insult/attack the recipient. It implies strong negative emotion and frequent use of those words, except done jokingly, tends to create unwelcoming spaces.

Using the words with the censorship isn't okay totally. It's just milder. And on the topic of circumvention, you can say "dark," "heck," "frick," etc. Just an oddity of our society that we put so much stock into these words. Regardless, convention informs communication and so something like:

Go f*** yourself Billy! Your mom is a w**** and I f***ed your sister all night long!

is clearly insulting, with or without the asterisks (or even if you replace f*** with frick or the like, so context matters!). Thankfully, the example didn't insult an actual person so we can rest easy. But I think you can see why, even with the peculiarities behind why English speakers avoid certain words, using those words can be quite insulting and rude.

However… this is a war game and when I m declaring someone a war and role playing, then it’s strange to write that in fluffy bunny tones.

You're right. This game could indeed be described as a warzone. Kind of cute how the name alludes to that, without requiring any non-obvious leaps of imagination. That said, you can use language that's assertive, even aggressive, without being excessively rude or profane. For example:

"The State of Umeria declares war on the filthy pigs of Japan! Bow before our might and gaze upon us as we raze your unimpressive cities!"

is probably more effective than:

"The State of Umeria declare f***ing war on the b***h-w***es of Japan. We're going to f*** your a**es hahahaha!"

So you don't have to just speak in fluffy-bunny talk. You can both be a little bit edgy and still please the Gestapo.

Edited 6/6/2021 08:40:30

It's a cultural reason since when you watch TV shows with swear words, they try to censor it. For example, "I will **** your ***" or "You mother**** *****". It's kind of an unstable solution for censoring them. There could be cases of unnecessary censorship like "Please **** my ******!". People would assume that it's an adult scene, but if you remove the censor, it would be "Please help my family!" Another example would be "How would you **** my ****** ****" This time, it sounds both a weird scene and provocation. If you remove the censor, it would become "How would you make my sister's gift?" which is a normal phrase. The point is, TV culture using the censor sound makes the watchers getting so used to it that unnecessary censorship would mean that a kids show could turn 18+ easily.