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A small team of coworkers and I have been working around the clock (literally) to get a huge release — a project we’ve been working on for over a year — out the door. A few of the late-night email threads have generated a bit of profanity; not the kind directed AT a coworker, but the kind that emphasizes something’s importance or severity. At one point I apologized for using the acronym “WTF” in an email subject line, after the issue had been resolved. But no one had been offended, and a few other folks pointed out that they’d used stronger language (e.g. sans acronym). That conversation in turn caused some jokes and chuckles, and was a good stress-reliever. There was clearly camaraderie at play. So this 37signals blog entry I just now read really resonates.

David writes:

I’m a big fan of swearing. Not in the derogatory, directed-at-you kind of way (“hey, fuck you!”), but as verbal marker to underline key concepts, create emphasis, and express passion. It certainly doesn’t work in every environment nor should it, but there are plenty were it does.

Here’s the full post:
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1214-profanity-works