Is It Ever Appropriate to Drop an F-Bomb in a Meeting?

Tim Taylor posts that he recently mentioned to an executive he was working with that the exec was swearing like a sailor. I have never confronted a colleague in the business world over their language. If people choose to "swear" (who defined what a swear word is?!) then that's their choice. I myself exercise this right frequently! What's important to me is how and when people swear. There's no point just dropping an f-bomb for the hell of it -- this shows that someone is lazy and doesn't want to think of a more descriptive word, or is trying too hard to come across as laid back and cool -- but it does make sense if you want to inflect extra emotion or meaning. Plus, the grammatical flexibility of many swear words make it even easier to draw on them.

Bottom line: there are smart ways and dumb ways to use swear words in everyday oral interactions. It reveals something about someone, either way.