Cursing At Work Comes Under Fire

Goldman bans profanity in e-mails, but swearing is all around us

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has banned cursing in e-mails sent by its employees, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. The change comes after the Wall Street bank agreed to pay $550 million to settle civil fraud charges stemming from from the sale of securities that were memorably described in a salty e-mail that was repeatedly referred to in a congressional hearing this year.

The e-mail, referring to a "shitty deal," offered a field day to Rep. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who repeatedly used the language to excoriate Goldman officials in the April hearing. Presumably that embarrassing episode is a major reason Goldman has banned such language in future e-mails.

But completely eliminating cursing on the job may be even harder than eradicating fraud on Wall Street.

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