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Should autocorrect include swear words out of the box?

Let's not hide it - it is just common language. Many people do call their friends "b * * * * * s" or "m * * * * rf * * * * rs", and there is no negative context to it.

The iOS autocorrect feature does not (at least in Polish) include popular swear words used on daily basis by many people. The T9 dictionary on my old Nokia e52 did not include them either. I don't know how it is on Android or Windows Phone, or other feature phones (never tested), or desktop system spell-checkers. but a question arises:

If swear words are popular, and thus they are a inescapable part of everyday language, should they be included in autocorrect/spell-check dictionaries by default? Or is the correctness more important?

Answer*

**No**, for the simple reason that though you might have users who enjoy using terms like that as ways of endearment, there is always going to be a user base which is going to be offended. 

Also another reason is that texting is often done on the fly and there are numerous examples of where people have typed something else and autocorrect messed it up resulting in a totally different meaning. Check out [***Damn you autocorrect***][1].  For example, I might be typing Fun but autocorrect might make it  fu*k and if I accidentally send it, you suddenly have a big cause of concern or I might potentially shock someone. 

Another reason is culture and a lot of cultures would react negatively to such terms being found or even displayed as suggestions in the autocomplete dictionary. Here is an except from a news article where a [woman was sentenced to 50 lashings for using swear words while texting][2]

> A Saudi court sentenced a local woman to 50 lashes for swearing at her
> friend, following an argument, a newspaper reported on Monday.
> 
> The two Saudi women, aged 33 and 31 years, had decided to go out with
> their children for a weekend night but differed on where to go.
> 
> “An argument ensued and the two women decided to split … one of them
> later sent a text to her friend’s mobile phone swearing at her,” the
> Arabic language quotidian Kabar reported.
> 
> “The other woman went to court and showed the judge the message …
> although that woman said she was joking, the court ordered her lashed
> 50 times.


  [1]: http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/
  [2]: http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/saudi-50-lashes-swearing-420459

Edit Summary*

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Giving such absolute answers are dangerous as the right answer, in this case is likely to depend on the context of use. If it's part of a school website or pre-teen application then correcting swear words is vital. If it's part of an open frank discussion then there are times swear words are vital.
– Stewart Dean
Commented May 20, 2013 at 8:56

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