FURTHER to the correspondence on swearing (Letters, April 6 and 7) locals from Ecclefechan call their village The 'Fechan. Senior pupils attend Annan Academy a few miles away. When a parent from the village heard that her son had been belted by a new incoming teacher for being late she thought that was a bit severe until he told her: "All I said was the 'Fechan bus was late..."
Bill Brown,
4 Birchwood Place, Dumfries.
I HAVE to agree with Mark Smith’s article that swearing is good for us ("I’ll be damned ... swearing is good for us, and maybe our children too", The Herald, April 5), even though Martin Archibald’s opinion (Letters, April 6) has its good points. He writes that he prefers “expressive language ... rather than expletives”.
While not endorsing every swear word as suitable for use in company I do, now and again, find letting go with an expletive to be very helpful. Recently treading a path in these airts with a friend, we were faced with what appeared to be the North Face of The Eiger, covered in thick milk chocolate. Later, sitting with my still-booted feet in a bowl of hot water to remove the gloop, it crossed my mind that the only people for which that walk was suitable were the bl***y marines.
Peeling off the boots and socks it was saying bl***y that gave the greatest satisfaction.
Thelma Edwards,
Old Comrades Hall,
Hume, Kelso.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here