Thumbs down on vulgarity

A girl pose a photo in front of a cafe holding a board written popular buzzwords. [Photo/IC]

The Ministry of Education's vow to say no to vulgar words used on the Internet is a welcome and necessary move to help promote a healthy society.

In a recent report on China's linguistic conditions in 2014, the 10th of its kind, the ministry said the use of Internet words, some of which are vulgar ones, in TV programs, textbooks and dictionaries, has made it necessary to curb the abuse of coarse words online.

With the booming development of the Internet, a number of new words have become popular in recent years, such as zheng nengliang, positive energy, and dianzan, thumbs up, which not only reflect the agility of the Chinese language, but also add convenience to communicating.

But along with these popular buzzwords some rude and even vulgar words have also cropped up, as a tool to vent discontent and vilify others. Their creation has not only interrupted and sabotaged normal and friendly relations in the virtual world, but has also sometimes spread such infectious negative sentiments to the real world.

Given the accessibility of the Internet to almost all people in present-day society, the unblocked dissemination of such coarse words has tainted the otherwise-healthy cyber environment and in particular caused negative influences on juveniles who are more vulnerable to unhealthy content.

The virtual world should not become a domain that is not subject to the restraint of civilized words and deeds. Its popularity has brought conveniences to people's daily life, but this should not be an excuse for ignoring its unhealthy developments, including the use of offending words.

All media outlets and users should join the campaign and voluntarily resist the use of coarse words as part of the effort to create a purified environment for communication.