Australians have some of the world's foulest mouths: Expert

Wellington, Aug 17 (ANI): From celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, everyone seems to be swearing in Australia.

And according to a language expert, people Down Under have foul mouth.

Roly Sussex, a professor of applied language studies at the University of Queensland, pointed out the Rudd's saying "shitstorm" on national television in March.

The professor believes it is indicative of the casualness with which slang is accepted in the country of kangaroos.

"The sort of words that Mr Rudd has been using in the media are completely unacceptable for President Barack Obama to be using," Stuff.co.nz quoted him as saying.

He said: "The sort of words that Mr Rudd has been using in the media are completely unacceptable for President Barack Obama to be using," Professor Sussex said.

"Some people even thought the Prime Minister's use of the S-word in the media made him sound more like an everyday person."

He gave the example of Tourism Australia's 2006 campaign too, which went: "Where the Bloody Hell Are You?"

Sussex said: "That had trouble in England because of the word 'bloody' and it had trouble in Canada because of the word 'hell'. Neither caused the slightest trouble in Australia."

He further suggests that Aussies have "laid-back" approach to life unlike people in America.

He explained: "We have become much less church-oriented and that's a definite difference between us and the US."

According to his personal experience, Roly believes that use of slang has become more common.

He said: "When I was at school in Melbourne in the 1950s, using 'bloody' was terrible and people would get physically punished for it. Nowadays, you can hear both the F-word and the C-word on Sex and the City."

Meanwhile, Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, who was part of a Senate inquiry into swearing on TV, thinks that social standards has "dropped enormously" which could lead to a conservative backlash.

The inquiry gave 10 recommendations to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which will look over the code of practice regulating free-to-air television next year. (ANI)