MYNORTHWEST NEWS

WTF? Washington state least foul-mouthed state in America

May 15, 2013, 12:33 PM | Updated: 2:26 pm

We might not always be the most polite, but a new study says we’re the least foul mouthed.

Seattle-based mobile-advertising firm Marchex reports it used speech-recognition technology known as “call mining,” to analyze over 600,000 phone calls from customers to businesses in over 30 industries including auto dealerships, cable companies and more.

Researchers listened for curse words and found Washington state callers used the fewest.

Massachusetts, Arizona, Texas and Virginia followed. The five states with the foulest mouths were Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Illinois.

Washington residents issued an F-bomb or other obscenity once in every 300 conversations, while folks from Ohio swore nearly twice as much.

The study also found while we might not be potty mouths, we’re not among the top five for courtesy, based on callers who say “please” and “thank you.”

Marchex also says 66 percent of the swear words came from men, calls over 10 minutes had the most cursing, and morning calls had the most obscenities.

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WTF? Washington state least foul-mouthed state in America