Question: According to Jeff Atwood, ["Expletives are not acceptable behavior on meta or any other Stack Overflow site."](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/22233/166851)

My question is: to what degree (if any) does this apply in chat as well as on meta or main?

Answer: 
If we're going for a general rule here, I would say that Jeff's statement holds equally well in chat as it does on any site within the network. Swearing is not okay. I think of the network as a (largely) professional environment. And swearing has no place in it. 

There are admittedly chat rooms in which language is somewhat more colourful than on the main site. And context is sometimes important as well. But even in those situations keep it to an absolute minimum and, as the user who swore, don't come complaining if your messages get flagged or if you end up being suspended from the room.
Since the MPAA doesn't publish guidelines around what words will make ears bleed, I feel the best method for determining what words are appropriate is by deciding the age rating for each room. Let's say that **The Heap** has an R rating. These words would be censored in the transcript, but visible to anyone who enters (after clicking some box saying that they understand there may adult language). Perhaps we can use a calculated formula for how many f-bombs or s-bombs can be used in a 24 hour period.

What I think the real issue is if the expletive is used towards another person. If I say

> 
> @JackDouglas You're a piece of poop\*
> 
> 
> 

This would be considered inappropriate and should be flagged. But if I say

> 
> @JackDouglas I've had a poopy\* day
> 
> 
> 

This should be allowed since the audience of the room is adult.

\*Poop is a synonym