Current Account isn't aware how widely-used the Bloomberg system is for sending e-mails, but anybody using Bloomberg for this purpose better watch their language.

The Wall Street Journal told this week how Bloomberg has installed a mechanism on its system which prevents foul and abusive language being used on messages.

Use the dreaded f... word, or any of its variants, and up pops a note on your screen telling you that the word is "inappropriate in the context of business correspondence".

Now, some might believe that this is nannyism brought to a ridiculous degree and that Michael Bloomberg should have better things to be doing than curbing the language of people who pay him €1,175 a month for the use of his terminals.

And certainly, moderate language is nothing something readily associated with the average dealing room.

But Mr Bloomberg is unrepentant and says that the language-screening software was installed first on his employees' system, but has now been extended to customers for fear that offensive e-mails could lead to harassment lawsuits. "The cowboy atmosphere that used to be part of newsrooms and brokerage firms is no longer possible in this day and age," he told the Journal.

But censorship has its pitfalls and one user of the Bloomberg system found he was unable to send an e-mail with some information on the German manufacturing group FAG. It seems "fag" has some unusual connotations in the US - Current Account always thought that it was the slang word he used in his youth for cigarettes, but you live and learn.