Right, this happens with me all the time (though I suppose I don’t require the use of swear words, but I do use them quite a bit, just not when speaking professionally). People take my matter-of-fact personality as being arrogant. I’m really not, or I actually try not to be, but I can understand how things can come across when not mincing words. I suspect Torvalds doesn’t like making useless small talk, either, which is a trait of this kind of personality. I can wholly relate to that and how people might perceive him. But I do not feel, as the person I replied to had written, Torvalds “lets you know” that he’s “the smartest person in the room” in any instance I’ve ever seen him speak.