Virgin Atlantic Chief Sir Richard Branson ran into troubled waters when he sent an apparently "harmless" email to CEO Craig Kreeger. Sir Branson used the word "bollocks" in his email which was instantly bounced back by the IT department of his own company. The bounce-back message said that the email could not be delivered as "bollocks", the specific word Branson used in his email was considered to be a swear word, therefore offensive.

Branson, on the other hand, did not think that he used a swear word as he did not believe "bollocks" to a swear word. He wrote on his blog that he drew Mr Kreeger's attention on the court case they had won, proving "bollocks" not be considered profane or rude. "'A Nottingham record store displayed The Sex Pistols' masterpiece, Never Mind the Bollocks, and the police took us to court, claiming 'bollocks' was a derivative of 'testicles'," Branson wrote. He also wrote that he had consulted an expert on linguistics at the Nottingham University. The expert apparently told him that "bollocks had nothing to do with balls." It was, in fact, a nickname which priests were given in the 18th century, he said.

News.com.au reported that Kreeger had found the incident hilarious just like Branson himself. Both of them are presently trying to convert the "overzealous" IT department. Kreeger is reportedly working with the IT team on correcting the email block so that everyone would be able to use "bollocks" in future.

Branson mentioned about a record store in Nottingham on his blog. He said that the store had displayed the masterpiece of The Sex Pistols, "Never Mind the Bollocks." Police took them to court, he wrote. Police claimed that bollocks was a word which was a derivative of the word "testicles."

Branson's blog was appreciated by many. One user named James Palmer wrote that he was censored for words like "Scunthorpe, Clitheroe and Wristwatch." Another user Jon Seneger wrote that certain Web sites even blocked his own name.