And why do Americans use the F-word as a curse, anyway? (You never an American say “Intercourse you, making-love-er!”
:-S

And occasionally, used all alone and in just the right situation, it can be completely absurd and hysterically funny.

claire: i was wondering who’d be first. Guess it’s fitting that it’s you.

Ariel Cooke: Quite a few of my swearing friends do not swear in front of their childen. Why is that? To create the delicious adult space with your friends?

I ask because I’ve also seen the opposite parental tactic which is to teach them what the bad words are and how where it’s okay to use them. Mostly only at home. And how it’s especially important not to use them in front of teachers.

I’m wondering which is the harder/easier/more effective approach.

I am not a parent so I have no idea what I would do.

Libba: Tee hee! Now I know why it’s called the F-train!

I will always sit next to you and be your friend.

What do I have against the smell of coffee? You mean other than the fact that it makes me want to projectile vomit?

How many times is offense taken when none need be, for none is intended? I think that so many people are offended at things when there is truly no need, and it thus lessens the impact of things that truly are offensive.

Just a thought.

I remember the first time I heard you swear like a sailor, I swooned. I fell deeply in love with you on that day. The saltiness made me feel comfortable, as if I, too, could say whatever I needed to say, be whoever I needed to be, without apology. I also have a mouth that could make Tony Soprano blush. I’m sure it has to do with my being a minister’s daughter.;-) But I try to curb it around people who would be offended by such words because, as you said, it’s just polite to do so.

This is such an interesting topic. I find myself debating this a lot. I can ride the F train and hear teens letting loose with a stream of consciousness rant filled with variations on the F-word. This is how they talk. Should I not use these words even though they are accurate? In my work, I fear more the offense of not being true than the offense of using words that make some people uncomfortable.

I was taken to task recently on my blog for using the f-word there. It was a blog about rage and how women are often denied their right to express it fully and Britney Spears. (No, it all makes sense, I swear.) Anyway, I talked about how, in a fit of total despair/frustration/rage, I just yelled that word at the top of my lungs, and then I felt better and was able to get on with it, and that sometimes we just need to do that. Someone posted that my language was inappropriate on a site directed toward young readers. And I thought three things:
1. You totally missed the point of this blog, bitch.
2. You obviously have never ridden the F-train at 3:00 when school lets out.
3. You might be 100% right.

Me? I love words. All of ‘em. I want to roll around in words. And sometimes, what you or your characters need to say has to be expressed in language that some people may find offensive. I sort of love Quentin Tarantino movies because the language is so foul (and accurate) that after a while, it achieves a level of absurdist poetry. It also makes me laugh like crazy and open up to his world.

Anyway, I don’t know that I can be redeemed in terms of my swearing. Will you still sit next to me and be my friend? And what do you have against the smell of coffee? It’s divooon.

But it also depends on the type of book it is. Some novels really need swearing otherwise they just lack credibility. Where as with others it just seems tacky.

I would be deeply offended by this book.

I love to swear. Although I try not to do it at work, because there are lots of old people.

But I was thinking of good faith offendedness. There really are people who just don’t deal with swearing and particularly don’t deal with blasphemy. Whereas for other folks the blasphemous side of some swear words doesn’t even register.

If I know someone’s going to be hurt by certain words I try not to talk that way in their presence. It’s just polite.

Of course, my friends know I’m deeply offended by unicorns, but do they shut up about them? Nope. They do not.

It’s kind of ironic that you don’t swear but write characters that do, while I do but mostly my characters don’t. (So far.)

Nice to hear that your gutter-mouthed friends are keeping you entertained!

Katie: That’s an interesting question. I assume we’ve been swearing for as long as we’ve been stubbing our toes . . . but I don’t really know.

I forgot to mention how funny swearing can be. Thanks for reminding me.

I love writing curse words too. Oh, I had so much fun with Tyrell’s voice, how he punctuated his words with the “s-word” and the “f-bomb.” But the thing is, I hardly ever curse. It doesn’t roll off my tongue as easily as it does yours. I’m not offended by it at cursing; I kinda enjoy hearing others curse. It’s funny and flavorful. So I choose to live vicariously through my characters… and through my friends who enjoy using very, uh, colorful language!

Veejane: I do not think that of you at all. Especially as you’re younger than I am!

That scene from The Wire is one of the most genius scenes of television (or film for that matter) that I have ever seen. I loved it! I love The Wire!

Have you seen that one scene in the first season of The Wire, in which an entire scene consists solely of conjugations and variations on the f-bomb? It’s hilarious. And the best part is, because it’s acting, you can tell exactly what they mean with each effword they mumble.

Personally, I rather like the “f-bomb” and I know I really shouldn’t. I do my best to keep my language clean, but NOTHING feels as good as a string of “f-bomb”s when you’re really pissed off. Cursing, cussing, swearing…whatever you want to call it, it’s a part of everyday life whether people like it or not. I don’t think anything is going to change that, and part of me hopes it never will.

I would also be very disappointed if authors weren’t allowed to curse in the books that they write. I try not to swear, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have characters that are like Ozzy Osbourne and give us colorful language at least three times in one sentence. My characters are not me, and I am not them. Not allowing them to speak that way sometimes really ruins a character and the way that you meant them to be seen when you wrote them.

Something I was told recently was: “You can choose to be offended or to not be offended.”

I realize that sometimes what people do, say, write…whatever, will hurt my feelings. It could make me angry or sad, but in the end I choose how I want to respond to what happened to me. You can choose to learn from it, or you can choose to get pissed off about it and make a big unnecessary ruckus about it. Personally, I would like to think that I would pick the former.

And Holly Black is amazing, as well as her “f-bomb” usage. Ironside is WONDERFUL.

When Scott had one of his characters use “dude” a lot in Peeps some readers were annoyed. But that character didn’t use “dude” that much at all compared to most “dude” users. He was more gesturing at the “dude” thing not accurately representing it.

Have you read Lauren Myracle? She does an excellent version of instant messageing speak etc in her TTFN books. They’re funny as hell and read just great.

As long as they don’t say “lol” out loud. Or for that matter, any text/internet abbreviations. I reserve the right to be the cranky old bat, what with my stalwart defense of “whom,” so I think that allowing your teen characters to say “like” five times per sentence is really quite a stretch for me.

I find Crutcher can be a devastating rhetorician when he wants to be (I’ve read him in interview, but not heard him speak); and anyway, he has a leg up on most of his detractors by being able to refer in monstrous detail to the stuff he has seen in his adolescent psychology practice. When the “ten commandments in a public school” kerfuffle was going on, about 8 years ago, he did not mince words (though I never did see him use unprintable ones).