Profanity is Bad? ******** That

[Quixotic Virtuoso]

I've recent;ly made a resolution to swear like a sailor on a daily basis. blaugh

[Drakyn]

Good Resolution...... Mine is to Start Cursing like an English Footballer..... Using Words like Bollocks and Wanker

C'mon..... Everyone Loves it when a guy just Frustratingly says "Bloody, ******** Bollocks"

[finalrain]

Teh Jeicen

I've recent;ly made a resolution to swear like a sailor on a daily basis. blaugh

That's quite a resolution.

I once made a resolution that every time someone asked me a stupid question, I would spend as much as, but not more than five minutes trying to think up the stupidest answer I could. I didn't keep the resolution perfectly, but I came damned close to it. surprised

[clarion]

In fiction, I don't have a problem with it at all. Also informal writing. Hell, I swear all the time in casual conversation (depending on who I'm talking to). Where I think profanity has no place is in more formal writing for school (like essays and research papers). It just makes you look really unprofessional and doesn't foster a sense of authority.

[terradi]

I think my future vocation is beginning to affect my use of language. I know I'm going to be teaching elementary school children, and that's enough to break me of most of my swearing.

I know you don't always have to be on perfect behavior but .. it just doesn't seem right to be cursing all over the place when a parent could overhear you. Avoiding writing some other things is probably just a carryover of that urge to act 'appropriately'.

Then again, maybe that's just my warped mind. sweatdrop

[Yuzure]

terradi

I know you don't always have to be on perfect behavior but .. it just doesn't seem right to be cursing all over the place when a parent could overhear you.

... despite the fact that most of the children probably know the words better than we do...

[terradi]

Yuzure

terradi

I know you don't always have to be on perfect behavior but .. it just doesn't seem right to be cursing all over the place when a parent could overhear you.

... despite the fact that most of the children probably know the words better than we do...

In third grade? Well ... probably. crying Still, if you'll notice I said parent, not student. Even if society is corrupting their children and they see murders every day on television, teachers are expected to set an example of what is right and proper in the world.

Can you see an elementary teacher showing up with hair dyed a half-dozen colors cursing up a storm with their students? Perhaps after pension but ... you walk a thin rope.

[Yuzure]

terradi

Can you see an elementary teacher showing up with hair dyed a half-dozen colors cursing up a storm with their students? Perhaps after pension but ... you walk a thin rope.

I now have the mental image of a seventy-something former elementary school teacher with dyed hair and profanity-laden tattoos.

My brain is weird.

[terradi]

Yuzure

terradi

Can you see an elementary teacher showing up with hair dyed a half-dozen colors cursing up a storm with their students? Perhaps after pension but ... you walk a thin rope.

I now have the mental image of a seventy-something former elementary school teacher with dyed hair and profanity-laden tattoos.

My brain is weird.

xd I want to be that teacher. Well, to have that hair anyways. Gotta stick with a semi-natural color until after I'm pensioned so that they're stuck with me unless I do something seriously corrupt.

Until then I plan to lay low and keep as much of my personal lifestyle and tastes out of parental notice until it's safe. I'm paranoid about some parent finding out I'm wiccan and attempting to run me out because of that.

[Adee Yael]

Drakyn

Yah, I'd like to Preface this with a Warning, I'm New to the Writing forum, but I've spent the last 6 months in ED so I understand the Basic Rules, but if I commit some Feux Pais(Damn French) Here Please alert me..... I hope this is not a Dead Horse Thread......

That Being Said

Profanity..... Yes We All use it...... From ******** to Damn to Bollocks and All others in Between, Writers have been using them Frequently in their Novels for at least the Past hundred Years..... Don't Believe me? Read F. Scott Fitzgerald and Steinbeck...... Those Guys weren't Exactly Prudes

Now I'm not going to Censor myself or my Work, not even for my English teacher(I Have Five Assignments that got A's but got a "Could do without all the Profanity" on them)..... Now I feel that Profanity is needed to add A Depth of Realism to the Characters and to make them seem a bit more Human..... but When one Obsesses too Much with Profanity the Work loses Emphasis and becomes almost Cartoonish in Nature.....

What are peoples Opinions on Profanity in Your Work...... Do you try to Keep yourselve's from Letting out Strings of Cusses..... or is Your Protagonist's Catch-Phrase "******** BOLLOCKS YOU b***h"

Oh, and Yes I do Realize I capitolize a Lot..... It's Intentional, as is the "....."

I agree with you, though I don't use profanity for school assignments.

[CheaChan]

You all should really watch Penn & Teller : Bullshit sometime. They went over this last night. As they expressed, it's not the words we say, it's the implied meaning and tone, for the most part. Really try this sometime if you have a dog. Go up to it and say in the most singsong voice you can manage, "Oh, that's my little ******** b***h a** ********. Yes you are, yes you are." and then pet it. It's happy unless you abused it. Now say as loud and menacing as you can, "I LOVE YOU!!! YOU'RE THE SMARTEST CANINE IN EXISTENCE!!! I HOPE YOU LIVE FOREVER!!!" Just a guess but he's probably cowering right now. Anywho, yes there are exceptions to this rule...duh

[narkoleptik]

Cypress

As for the caps, it just makes me feel like I'm reading incredibly long titles.

Yeah, dude, it's that that's annoying me... bad use of punctuation. As for profanity, I use it in writings when it fits, but I never did in school because it's a bit more professional to withhold the 'slang.'

[DepIoying]

Yuzure

It's not a dead-horse thread, although it has been done before. A long time ago. So it's no problem.

Personally, I use profanity only when necessary. Any more, and it feels rather bland.

(I also tend to limit myself to "damn", "b*****d" and suchlike, but that's just me.)

Same here. Most of my characters wouldn't swear much, with the exeption of one in my newest story.

To the guy who started the thread:

1. Sorry if you're a girl
2. You are very lucky to be able to use swearing in school writing. No-one in my class dares to. For school I usually stick to 'X cursed and clenched his fists' and similar phrases.

And CheaChan, that's dogs, not people.

[Ezmirelda Dundundun]

clarion

In fiction, I don't have a problem with it at all. Also informal writing. Hell, I swear all the time in casual conversation (depending on who I'm talking to). Where I think profanity has no place is in more formal writing for school (like essays and research papers). It just makes you look really unprofessional and doesn't foster a sense of authority.

I agree on all counts. In Creative Writing, Informal Writing, Conversation, whatever, I have absolutely no problem with swearing (because, in my opinion, a word is just a word and if we start treating them all as if they were just words and stop getting offended by them the world will be a better place), and, in fact, I use it all the ******** time. But in Formal Writing, "swear words" have absolutely no place, because the connotations/denotations of the word simply don't apply to Formal Writing for school or the like.

terradi

I know you don't always have to be on perfect behavior but .. it just doesn't seem right to be cursing all over the place when a parent could overhear you. Avoiding writing some other things is probably just a carryover of that urge to act 'appropriately'

I know exactly what you mean with this. It was quite an obstacle for me to get over for my writing, because, for the majority of the time, my characters aren't the nicest of people (and one of them is a serial killer, rapist, and a frequent drug user, so, yeah...) to say the least, and the stories about these characters always have some sort of sex scene, drug use, etc... because I have to add them to make it realistic for the characters. I still get that feeling, though, to reword what I write because "What would my parents think?" or the like.

Yuzure

... despite the fact that most of the children probably know the words better than we do...

So very true. I had some 10 year olds start cursing me out they other day like the did it for a living.

[Roslin]

I don't mind profanity in writing, considering I use it in my own. I just don't let every other word be ******** or b*****d or anything. If you use it too much it just starts to seem mindless.