Quote:
Originally Posted by meromana
Hmm, I find this thread interesting. I wouldn't have imagined that so many people felt so strongly about the use of profanity in fiction. I rarely use profanity in real life, usually saving it for moments when I'm very angry and alone, for example, if a computer glitch caused me to lose a huge chunk of work, I might indulge in a four-letter tirade directed at my flat-screen monitor.
However, in fiction, I don't bat an eye when characters express themselves (dialogue or monologue) with personality-appropriate verbiage, no matter how offensive. If they're twenty year-old gang-bangers, I would expect foul language, and would it find it unrealistic for them to speak any other way. But even if they're, say, 40-something moms, the occasional string of cuss words would neither surprise nor fluster me. It's all about whether the words are appropriate for the characater.
--Maria
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That's pretty much how I feel. If it's character-appropriate, I can handle it. What gets to me is when every character in the book uses a string of words considered obscene with every line of speech.
Usually I try to avoid blue language in real life, for no better reason than most people don't appreciate it, but if I bang my head or stub my toe, I guarantee I won't respond with, "Gee, that smarts!"
There are times, however, when only profanity will do. The "D" word is mild by today's standards, but shocking in the day when Clark Gable as Rhett Butler uttered it near the end of
Gone With the Wind, but had he said, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a hoot," the power of that scene would have been greatly diminished. Likewise, in the song "You Oughta Know" by Alantis Morissette, the line, sung to a cheating lover, "Are you thinking of me when you f--- her?" strikes a powerful emotional chord that milder language couldn't touch.
It's the
gratuitous use of blue language that irritates me. To me, it reveals a lack of writing skills.