McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
On Character Swearing
Abstruse:
My Irish character was born in the US, moved to Ireland as a young child (3-4), was raised there, then moved back to America and has been here for a few years. This gives me liberty of not having to get the accent perfectly (one of those "the accent gets thicker when he's pissed (either meaning)" sort of deals), but also lets me play around with the absolutely FABULOUSLY creative way the Irish swear! You think French is fun to swear in? Listen to an Irishman sometime. It's like some kind of poetry.
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
Amber:
Why should swearing reflect badly upon anyone? It's just remnants of an old prejudice, with little basis in anything. The words have only the power you give them. I mean, really, think about it. Why is "ass" worse than "butt?" (And the answer isn't just "because it is.")
Abstruse:
Ass and butt are worse than rear or derrier because the Anglo Saxons were conquored by the Normans. The Normans were French and therefore took over the aristocracy. Therefore, the gutteral Anglo-Saxon words (butt, ass, shit, fuck, etc) because the "low" or "crass" way of saying things, while the romance French way (derrier, deficate, intercourse, etc) because the "proper" way. This has also made words change meaning. "Stool" (Germanic), for example, originally had the same meaning as "chair" (Romance). However, the common Anglo-Saxons were the ones who owned small, short bits of wood with no back and called them stools, while the rich aristocrats owned plus seats with backs and arms and called them chairs.
Thus endith the English lesson.
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
Amber:
--- Quote from: Abstruse on January 21, 2007, 06:20:30 PM ---Ass and butt are worse than rear or derrier because the Anglo Saxons were conquored by the Normans. The Normans were French and therefore took over the aristocracy. Therefore, the gutteral Anglo-Saxon words (butt, ass, shit, fuck, etc) because the "low" or "crass" way of saying things, while the romance French way (derrier, deficate, intercourse, etc) because the "proper" way. This has also made words change meaning. "Stool" (Germanic), for example, originally had the same meaning as "chair" (Romance). However, the common Anglo-Saxons were the ones who owned small, short bits of wood with no back and called them stools, while the rich aristocrats owned plus seats with backs and arms and called them chairs.
Thus endith the English lesson.
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
--- End quote ---
*G* That's exactly what I was going for! :D
The not as funny part of my point was that if the *intent* of the phrase is the same, don't dumb it down just for those who are offended by certain words. In other words, if your character shouts "fudgesicle!" (as someone I know does), I know he means "Fuck!" You know he means "Fuck!" So why change it? (Another favorite of mine "Darn it all to heck.")
Abstruse:
What was the quote?
"Holy shit! Hellhounds!"
"Harry," Michael said.
"Sorry. Holy shit! Heckhounds!"
Something like that...
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
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