Cursing and Swearing

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Mr Nobody

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2008
3,306
9,050
Walsall, England
Few things:
1) AFAIK SK never has characters take the Lord's name in vain, etc, and people don't generally. 'God' is more a description than a name. If you were to say "Oh, Jehovah!", then...yeah. But no one does that. (You can use the Hebrew 'Yahweh' or Arabic 'Allah' if you want; it's all the same just different branches/dialects which then became languages in their own right. Even the 'J' sound shouldn't be. It cropped up around the same time as people decided 'Iulius' should be 'Julius' and so on. Just broad linguistic points. Sorry if it seems a bit muddled. I could go on, I sometimes do, but I won't. ;))

2) Where's all this perverted and/or gratuitous sex? I've got a pretty good memory. I don't remember anything that was obviously out of place and/or perverted (though I've not read everything).

3) If you really dislike swearing, best avoid any of my stuff. It's not in the narrative prose, of course, but my characters speak like real people (I think/hope). At least, they are true to people as I know them. Some types would naturally never swear and would find alternative ways. Others wouldn't go stronger than 'Bloody' or 'Bugger' (which was the case with my grandfather; I only heard him drop an F-bomb once, and it embarrassed him and shocked me because it had so much power for being unique).
However, if you expect to read nothing more than quaint, outdated phrases like 'Oh, botheration!', 'Well bless me', etc, best stick to stuff published no later than, say, the early 1950s. Or maybe even the late 1930s.
 

Nomik

Carry on
Jun 19, 2016
3,973
22,555
47
Derry, NH
Few things:
1) AFAIK SK never has characters take the Lord's name in vain, etc, and people don't generally. 'God' is more a description than a name. If you were to say "Oh, Jehovah!", then...yeah. But no one does that. (You can use the Hebrew 'Yahweh' or Arabic 'Allah' if you want; it's all the same just different branches/dialects which then became languages in their own right. Even the 'J' sound shouldn't be. It cropped up around the same time as people decided 'Iulius' should be 'Julius' and so on. Just broad linguistic points. Sorry if it seems a bit muddled. I could go on, I sometimes do, but I won't. ;))

2) Where's all this perverted and/or gratuitous sex? I've got a pretty good memory. I don't remember anything that was obviously out of place and/or perverted (though I've not read everything).

3) If you really dislike swearing, best avoid any of my stuff. It's not in the narrative prose, of course, but my characters speak like real people (I think/hope). At least, they are true to people as I know them. Some types would naturally never swear and would find alternative ways. Others wouldn't go stronger than 'Bloody' or 'Bugger' (which was the case with my grandfather; I only heard him drop an F-bomb once, and it embarrassed him and shocked me because it had so much power for being unique).
However, if you expect to read nothing more than quaint, outdated phrases like 'Oh, botheration!', 'Well bless me', etc, best stick to stuff published no later than, say, the early 1950s. Or maybe even the late 1930s.
. . Please go on, I was interested in the linguistics tangent because my thoughts meandered to Indiana Jones and Noam Chomsky when you stopped. More to the point- the F bomb has a profound effect when used sparingly. In fact, it is the only word in the English language that can be ^inserted into another word! Fan (f ing) tastic.:topsy_turvy:
 

Nomik

Carry on
Jun 19, 2016
3,973
22,555
47
Derry, NH
Riiiight...I think I get the allegations of perverted sex now. Not that it's really that bad. Much worse go on in bedrooms all over the world, I'm sure. You've probably sat next to a bigger pervert on the bus...or in church. ;)

Nomik: Let me make sure of a few facts and get back to you on that.
Sweetie, you don't need to do any research on that. It was just something one of my grad school profs told me a very long time ago in a little Podunk university in Durham, NH. I was just enjoying the narrative and I never forgot that class (Teaching English Grammar) because the professor used "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky." as an example of an appositive. We even shared a drink at the local brewery after class once.
 
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Tiny

RECEIVED:Annoying Questions award
Nov 25, 2009
1,869
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Wilmington DE, strange little place.
I've worked for Stephen for over 27 years and in all that time I have never once heard him use that word. His use of it in his writing says absolutely nothing about his personal character IMO and as someone who does actually know him, I think I have a better idea of what that would be than someone who judges him based simply on his fictional characters.

wow WOW , I always thought mr King swore Like Two drunken sailors ..IRL

Im not sure where I got that idea...and Tabby also...somehow , I thought
that ...well.... they liked to curse...like Eddie from the Dark Tower (dead-baby jokes included)
Hhhmmm... now IDK...
Maybe Mr King or his wife could speak to this publicly .
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
Administrator
Jul 10, 2006
52,243
157,324
Maine
wow WOW , I always thought mr King swore Like Two drunken sailors ..IRL

Im not sure where I got that idea...and Tabby also...somehow , I thought
that ...well.... they liked to curse...like Eddie from the Dark Tower (dead-baby jokes included)
Hhhmmm... now IDK...
Maybe Mr King or his wife could speak to this publicly .
He does swear and I've heard him do it quite a lot but I've never heard him use the "C" word in my presence.
 

Lee9900

Deleted User
Jun 29, 2016
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I ascribe to the George Carlin school of thought on "bad" words.

There is no such thing as a bad word, it is the context of the word that counts.

i really don't get the mentality of silence people to spare your feelings because you think you're more important than them.

Note: I also ascribe to the concept of common courtesy and respect, but don't feel it should be imposed upon you at the point of a firearm.

Character only really counts, or is only meaningful, when there is little to no rules.

And the only really way to take the moral high ground is to not be like the people one complains about or despises.
 
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GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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Steffen

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Aug 9, 2015
2,233
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This whole thing about "taking God's name in vain," I really wonder about people and their supposed "love" of the Almighty, as opposed to cowardly superstition. My secondary school was founded by an Order of Presentation Brothers from Ireland. One day I was talking to one of the brothers and we were discussing this same thing. He told me that when people say things like "Oh JC" or "Goddammit," they were just expressions of frustrations (like using profanity when you hit your thumb with a hammer or see your ex messaging you on Facebook). Taking the Lord's name in vain, he told me, traditionally meant invoking whatever deity you believed in to call harm unto others, which is something you should of course NEVER ask of your Lord/Saviour. Over the years, the zealots have taken their own interpretation of it.

That explanation made so much sense and I still believe it today. And for the record, speaking as a Hindu, saying "Jesus Christ" when you're exasperated just doesn't have the same ring as "Oh Lord Vishnu" or "Gosh darn it, Mother Lakshmi!" :heheh: