Wednesday 8 August 2012

Kaboom – Unashamedly Dropping the F-Bomb.

My instinctive reaction to the smug who dismiss foul language as lazy and symptomatic of a restricted vocabulary is an elegant, Fuck Off!  

Elegant because it’s uncluttered, immediate and leaves no room for misunderstanding, surely the Holy Grail for writers.

There aren’t many reactions that can be captured in two short words and fuck used on its own can convey myriad emotions – physical pain, surprise, shock, anger, despair, amusement, pleasure – so why use a string of unnecessary words when one will do? To avoid causing offence?  Nowadays?(Please refer to my reaction in the opening sentence.)

Few words work harder than fuck. I haven’t been able to think of one, so maybe the dissenters are right, I’m vocabulary challenged. But used in the right context fuck reigns supreme. Four letters of the alphabet combined into a single word that can world-build, reveal character/personality, carry emotion like no other. I am in awe. Somehow other epithets lack the same class.

However, please note the caveat ‘used in the right context’.

And there are certain words over which I do hesitate, ‘God’, ‘Christ’, or ‘Jesus’, because I don’t wish to offend or disrespect an individual’s sensitivities – but fuck isn’t and never will be one of them.

Which word works hardest for you?

11 comments:

  1. I've got to admit, Fuck, isn't a word I tend to use. I think that's probably because I'm not completely sure on how people would have used it in the regency period. Obviously the word was used. Fuck is as old as the hills. I tend to use hell or damn, and God (but I'm careful with that one as I equally don't want to offend)
    But you go girl. I've never read that one in your stories and thought it felt out of place or context! And your works is grittly real.
    x

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    1. Why thank you Jess. I use hell and damn too but sometimes I just need a little extra something. Far more nervous about using what might be blasphemous to some.

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  2. I agree with Jess, you use it to perfection. I've not used it so far, bastard, git and plonker seem to be my favourite words at the mo.

    x

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    1. Lol Aimee - you're getting there. At the end of the day, it's all about what your publisher will allow and what your readership will tolerate. I've got nothing to lose.

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  3. Great post, Incy! I have actually used this word in a book, and I agree whole-heartedly. In the right context, that one single word can pack a lot of punch.

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  4. Thanks Joanne, for some reason it's a word that produces a lot of fear.

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  5. Don't see my post here re "John le Fucker" reported (first in Carl Buck's 1949 Indo- European dictionary) from an administrative record of 26 April 1278. Either a Focker family member or a very busy man.

    I abso believe all things in context. It suits the scene...use it.

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    1. Wise words as always from the guru and substantiated--bloody hell, how do you spell that word--by impeccable research as always.

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  6. I'm enjoying writing this paranormal largely because it's liberally littered with F-bombs. It's a word with a lot of force and damn it, it just works.

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  7. How right you are. Paras rock because the dialogue is usually fearless and gritty and contemporary. So pleased you are writing one. Can't wait.

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  8. Dropping the F-bomb in my pivotal moment in Mills and Boon's New Voices 2010 caused quite a mixed reaction. Although it doesn't pass my lips in day to day life, I write as my characters and not as me and I will never veer from standing by whatever they would articulate relevant to the moment/context. Offended or not, that's characterisation.

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