posted
In a story I've been trying to write recently I specifically want to avoid blasphemous cursing, even lightweight standard stuff like "Oh my God!" Trouble is, whenever I try to make dialogue sound natural, the instinct is to write:
Even somewhat wooden stuff like "Strewth!" comes from "God's Truth", even "for fuck's sake" would be a blunt variation on "for God's sake", if you think about it.
Without descending into Blackadder style daftness, can anyone suggest a few natural-sounding curses which make no reference to Jesus, God, Hell, the Devil etc etc, but are still reasonably mild (i.e. not FuckShitBollocks etc)?
If you want you could make it really funny by telling me where to go with my request, but using natural-sounding, non-blasphemous and non-obscene curses.
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posted
Why not report the speech, rather than simply write it: "Finding the toilet occupied, Benway rolled his eyes violently and swore with renewed bitterness."
Writing stuff like "Jesus!" or "Fucking hell!" is only a couple of steps away from Beano-style non-words ("Arrrrgh!", "Aaaaiiieee!") and don't really add a lot in terms of dialogue, character etc.
i promise i am replying to your email tonight dang!
I don't know, I don't like using curse words in a piece unless they are have the word "**** " in somewhere and that word is sandwiched between a good eight or nine other expletives / words.
posted
Out of idle curiosity, why the the need to avoid 'normal' cursing? Are you writing the new Jack Chick tract about how internet message boards are the work of the devil with Ben and Kovacs tirelessly toiling to corrupt the hearts of innocents like Thorn? If you're not, I think someone should.
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quote:Originally posted by jnhoj: i promise i am replying to your email tonight dang!
Did the item arrive? That's the big question, see.
quote:Originally posted by jnhoj: I don't know, I don't like using curse words in a piece unless they are have the word "****" in somewhere and that word is sandwiched between a good eight or nine other expletives / words.
I think this is an interesting aspect of writing, like putting, "he said" all the time instead of "he moaned, he exclaimed, he cried" etc. "He said" is fine because the reader doesn't even notice it. If you keep using different verbs then it starts to stand out and sound wooden.
In the same way, I suspect that a reader wouldn't necessarily notice if there wasn't any sweariness, and I don't put much in. But there are a coupld of occasions in the story where a character needs to express his amazement or surprise, but in a natural way and without any religious reference. "Fu-cking H-ell!" kind of thing, yeah, Beano or not - but an alternative to that phrase.
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quote:Originally posted by Bamba: Out of idle curiosity, why the the need to avoid 'normal' cursing?
Simple answer is that the story is set in a place where religion doesn't exist and never has done. Although the characters speak English and are supposed to talk in a natural way I am unable to have them make any reference to God and the like as it would be anachronistic (or similar word).
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quote:Originally posted by dang65: Simple answer is that the story is set in a place where religion doesn't exist and never has done. Although the characters speak English and are supposed to talk in a natural way I am unable to have them make any reference to God and the like as it would be anachronistic (or similar word).
Is there no religion at all in this place you've created? I ask because I've read the odd sci-fi/fantasy novel where the characters swear just like normal but the author replaces references to God with references to whatever god exists in the fantasy world. The most recent example I've read is China Mielville doing it and it was carried off convincingly enough. You don't even need to actually explain/define the religion in question if his exampe is anything to go by, it's pretty obvious from context what the character's referring to. That said, it's probably more difficult than it looks to carry off subtly enough not to jar the reader and have them stumble over the reference.
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quote:Originally posted by OJ: "Diwedd y byd" - it means "end of the world" in Welsh.
Nice. I like that. Probably can't use it, but a variation could be good. I suppose I could make up some custom curses as Bamba suggests, although I always find those a little cheesy - "By the sacred knobbly mace of Saint Elizabeth!" as Sven Hassel might put it (being deliberately daft in his case of course).
Sorry to be so vague about this, anyway, but the situation is that these are normal people in every way except there must be no reference to religion. It's not alternative universe sci-fi stuff really.
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quote:Originally posted by Dr. Benway: also 'shitting crikey' is a personal favourite. This doesn't help, I know. Sorry Dang
No, no, that helps a lot. Not for the story, but for my general mental health situation.
quote:Originally posted by jnhoj: I thought the idea of secret santa was to keep it er...secret? ;D
Quite so, but I was getting very worried in this case. You see, the CD drive on my PC has packed up, completely furked, but I had that stuff prepared before. If that had been lost in the post then I wouldn't have been able to replace it for, like, months and months till I get a new drive or something. Anyway, it's an enormous relief to know it got there.
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Astromariner
Going the right way for a smacked bottom
posted
"Jings!" <----- nb I know someone who actually says this. Also see: "Crivens!", and "Help ma boab".
posted
typical del boy, rolloks, 'kin ell/(h)eck, rugger. 1940's style RAF. blighter/blighty, blast, darn, heck, bloody. depending on the plot and era of the story, you could use references to bad things from the world. toilet cleaners? a bit strong maybe? would prefer [bad reference thing] than that. I'll ask around the office
posted
Round my way the Black English Vernacular includes the quite charming
"oh my days!"
"oh my life!"
and "oh my eyes!" which I have only ever otherwise encountered in a Victorian kids' drama when the paupers first saw a Christmas goose.
You could riff on this kind of theme: "oh, my blood and bones!"
Or dip into Carroll and Tolkien respectively: "oh, my ears and whiskers", "curse us and crush us", "bless us and splash us". These expressions have the further interesting aspect of relating to their users' situation -- a rabbit of course refers to his most obvious features and Gollum has been alone inventing his own dialect in a cave for years, with only water, fish and rocks for company.
See also Caliban in The Tempest -- there is that great line about how Prospero taught him language and he learned how to curse. I think some of his cussing is probably very evocative.
eta I am proud to say I have this play to hand.
It is I.ii.362-4:
quote:You taught me language, and my profit on't Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!
There is some great stuff in this scene: "Come, thou tortoise!", "Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself. Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!", "A southwest blow on ye and blister ye all o'er!","For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps, side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up."
I think Shakespeare's curses might be a good avenue to explore.
posted
I've been trawling grime-related bulletin boards and discovering a fab new lexicon in the process. Guess what these mean:
nang
butters
merked
linking
Anyway, why don't you just make up some swears and pretend that they existed in the character's world the whole time, to reflect some sort of underclass or something. Um, obviously you'd have to invent the whole underclass / subculture as well, to go along with the swears, but hey. W/evs, right? Also, I have noticed that these grime types, who like to appear tough, so tough that they will think nothing of shooting each other outside THE BARBICAN!!!!, like to say 'my golly gosh!' instead of swearing. Which is terribly cute really. 'My golly gosh, you appear to be dying, because I stabbed you, bitch.'
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posted
Lawks? There isn't really anything in between comedy-old-lady swearing and proper bodily function swearing (other than blasphemous of course). You have stumbled on a gap in the market, you must copy write any new words you come up with. It'll make millions!
While walking through the West end at theatre kicking out time last night (we had been kicked out of a theatre) my friend, a very tall and elegantly dressed chap with a bowler hat on, gazed around the crowds and exclaimed in a very well spoken voice "My word, this place is absolutely seething with cnuts". Which was quite effective.
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Abbey, at least your friend can take solace in the fact that anybody who saw him looking elegent in his bowler hat was probably reciprocating the feeling.
quote:Originally posted by Abby: "My word, this place is absolutely seething with cnuts". Which was quite effective.
EDITED: too fool auto-censor!
Terribly exciting FACT of the day: until about a year ago I actually used to say 'c-nut' because I couldn't bring myself to utter the word. Now I say, reclaim the **** !
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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