Cussin' and Writin'

November 10, 2006 8:33 AM

Writers: When do you use profanity in writing?

I'm working on an essay, and I'm at a section where I'm yelling at my boyfriend for doing something stupid and I'm waffling between putting down what I really said ("You better cut this shit out"), and making it nicer ("You better cut this out.")

Eventually I'd like to submit this essay to a major newspaper so I'll take out the profanity, but I was just curious if you other writers have policies on how much profanity you use in your writing--as much as you want? Just for effect? None at all?

Obviously, if you're writing for the New York Times, you're not going to be dropping f-bombs in your pieces, but how about for your fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, blogs, plays, screenplays?

posted by clairezulkey to Writing & Language (29 answers total)

I use it when it's appropriate. I leave it out when it's appropriate. I do consider my ultimate audience.

Sounds pithy, but when I'm writing about teenagers on the edge or homicide cops, neither are going to say, "Dang it, get your patootie out here." When I'm writing about pastor's wives and five year olds, "Oh fuck me, I dropped the cocksucking casserole!" is completely inappropriate.

I use a very familiar, conversational voice in the action slugs in my scripts- it's not unusual to see a slug that says something like, "As for Janice, she eyefucks him until he walks away." even if the script is about Janice, the Angel. The characters won't say it, but my audience is the producer and director, and ultimately, the actors- so those words mean something that a simple "She looks at him funny" wouldn't do.

If I were writing for a newspaper or periodical publication in general (disincluding Porn Times and Maxim,) words I can't use, I'd leave out completely. Why structure a phrase with the rhythm and weight and sound of the cuss when you don't get to keep it?

IMHO, they should be appropriate to the text, and they should enhance it. This is what your mama meant when she said cussing is for small minds. Peppering everything with a here a fuck, there a fuck, everywhere a fuck fuck is mindless emphasis, but exactly the right fuck at the right time is priceless.
posted by headspace at 8:54 AM on November 10, 2006 [5 favorites]

Good question. I tend to be pretty liberal with profanity, but it's easy to go overboard and then it gets distracting. So what I'll do is be perfectly candid and stream-of-consciousness in the first round, then go back and say, "Okay, I've got five "fucks" in 1 page. Which can I take out or replace?" Basically it's the same rule of thumb you use with any word: avoid repetition. It makes the writing seem uninspired and it always bugs the hell out of most people (myself included).
posted by Humpable Prose at 9:02 AM on November 10, 2006

not quite as much as the characters would do in real life if they existed ... 25-50% as much, i'd say ... writing, by its very nature, tends to exaggerate certain things, such as speaking style, which is why it's best to understate such things as dialect or tendency to swear ...
posted by pyramid termite at 9:03 AM on November 10, 2006

Generally, in those situations, write what feels most right to you and let editors make those decisions.

I don't swear for shock, but there are voices that just sound wrong if you try to clean them up too much. It goes where it needs to go; I don't think I have any more of a rule than that. I can take it out and deal with the awkwardness later if someone asks me to.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:09 AM on November 10, 2006

f&%k no.

First, you get an emotional effect without any real content, so it's a cheat of sorts.

Second, how many people do profanity really well? e. e. cummings. Who else?
posted by ewkpates at 9:30 AM on November 10, 2006

Related post. I think Tarantino does it well--in Reservoir Dogs, especially. It establishes class/culture. IMO it doesn't work well in moderation because in ordinary conversation people either swear or they don't. It's not a cheat. It has to be gratuitous.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:33 AM on November 10, 2006

I found this piece a couple weeks ago, perhaps it will help you...

Fuck
Christopher M. Fairman, Ohio State Moritz College of Law

ABSTRACT:
This Article is as simple and provocative as its title suggests: it explores the legal implications of the word fuck. The intersection of the word fuck and the law is examined in four major areas: First Amendment, broadcast regulation, sexual harassment, and education. The legal implications from the use of fuck vary greatly with the context. To fully understand the legal power of fuck, the nonlegal sources of its power are tapped. Drawing upon the research of etymologists, linguists, lexicographers, psychoanalysts, and other social scientists, the visceral reaction to fuck can be explained by cultural taboo. Fuck is a taboo word. The taboo is so strong that it compels many to engage in self-censorship. This process of silence then enables small segments of the population to manipulate our rights under the guise of reflecting a greater community. Taboo is then institutionalized through law, yet at the same time is in tension with other identifiable legal rights. Understanding this relationship between law and taboo ultimately yields fuck jurisprudence.
posted by krautland at 9:47 AM on November 10, 2006

Speaking from a magazine background, I can vouch that there's plenty to be gained from a well-placed x-bomb of your choice. It can enhance a sentence's rhythm, it can underscore your point, and it can inject some levity where needed. Too much of it dilutes the power, but I'm always willing to throw one into a magazine piece—usually for a profile or an essay, and no, not for the NYT. I guess it's a bit like principled actresses and nudity: if it serves the piece, I'm all for it, but I don't want to flash my naughties like they're going out of style.

From a fiction-reading perspective (the only one I have), there are two poles that I think work well for absolutely different reasons. You've got your Bukowski stunted-man constant stream of profanity, and you've got your Neal Stephenson (sorry, reading Cryptonomicon right now) well-placed profanity for (sometimes comic) emphasis.
posted by LDL_Plackenfatz at 9:51 AM on November 10, 2006

Sigh. People get wound up about profanity, of course, but I think that what holds true is that good writers will use it effectively and bad writers won't.

(You will correctly infer that I use it all the time in my writing. But then again, perhaps I'm terrible.)
posted by Skot at 9:56 AM on November 10, 2006

All the fucking time
posted by A189Nut at 10:22 AM on November 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

somebody asked Mamet how does he deal with the impossibility to use profanity in The Unit, and he said that if you only rely on cuss words you're not a writer, you're a charlatan

ymmv
posted by matteo at 10:25 AM on November 10, 2006

Never. It comes off as tacky. Seriously.
posted by dropkick at 10:50 AM on November 10, 2006

When it's appropriate. It should not be gratutious, but there are legitimate reasons.

Ideally, a characters speech should be like real speech - so an average joe from New York City may cuss profusely, but a guy from the midwest may only sprinkle a few 'damns' and 'shits' about. A baptist minister may not at all.
posted by Gideon at 11:07 AM on November 10, 2006

headspace : IMHO, they should be appropriate to the text, and they should enhance it. This is what your mama meant when she said cussing is for small minds. Peppering everything with a here a fuck, there a fuck, everywhere a fuck fuck is mindless emphasis, but exactly the right fuck at the right time is priceless.

Agreed. But there are times when a long string of profanities also works:

Rocco: Fuckin'..What the fuckin' fuck..Who the fuck..Fuck this fuckin'..How did you two fuckin' fucks.. FUCK!
Connor: Well, that certainly illustrates the diversity of the word.

-- Boondock Saints
posted by quin at 11:25 AM on November 10, 2006

quin: No argument from me on that one; see also the dialogue from The Departed. Authentic and rich and completely profane.
posted by headspace at 11:32 AM on November 10, 2006

I'm waffling between putting down what I really said ("You better cut this shit out"), and making it nicer ("You better cut this out.")

That's absurd. You are reporting your own speech. Write what you said. If they have to edit it out, fine, but let your editor do it. (Or if you're going to fake your own speech to try and sound all proper and shit, try "You had better stop this" instead.)

In general, sound real. If the character would say fuck, you must say fuck.
posted by pracowity at 11:37 AM on November 10, 2006

Despite previous attempts to change my mind, I still stand by my opinion:
Obscenity is the crutch of the inarticulate.

That said, there is an obligation to the audience, who may expect it, as well as to the character being documented, who may require it. Furthermore, I make no judgement on the subject of being articulate-- Kevin Smith's films attest to the fact that articulate dialog is never the surest way to engage an audience.
posted by leapfrog at 12:10 PM on November 10, 2006

("You better cut this shit out"), and making it nicer ("You better cut this out.")

Just say "Cut the crap." Fewer words, and no cussing involved.
posted by cass at 12:41 PM on November 10, 2006

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides relief denied even to prayer" Mark Twain

Seriously, look at what you've written and see if it would have been more honest with a curse word.

There are other uses of profanity, including the musical profanity of Mamet or Tarantino, but you seem to want to be writing as essay, not as artifice.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 12:44 PM on November 10, 2006

cass,
Not entirely safe. Some people consider that cussing too.
posted by Sangermaine at 1:10 PM on November 10, 2006

I was told early in my career was the way to get a reputation as an edgy writer was to replace the word "very" with the word "fucking".

I have such a filter on my MS Word. It teaches me that such words -- from very to fucking -- should usually be eliminated except in circumstances when nothing else will get it across.

In your example, the lack of the swear word points attention to itself and might ruin the characterization you're trying to build. If it's unnatural to the character, it's unnatural to the piece. But there are lots of ways to write around it without softening the anger or the impact.

Also, take the publication into consideration. They may edit it out as ..."this s- out," they may leave it it, they may walk away from your piece because of it. Understanding your audience (both your customer and the end reader) is key to knowing what's appropriate. And selling your work.
posted by Gucky at 1:28 PM on November 10, 2006

My most recent book is a collection of to-do lists for highly-efficient pregnant women. I decided to cut back on the goddamn swearing for that one.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:40 PM on November 10, 2006

Cursing in writing almost always reads to me as if the writer, or the character, is young, not very world-wise, and trying to sound tough. (Obviously there are times when this is the desired effect. And there are writers or situations where it won't read this way, but they are the exception.)

If you want to establish yourself (in this story you're writing) as a reliable narrator who the reader should take at her word, then don't include a lot of cursing, even if you really talk that way. "Cut this garbage out" "Cut this crap out" etc work better for me.
posted by LobsterMitten at 6:39 PM on November 10, 2006

In all honesty.... It really depends what kind of fucking mood I'm in at the time.
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 8:44 PM on November 10, 2006

"Cut this garbage out" "Cut this crap out" etc work better for me.

They read anaemic to me. Write what you would say.
posted by Aidan Kehoe at 11:16 PM on November 10, 2006

Writers: When do you use profanity in writing?

Whever I fucking feel like it.

More seriously, some rules of thumb from Kingsley Amis (not someone you'd always want advice from, obviously, but The King's English, his eccentric usage guide, is a fun read and invites less quarrel than you might expect). Amis is nostalgic for the days when 'to utter or to write a swear-word, as they were called, counted as a small act of revolt, the breaking-out of a miniature Jolly Roger.' His suggestions:

1. Use them sparingly and, as classicists used to say, for special effect only.

2. Even in low farce, never use any of them in its original or basic meaning unless perhaps to indicate that a character is some kind of pompous buffoon...

3. They may be used in dialogue, though remember rule 1. An attempt at humour will often justify their appearance...

4. If in doubt, strike it out, taking 'it' here as one of them.

If you're writing dialogue for yourself, as you seem to be doing, I'd leave it in unless you're planning to submit the piece to somewhere unbelieveably strait-laced (such as the New York Times), where it'll have the shit edited out of it anyway and you might look amateurish for not anticipating that.

My personal rule for journalism (in the UK, where the swearing regime is more relaxed than the US): if you're writing for a publication where swearing is allowed, use it very sparingly indeed, because the odds are that the publication will use one or two lazy writers who try to make things funny by throwing in a few 'fucks's, and you don't want your stuff to be associated with that. On the other hand, if you're writing in a starchy newspaper, you can get more of an effect from a well-place 'fuck' in dialogue or a quotation, even if the subs change it to 'f---'. Finally, highbrow-type publications don't usually give a fuck about profanity: you can get quite startling expressions into them along as your general tone is fairly dry.
posted by Mocata at 6:14 AM on November 11, 2006

I picked up a Brian Michael Bendis comic book a few weeks ago, trying, for the umpteenth time, to figure out what his appeal is. I met with failure yet again, but I did notice that he used the word "fuck" and its derivatives in just about every word balloon. (The scene I was reading involved ultra-non-girly-man cops in a hostage situation, so I guess he figured it was warranted). I was in no way offended by the f-word, but I noticed that it made the prose remarkably leaden. I mean, yeah, if you tape recorded a conversation between two profane guys in a situation like that, you might find upon playing it back that just about every sentence did, in fact, contain the word "fuck." And I'm sure it would sound completely natural and fluid. But when the same conversation gets transferred to print, all those "fuck"'s seem incredibly repetitious and put-on. It struck me as pretty amateurish. Instead of conveying that the characters were pissed off bad-assess, it made me suspect that they were actually stupid thirteen year old boys.

So I'd suggest that, in order to get the effect you want, you use the profanity more sparingly in your prose than you would in an actual conversation.
posted by Clay201 at 6:34 AM on November 11, 2006

Funny, I honestly never really thought about this consciously. Maybe it's because i'm from NY, and swear words really are so intertwined in the culture, that it's not a whole other thing to swear. THis strikes me just like asking when you should use contractions, or when you should use inarticulate or grammatically incorrect language - which is to say, my answer is, if it fits with the character, use it, and if it doesn't, take it out. But I don't think of it as a separate issue from the general issue of developing consistent voices for different characters (including the author/narrator voice).

Now, on the other hand, if the use of it strikes you as breaking the reader out of the story, maybe it isn't really natural to the character. I also teach, and I don't swear in the classroom, as it isn't really appropriate to the "character" or role I play as a teacher - if I were to swear there, it would be an emphatic moment that the students would not take completely in stride (of course they would try to, but they would notice). If it feels disruptive, then you are using it on a meta-level, not as a natural part of expression, but as a commentary on your own commentary, i.e., "I thought this was important/intense/exciting enough to punctuate with a symbol of verbal violence or naughtiness".
posted by mdn at 3:52 PM on November 11, 2006

Nope.
posted by oxford blue at 7:43 PM on November 12, 2006