Monday, May 22, 2023

Should the Characters in a Novel Swear

Annamaria on Monday



A few days ago, a commentator on a favorite podcast of mine introduced an episode by using the word "inshitification."  What a great word, I thought.  It perfectly describes, if you ask me, a lot of trends worldwide.

Funny enough, the subject of swearing had been on my mind, because a few weeks before I had seen the brilliant new opera The Champion at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC.  It tells the story of a gay man who, in the early 1960s, becomes a World Champion boxer. The performance was wonderful, and the entire production marvelous.  I could not help but think, on top of its many firsts, that it had to have been the first opera in which performers on the Met stage sang the word "f*ck."  Entirely appropriate for men discoursing in the hyper macho world of such a sport at such a time.




A few days later, it so happened that another favorite podcast did an in-depth report on swearing. It seems it is the topic of the week.  I am climbing on board that train of thought. 

In my novels so far, there are a few words, some of which are not considered so terribly bad today, but that were horrifying and totally banned in impolite company in early 20 century East Africa. “Bloody,” For instance.  Then, however, what we now call the N-word was common and constant. As a writer of historical fiction, I have to be aware of how language was used then and also sensitive to what is considered offensive today. 

As it happens, another one of my favorite podcasts this past week did an episode on this very topic. Swearing, I learned, has changed a great deal overtime, and there is evidence right now that people are doing more of it. Studies also show that doing it more often is good for us. I’ll let you decide whether you agree or not.
 



Professors who study this sort of thing (a job, I think I would like doing) say that historically what is considered a swearword has changed over time. In fact, the word "swear" comes from the original meaning: words invoking the deity. During the Middle Ages, people swore before God when they needed to prove they were telling the truth. But using the name of God in other contexts, that is "in vain," when you're not actually attesting to the veracity of what you were saying, was considered an awful sin. Swearing before God became less and less the norm (except in courts of law and when assuming public office).  And it gradually became acceptable in many cultures for a person to say "Oh God" about even trivial things.



As with all forbidden words, euphemisms were invented to take the place of "bad" ones. As in "jeez" or "Jeewhitakers."  These remnants of past attitudes live on.

But in Medieval times, saying f*ck was perfectly acceptable. 

With the Renaissance, as customs and circumstances changed, especially because human living conditions made personal privacy the norm, words about bodily functions  became taboo: sh*t, for instance.  And of course the f-word.

In the ultra uptight Victorian times, the list of proscribed words burgeoned. it was absolutely intolerable for anyone to say “trousers" in polite company.  

More and more, of late, I am happy to say, it is words vilifying a social group, that we must not use.  In some cases, it is still considered a bit too precious to say "unhoused" instead  of "homeless" here in the USA, but I think it will catch on.  As a person who was called nasty names as a child, I want to see the end of such pain for folks of any age, creed, color, or religion.

A few years ago, when I was drafting a scene for Vera and Tolliver 2, my character used the n-word.  By the place in the story when he thought it, he was already shown to be a villain with many miserable traits.  He thinks the word,  and it reveals his attitude about the African tribal people around him.  In this regard, he is like a lot of guys in Mombasa in 1912.  It is historically appropriate that a man such as he should think such a thought, and I hope it is the right word to use in a novel about that time and that place. I haven’t gotten any complaints. People understand, I think, that I want them to hate him. 




20 comments:

  1. A very timely post, Annamaria. It seems that we must be even more careful in our choice of words now than they ever were in straight-laced Victorian times. I had no idea of the profanity of the word "trousers" and would, no doubt, have get myself into all sorts of trouble if I was suddenly transported back to the 1800s!

    Especially as, according to family members, my first four words as a child were: "No." "Mine." and "Bloody hell." A combination of which seemed to work in almost any given situation!

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    1. Marvelous, Zoe. All two-year-olds' favorite word is "No!" As for the "Bloody Hell" I see that you were even then the Zoe we love--capable of being insightful, straightforward and hilarious, all in the same sentence, Viva you!!

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  2. Thanks, Annamaria. Very interesting to think about how the "swear" words have changed both in terms of meaning and context!

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    1. I think it would be interesting, also< to think about word taboos in multilingual countries like yours! Or words Kubu might have to keep to himself.

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  3. (Swear) words cannot express how much I love this post! It's such a great topic and I had a bit of a fight on this with my books, which Poisoned Pen wanted to market as cozies when I knew they weren't. I won, in the end, since it wasn't realistic that a character who was the only female cousin of eleven in a Brooklyn family wouldn't at least use "fricking" on a regular basis. Thanks for this.

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    1. Yikes, Wendal I think the publishers imagine the cozy fans are more up tight than they a lot of them really are. Because my characters fall in love with the full array of human responses, I thought my stuff was unfit for the Malice Domestic crowd, until readers who go to Malice told me that I belong there. Once on the panel with a writer on her 12th book in the series. She had a male and female private eye team. She said her editor made her take out the couples first kiss, after they had been together for 11 books! It was the editor, not the fans, who was enforcing this extreme prejudice in a cozy series. If there are such persnickety readers, I’m sure they are a dying breed!

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  4. Food for thought, AmA! I'll continue to dwell upon it as I launder my trousers.

    I believe the term is 'enshittification'. To the best of my knowledge, it was coined by writer Corey Doctorow, particularly as applied to internet companies. See:
    https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/06/people-are-not-disposable/#otm
    and
    https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/

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  5. Of course, it is you, EvKa— the most erudite of MIE fans would know such things. Your link took me to a page that that podcast mine, “on the media.

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    1. OOOPS!! Credited "On the Media." I had not seen the word "enshittification" Only heard it from the host of the podcast. I HIGHLY recommend it. And the other source was one you very likely already know Freakonomics! Always brilliant!

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    2. The term has really exploded since if first popped up a few months ago. Wouldn't be surprised if it appears on "new words of the year" lists. :-)

      "The GOP is the personification of the enshittification of the American political system." (That's pervertting Corey Doctorow's original meaning, but that's bound to happen -- it's just such a fun word. :-)))

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    3. It is a wonderful invention. It may be the legacy the always carries his name. One of the things I learned from the podcasts about swearing is that language ALWAYS changes.

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  6. To those with such delicate sensibilities I say,
    "FiretrUCK 'em all."

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  7. By the way, is there a significant reason why the attester in your penultimate photo has her right hand on the bible instead of her left?

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  8. Either a staged photo by those that didn't know better (quite likely) or a reversed image because someone else wanted that orientation (also fairly likely). I give it 50/50 odds. Of course, she may also be a Supreme Court Justice getting swarn in...

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    1. Well, Bro and EvKa, I just thought she was swearing her oath in the Southern Hemisphere.

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  9. Didn't know any of this--enshittification or podcasts--so learning a lot here. Could the fear of words that might be swearing be part of why some people get so upset when others speak in languages they don't understand?

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    1. You raise such an important point, Ovidia. When I was working in a Wall Street bank a lifetime ago, one of my employees was a Latina woman, who asked for a “shit of paper.” To her, with her charming Spanish accent, the “I” in shit was pronounced “ee”. So to her, saying “sheet” was swearing. We laughed ourselves silly the day I taught her how to say “sheet.”

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  10. Very timely! I find that before I start a reading in a library I want to let people know the book is set in Scotland, and there will be a good number of "fucks" over the next few minutes. :)

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  11. Oh Jamie, if you are giving that talk anywhere near me, please tell me so I can hear it. Next time we are together, remind me to tell you the story of The Swearing Detective Addresses MWA-NY!

    BTW, I am loving being with Imogen in Scotland!!!!

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  12. The above from AA

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