To swear or not to swear, that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The s**** and a****** of outrageous language.
Or to take arms against the s**tstorm of troubles.
Yeah, I know. Shakespeare did have his own way of dropping the odd brand of eyebrow-raising turn of phrase. He was inventive and often extremely funny.
From:
‘She is spherical, like a globe. I could find out countries in her…’
Through to:
“Though art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood.’
The latter is not really the usual way to describe one’s daughter, whether she might have deserved this or not.
If he was around today and just said: ‘Goneril, you are a real sack of sh*t.’ ; would we still have him on the school curriculum? On the other hand, I know which is the more cutting and vile description. Which insult would hurt the most?
Maybe we contemporary writers are just lazy B**tards, but the swearing itself isn’t the issue. It is the effectiveness with which we use this linguistic tool.
But Chaucer, I hear you say. Yes, but the use of the C word was more commonplace and used more often than not as a purely descriptive word for a part of the anatomy. Only later on did it gain a reputation as the word that is more likely than not to engender a protracted coughing fit from your maiden aunt.
Anyway, if you want to find out a little more about the history of this big little word, there is a great potted history on this page at History Oasis:
In a world where little causes real offence in contemporary Western culture, are we in danger of becoming numb to the power that profanity can have?
I must admit – I am not easily shocked, but was the use of the C word by the 11 year old in KickAss just the end of an era where we could still be shocked? I looked around the cinema at the rest of the audience and I must admit the majority of the sub-twenty-year-olds didn’t even blink. Or even bother to look up from their phones.
So where does this leave me? Well, a bit f***ed really. I did a word count. In The Clearing, 45 times my protagonist uses the F word. That’s three times as many as in the whole of season 1 of Breaking Bad. That’s not counting her use of bol***ks. How does that reflect on me? Does that make me as lazy as a sloth on his day off? Would Shakespeare have rolled his eyes at the lack of lexicographical imagination? Or would he have appreciated the attempt at authenticity for my leading lady?
I was watching an episode of Masters of The Air the other evening. I still find the use of those four letter friends interesting in war movies. That’s mainly because the language-sanitised war films of my youth were devoid of anything more offensive than the occasional damn. On the other hand, would Steve McQueen have been any more appealing if he’d had a mouth like the average football manager on the touchline? We do know now that in both wars, swearing was probably one of the best ways to vent frustration as your commander insisted that you marched to almost certain oblivion. It’s just that it wasn’t reflected in popular culture back then. Wind forward to Season 1 Episode 4 of THE WIRE and the exquisite scene where the two leading characters ONLY communicate with variants of f*** for the entire scene. There are so many great online essays on this, but here is one that is worth a read.
Back to the written word. The inspiration for the title of JD Salinger’s most famous work came from a rather bawdy poem by Robert Burns, Comin’ Thro’ the Rye. That was back in the 18th century. Wheel forward to the early 20th century and D.H. Lawrence died thirty years before the prosecution counted the instances of f*** and c*** in court in a trial under the Obscene Publications Act. In the end, the not-guilty verdict was greeted by a collective sigh of relief. Thank f***.
Does this mean I am in good company? Not necessarily. I can’t pretend for one minute that my work has the inherent literary merit of Lady Chatterly’s Lover, or that my use of spicy language in The Clearing is absolutely necessary. I did it because it simply felt right for my protagonist. I empowered her to be the only character to use the f*** word because I could. Was I making a point? Not really. I just had fun with the English language.
I mean, they’re only words after all, for f***s sake.
Looking to read an imaginative story that will keep you ged right until the last word? Why not check out “The Clearing” by David Armstrong? It is available on Amazon co.uk and Amazon.com.
The Clearing available on: Amazon.co.uk
The Clearing available on: Amazon.com
To find out more about DAVID ARMSTRONG the author visit his bio page.
Liked this article? You Might like to read: DREAM A NEW DREAM. Also by David Armstrong.
[FEATURED WRITER: DAVID ARMSTRONG]
