Colorful language

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’m sure that grammarians have a term for what I’m thinking of here that’s more accurate than “colorful language”. Let me know if you can find one.

Characters in historical novels will say things like “Zounds!”. A few decades ago it was something like “Heavens to Betsy!” Current day I might say “Goodness gracious!”

So what do characters in space operas say?

I’ve been reading books by Nathan Lowell and his characters tend to take common current day phrases replacing God by Maude, such as “For the love of Maude, there’s not even a station here!”

Other authors do something similar using Ghu. Was that E.E. Smith’s Lensmen books perhaps? In The Witches of Karres they said “Great Patham!”

Clearly slang and profanity will evolve and stories set in the far future seem more realistic if their speech patterns have changed enough that readers notice it but not so much that we can’t understand what they are saying.

Do you recall anything like this? What did the author use?

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

And one if the characters in Hellspark by Janet Kagan came from a culture where feet were considered impolite. At one point in the book she swears:
“Foot,” she said in a matching torrent of Jannisetti curses, “Heel. Sole. Toes, with green toenail polish!”

[Trike]

Ah, yes, working blue.

Brandon Sanderson does this for every book and it’s distracting to the point of being aggravating. In Steelheart it’s “Sparks!” In Mistborn it’s “rust and ruin!” In Elantris it’s “Night!” In Way of Kings it’s “Storms!” In Warbreaker it’s “Colors!”

Augh! I get what he’s doing but it’s just too much after a while.

I like “Tanj!” from Niven’s books, used instead of “damn” (or sometimes with it: “tanjdamnit”), and it’s an acronym for There Ain’t No Justice.

Curse words tend to be pretty stable over centuries, but adding a new one every once in a while is cool. Probably the most famous ones come from TV: “gorram” from Firefly, “frak” from BSG, “shazbot” from Mork & Mindy, “smeg” from Red Dwarf.

[L J]

I admired BSG frak, originally spelled frack, and felgercarb because the way they were used there was no doubt what they meant.
ETA: I've run across numerous cases where there are invented deities who are called upon or whose names are used as profanely.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

Tanj is great!

[Carolyn]

I've always been a fan of, and use heavily, FRAK!

[Lizzie]

I read them all the time in science fiction books. I know they are substitutes for swear words. I can't say any of them have stuck in my mind to use.

I was watching a Danish P/A series on Netflix which was dubbed and also had cc. I was curious when the F word came up as to what it might be in a foreign language. Using the google translator, I kept getting foreign words that were forms of merde, which then translated back to English as sh**. So I still don't know the accurate foreign translations.

I became curious because the actual movements of the mouth didn't match what I was hearing, and what I was reading.

[Audrey]

I detest strong profanity (in English) in science fiction and have stopped reading some authors that insist on lacing their books liberally with f-bombs. I strongly feel that people, and especially authors, who spew incessant profanity haven't bothered to learn how to express themselves appropriately. If an author gets creative in ways to express frustration (feet, toes, rust, tanj, frak, etc.), I admire and appreciate their creativity.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I’m about the same, Audrey.

[Trike]

Science disagrees that swearing is a sign of low intelligence: https://www.sciencealert.com/swearing...

[Leonie]

I think that some authors use the f-bomb appropriately, but I find some simply use it to shock.

When a particular character is consistent in their use, and it fits the context, I find it more believable. But if every character swears continuously, it seems unnecessary.

[William]

Audrey wrote: ".... I strongly feel that people, and especially authors, who spew incessant profanity haven't bothered to learn how to express themselves appropriately....

Read what you want, of course! But: Holy Forking Shirtballs!

Two science fiction authors that come to mind who use a lot of profanity are Scalzi and Jemisin. Both Hugo award winners, Jemisin of course with back-to-back-to-back Hugos, and Scalzi with his 10-year 13-book deal with Tor.

So uh .... I find the notion that authors who use profanity do not know how to express themselves to fly in the face of such evidence.

[Teresa, Plan B is in Effect]

I personally want interesting dialog in what I read. Repeatedly using the same word or idiom on the same page doesn’t do that. Part of the reason I stopped reading Scalzi several years ago.

But that’s me.

I’m more interested in seeing some new way to express strong feelings, particularly one that doesn’t trigger flashbacks to painful experiences.

[Trike]

Teresa wrote: "I personally want interesting dialog in what I read. Repeatedly using the same word or idiom on the same page doesn’t do that. ..."

I agree that’s an indicator of limited vocabulary or of laziness. I was a huge fan of Jack L. Chalker’s early work but in his latter years he became repetitive, using the same turns of phrase over and over again, a clear sign of haste and lack of proofreading.

I just object to the blanket idea that a use of curse words indicates either a limited vocabulary or limited intelligence.

[Audrey]

I won't say limited intelligence because many of these authors are unquestionably intelligent. And I do see that the occasional use of colorful language may be used for emphasis. However, my point was about "incessant profanity" throughout a book. To my mind, that is laziness or limited vocabulary. And I agree about the same phrases being used over and over (and over), profanity or not. There are plenty of other words in the English language that could be used to convey the idea.

[Steph]

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and sequels had a lot of fun ones (Fetid Dingo's Kidneys!). I'm not sure if it was in the books, but in the radio series it was revealed that 'Belgium' was the most obscene word in the galaxy, except on Earth where no one knew what it meant.

In TV, I liked the use of Chinese curses in Firefly.

[Leonie]

On occasion I've met people who swear every second word, but they are generally few and far between. (I've lived in remote area mining towns, so I'm not sheltered in any way, shape, or form.)

I understand authors using profanity for emphasis, but there really are (in my experience) very few actual people who constantly swear. When I do meet someone who uses profanity continuously, it becomes very wearing. It's no different when a writer does the same thing.

I think I said above, that on occasion you get a character whose speech patterns are to swear continuously. I can do that. I get that. But not every character all the time.

[C. John]

To me the constant use of swearing is indicative of a lazy writer, and I can't be bothered with lazy writers.

[Ally]

I understand the use of profanities when the caracter is in a very tense situation, like beeing shot at ! But the rest of the time, it is really not necessary.
As a French who reads a lot in English I noticed that British authors use a richer vocabulary than American authors.

And Lizzie, you already know the french "merde" which means "sh**" but in the south of France you will hear "putain" which means "hore" (why ...? I don't know).