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...and yet Go the F to Sleep is a bestseller.I'd read about this incident before, but the part about his being a children's author wasn't mentioned. Now I like the story so much more.
Yesterday at lunch I told my daughter about the incident. I was warning her because her language -- which doesn't bother me in private, but makes me cringe in public -- is going to get her booted from an establishment some day. She doesn't have to be angry to get salty; it's just the way she talks. Where she lives, her vocabulary is part of the ambiance of the neighborhood, like background music. But where I live, it's jolting. I've seen mothers get up and move their children away from our table once my kid gets started. (I say kid, but she's a grown woman.)
A few years ago I realized that my own language was enough to make a sailor blush, so I set about the business of controlling myself. I'm usually, but not always, successful.
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A culture shock for me - I was dumped into salty sailor talk at the tender age of 18. My navy basic training taught me everything and then some about the more colourful language out there. When I left two years later and started out in sales, it didn't get any better, especially as I was one of a handful of females in the office. You either talked the talk or STFU. That's just how it was. Nowadays, with young kids, I've marginally improved. Somewhat. I think. Maybe not so much.
One of my favorite scenes in The Wire was when the F-word is the only dialogue between two characters. It goes on and on, with various inflections and rhythms. The cops were examining a crime scene, "remarking" on what they were seeing. I tried to imagine the actors seeing the script for the first time and wondering what the F they were supposed to do with it.
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Then it became fashionable to pretend you were poor. I dined out until I was into my thirties on the tearjerking story of how I never had long pants or shoes until I went up to college on a scholarship.
My circle of friends use it as a comma.Now, if that writer on the plane had actually said "F-Bomb" I could understand the reaction.
Alina, I laughed all over again. Thanks for finding that.
An extract :
A New York children's author who dropped the "F-bomb" in exasperation over a plane delay at Detroit Metro Airport found himself ejected from the aircraft for disruptive behavior.
Robert Sayegh, 37, said Atlantic Southeast Airlines overreacted to his salty language when it summoned police aboard to escort him off the Sunday evening flight.
"The f-word is not a nice word to use," he acknowledged in a telephone interview on Monday.
Still, he said he was complaining to himself rather than snapping at anyone in particular. "I really didn't think I was being that loud."
So, authors beware. When travelling onboard an aircraft in American space, don't swear. :)