Swear Words

A

It's Just a Story

  • Amber Zade
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Katie-Ellen

Opportunity for Scare Writers or Screenwriters, lo-o-k

  • Katie-Ellen
  • Replies: 14
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Alistair Roberts said:
Yer, I heard something about Americans find "ute" a bit offensive? Short for utility of course.... ;)
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Nicole Wilson said:
The only "Ute" I know of is the Native American tribe. Never heard it be an offensive term.
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Neither have I. There are some American slang curses, but I would say they're generally well known, like sucks in, "That sucks balls."

There's also dingbat, nube, weirdie, asshat...
 
James Marinero said:
I'm trying to find swearwords in Arabic and Farsi. I want avoid using the Arabic and Farsi script - but if I write it in English then it might sound (read) very strangely. @Emurelda where are you?
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Let me give you the tool I used to convert Arabic script into Latin letters:
http://mylanguages.org/arabic_romanization.php

You convert the English sentence into Arabic script in Google Translate, then paste the arabic into this converter, which yields an abbreviated latinization. Then you paste that into "clean-up," which will add in vowels which are generally omitted while preserving understanding with an Arabic-speaking individual, the same way we understand
"HWY" or "BLVD" to be highway and boulevard.

But there's no way to known whether the result is readable to an Arabic-speaker. I gave Eiman a pile of Arabic dialogue created that way in one of my books, which she's going to show to some people she knows at some point in the future.

There's also a lot of useful lessons on learning Arabic on this site!
 
As for the "ute" word, I remember the origin now. As I recall it was due to the movie "Australia" and someone said for the American version they had to explain that "ute" meant 'Pick up" (truck), because ute had something to do with prostitutes? Guess someone was mistaken :D
 
I learned a couple of rude phrases while living in Atlanta, Georgia. One always makes me smile, while the other often produces a look of disgust in the listener.

When someone states the obvious, as if it's a fresh discovery: 'No shit, Sherlock!'

When someone lets rip with a really smelly fart : 'Lick your lips, you can taste the brown....' (This may be a saying that's common in the Deep South, but friends in Wyoming had never heard of it.)
 
Paul Whybrow said:
I learned a couple of rude phrases while living in Atlanta, Georgia. One always makes me smile, while the other often produces a look of disgust in the listener.

When someone states the obvious, as if it's a fresh discovery: 'No shit, Sherlock!'

When someone lets rip with a really smelly fart : 'Lick your lips, you can taste the brown....' (This may be a saying that's common in the Deep South, but friends in Wyoming had never heard of it.)
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I lived for 25 years in Atlanta and heard the Sherlock one all the time, but the not other - you just introduced me to it. I'm not grateful. UGH
 
Back to the original question. I firmly believe that it depends ...
People swear more than they used to and some words once considered unsuited for mixed company have lost their impact. So, when is your story set? Words carry different meanings in different places (I've competed in shag contests - at the beach in South Carolina, but wouldn't consider entering one in the UK) So, where is your story set? Most important how would this particular character speak? If he would be dropping f bombs everywhere, you probably should sprinkle in a few. But replicating the exact speech of someone whose only adjective starts with f*** would produce tedious reading.
 
I completed a YA book last year, in first person, which was a real challenge for me. It often reminds me of a handheld camera in film, which isn't always the best way to go, but it worked fine. In the dialog, in complete sixteen year old character, set in the late 1960s, referring to someone as an asshole or exclaiming "fuck that!" is so part of the full character development that I would have to argue with anyone who took exception. Of course, the ultra-prim shouldn't read any of my work anyway... except the first two which are completely devoid of profanity as a nod to the period. Profanity is part of human speech. If we eliminate it, we are denying the humanity of the situation or assigning it to a more formal aspect. I realize there are even big-selling genres (Christ-Lit, etc.)now that sell lots and lots of books with absolutely no profanity. Why bother to read, I wonder?
 
I always liked 'sod off'. It has a rich and simple earthiness. I used to think it meant 'clump- of- grass- and- soil- off'...and maybe it does.:rolleyes:
 
KG Christopher said:
When I was at college, back in the 80's we had a teacher just like Peter Kaye, from Bolton I think, but he used to say, as a way of an exclamation (sounds better if you can imagine Peter Kaye saying it)

Well smother me in icecream and spank my backside would you look at that !
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But which SUBJECT did he teach?
 
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A

It's Just a Story

  • Amber Zade
  • Replies: 12
Katie-Ellen

Opportunity for Scare Writers or Screenwriters, lo-o-k

  • Katie-Ellen
  • Replies: 14
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