iurare

Today, I received an interesting text message from a friend, requesting a list of several uncommon adjectives that were not more than two syllables.

Slightly excited, I returned the next 140 characters with the words:

quaint, portly, ruddy, pious, awry, verdant, virile, pudgy, bovine, fetal, queer, feral, hirsute, gaudy, sly, and crispy

K, crispy isn't that uncommon in the everyday vernacular, but it's a very good word nonetheless.

After sending such a heartfelt list, I was informed that my friend was in search of alternatives to swears in a book he's working on.  This amused me slightly, but also alarmed me, because I don't want "crispy" to be used as an expletive anytime soon.  I quickly advised him to just use "asinine" a lot because it conveys the same harshness of an actual swear, but it's such better word choice.  And it doesn't ruin words like "verdant" and "fetal".

But it brings up what is for some (especially those in Utah) a moral dilemma:  Should I write swear words in books?

hahahahahha....hahahhaahhaha

Sorry.  Immature moment there, as I realized that the way that question is posed makes it sound like you're running around the local library, ripping books of the shelves and writing "butthead" across the pages or something...and now the thought of it is making me giggle like an idiot, here in the middle of the library on campus.  I really hope other people are looking at me weirdly.

I digress.

Many writers who normally don't swear when they themselves are speaking object to it because they hate reading a great book and then coming upon an F-bomb that really didn't add to the quality of the writing.  It has destroyed many a book.

Others argue that it shouldn't be so objectionable because it adds realism to the story and characters.  After all, "$^%&^" sometimes carries a lot more than "He swore loudly".

Personally, I generally avoid swearing.  But there are some words that, although they are swears, are just so succinct, and no other word will really do.  The F-word is obviously not one of these, because it is used so widely, and as every part of speech.  Including a preposition, by some of the more talented swearers...

No, I'm talking about words with definite, consistent meanings.  And words that don't have a direct counterpart, like "crap" or "donkey". 

So really, that narrows down my favorite swear quite a lot.

Even so, I tend to go with a weaker word, depending on my audience.

Although it has been psychologically proven that, for someone who doesn't swear often, letting a cuss word out or two can actually reduce the amount of pain sensed.  It's apparently therapeutic in small amounts.

This hasn't really reached any sort of conclusion, but does every post have to reach a conclusion?  Maybe its open-endedness will invite commentary from any readers who care to participate.  Haha.