Vulgar language in fantasy

[Hand of Evil]

But in the rpg world, whose to say what is and what isn't talk in that time period. What brought on my pondering of this was when one of my pcs called another pcs mom a real b!!!!!. In all honestly it was exactly what the character was. Could that pc have used another world, probably, but what type of role playing do we expect from pcs. Some, but certainly not the ability to write up dialogue that exceeds the normal level of roleplaying.

I do think there are unversial vulgar words, words that always have been used, but just when did bugger get replaced?

Funny rumor, there is a Will Smith movie coming out later this year called, The Last Man on Earth, it is a re-make of The Omega Man (1971 Charlton Heston); the rumor is that the movie got a re-name because when polled, people did not know what omega meant!

 

[BadMojo]

Funny rumor, there is a Will Smith movie coming out later this year called, The Last Man on Earth, it is a re-make of The Omega Man (1971 Charlton Heston); the rumor is that the movie got a re-name because when polled, people did not know what omega meant!

Actually, it's Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend". The Omega Man was a loose adaptation of that story. I hope they keep the "I Am Legend" name for the Will Smith version.

 

[Hijinks]

I distinctly remember a quote from Shakespeare, loosely paraphrased, "Let it be known that I am an a**!" Some may consider that profanity *shrug*

To me, swearing falls into the same mental category as slang. Both of them just seem out of place.

I agree with that.

In my mind, I am reading to escape to a fantasy world. I'd rather not bring in gritty realism if I can avoid it. On the other hand, I don't mind in the slightest something like,

"Conan swore under his breath and unsheathed his sword, wading into the fray..."
or
"The fair maiden cursed like a sailor and attacked him violently."

Each gets the point across without bringing in words that may not fit the fantasy world.

 

[Mallus]

I have two children at the age where they are hearing more swearing at school.

This begs the question: Then why does it matter if there is profanity in some books not intended for children?

Frankly, it isn't actually all that polite to swear.

Of course not, but literature isn't always about polite people.

People are free to fee offended anytime they want. They may have religious, or culutural, or just personal reasons for feeling offended.

Just as I am free to look at those specific reasons and find them ridiculous.

An author or speaker needs to be aware of her audience, and to make choices about theme and words based upon that audience.

This actually gets back to the quote in the OP: Is the fantasy readership really more sensitive when it comes to language then fans of other genre fiction, like SF, romance or espionage? If so, why, and what are the implications of that, if any?

All you saying you don't mind the words, just curious, do any of you have kids?

My wife and I are happily childless, but I'm fairly certain that has nothing to do with my opinion about the role of profanity in literature. Besides, we know quite of few people with kids who also have personal libraries chock full of books with dirty words in them, not to mention some containing dirty ideas...

 

[Mallus]

Each gets the point across without bringing in words that may not fit the fantasy world.

How do you decide which words 'fit' into a fantasy world? And which fantasy worlds are you talking about? Middle Earth? Narnia? The Malazan Empire? Bas-Lag? The city of Interzone?

 

[Zaukrie]

I have no problem with "bad language" or mature ideas in books, movies, any entertainment not meant for children. None. People should be free to write what they want. I don't think it is always used particularly effectively or within context, however. I also find the repetitive use of it, which Martin occassionally indulges in, boring.

However, many, many forms of entertainment that "aren't meant for kids" are marketed to kids anyway.

My last question wasn't accusatory, it was more of an attempt to add some information to better understand if there was a difference in opinion between those that had kids (since protecting kids is "blamed" for this type of censorship) and those that didn't. Neither group is probably correct....

 

[Zaukrie]

Irony?

I had to work from home today, and my sons listened to American Idiot by Green Day about 4 times today. Talk about vulgar language. We've talked about its use in those songs....

 

[Tonguez]

Had he toned it down; say, something like "I sloshed through crap up to my ankles", THAT would have bothered me. This sounds like an out-of-place, modern usage to me, and takes me out of my suspension of disbelief. .

Ironically Crap is a middle english word coming from the same root as Chaff and refers mainly to the dregs left after fermentation of beer (whereas chaff is the left over grain on the barn floor). Apparently its use in relation to sh!+e arose in the American colonies

Sh!+e is Old English and has cognates in Norse. It fell out of favour only because of the introduction of Latin wherein feces was consider the polite term.

Also the word ass is used freely on breakfest television here, as is the word bugger
When Shakespear used the word ass it was not as a profanity
whereas here the word fanny word be considered impolite (as it refers to a womens genitalia)

 

[Klaus]

Actually, it's Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend". The Omega Man was a loose adaptation of that story. I hope they keep the "I Am Legend" name for the Will Smith version.

I hope they don't, as it seems to be extremely different from the novel.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Actually, it's Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend". The Omega Man was a loose adaptation of that story. I hope they keep the "I Am Legend" name for the Will Smith version.

you are correct, the tag line is the last man on earth is not alone.