Random Crap
I'm a bit of a prude... I admit it. I like my books, movies, media etc. to be fairly clean. I'm not opposed to a great romance, but I don't want to see/read/hear about their bedroom escapades. I can let an occasional cuss word slip by... but sometimes, it just gets to me.
For me, reading is like taking a walk through an amazing garden. It's captivating and enjoyable and then... well, sometimes you step in dog poop. That's what reading foul language is like to me. It seems to show a lack of creativity and intelligence for an author to stoop to such base, crass language. There are so many other ways to fill the pages of a book.
And I think it bothers me even more when the swearing is random. You're reading along and for no apparent reason, a character cusses. There's no anger, no frustration, no emotion behind it. Just throwing it in there for the fun of it, I guess. And it doesn't fit with the story. It makes everything feel disjointed and awkward for awhile. Like stepping in dog poop.
And there you have it. I'm a prude who uses dog poop to make an analogy. At least I changed it to a garden, instead of the same ol' dog poop in the brownies story...
12 comments:
From one prudish person to another - I hear you on this. It bugs me as well.... just like movies, why did they have to let the f-bomb loose? There was no reason for it. It just makes me so crabby that I turn it off.
Wait a second, the dog poop in the brownies story isn't my father-in-laws original?! I knew it! ;)
I agree whole heatedly with all you said. It's like, seriously you couldn't come up with a more creative high brow word?
I agree in FULL. And even if there is some emotional reason, it doesn't make it any more emphatic - or whatever- if the character swears.
And thanks for changing it to a garden. That brownie thing really grosses me out!
Yeah it gets really annoying when you are totally loving a book and then the author throws that at you. Totally agree.
I feel the same way about movies. I don't understand what they think they're adding to the storyline when they're constantly cussing. I was really looking forward to watching Knocked Up but could get through it with all the swearing they did!
If you don't already I highly recommend reading Refracted Light. She feels the same about books and has a weekly reading recap where she recommends good, clean books. I've found some fab new authors through her.
**giggling** ;-D
I hate to see cuss words when I'm reading, too. It just brings down the intelligence level of the book by about a mile. So disappointing.
But I thought your analogy was great! And so different from the brownie story - I mean, who hasn't heard that like, a million times!!? ;-)
I agree 100% . I don't know why they have to throw those words in there???
(I love the brownie and dog poop analogy.
i'm with you. i just got done with a book and there really was only two f-bombs (so i can't really complain), but i was thinking that there was no need to use them - that the author could have thought of another descriptive word to get her point across. i just don't get it.
My Sunbum and I are all over the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. Dare I say we even love it more than Twilight? It's true! It's much deeper and timely and thought provoking too.
Yes. If you're gonna swear, it had BETTER be justified, and it had better fit, and there had better not be a ton if it.
(um--that book I sent you--I can't remember how much swearing there is...*eep!*)
And Elastic is dead-on with the Uglies series. Westerfeld rocks! He's one of my favorites. And the tension in Uglies is...well, TIGHT. Awesome read. (And it's finished. No need to wait for the next book to come out.)
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