tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post7793614671128835445..comments2023-12-31T09:17:15.628-05:00Comments on A Life in Pages: ProfanityAngelahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15745389922246602752noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-19591553959138172512008-07-01T11:25:00.000-04:002008-07-01T11:25:00.000-04:00Todd, I have developed a reader base, and they've ...Todd, I have developed a reader base, and they've learned that I can be counted on to do certain things and not do certain things. Hopefully, I always provide a good story with certain elements. What I do not do is make them endure profanity. That doesn't mean that my characters are either saintly or stiff, it means that I find ways to be more creative and impart my meaning. <BR/><BR/>I'm writing a general market book now with a murder and some very bad people, but I'm not using profanity. If I break the trust I've established with my faithful readers, I don't deserve to keep 'em. <BR/><BR/>A.Angelahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15745389922246602752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-78113809856897345792008-07-01T11:02:00.000-04:002008-07-01T11:02:00.000-04:00As an aspiring novelist I've struggled with this i...As an aspiring novelist I've struggled with this issue. I think it's possible to write a good story with evil running rampant and good overcoming-without using profanity. Thing is, I'm not sure it's being very real to do so. I read Ted Dekker's Showdown. It had the most evil villian, and yet he never used profanity. It seemed weird to me. I read Tony Hines never Waking Lazarus and imagine my surprise when I came across a character using a single profane word. I actually applauded. Why? Because had I been in the same situation I'd probably said the same thing. Or worse. Not proud of that. Just being honest.Stephen Deanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09313160450564788091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-73554859088662772922008-07-01T08:48:00.000-04:002008-07-01T08:48:00.000-04:00I agree in total.Carrie K made a good point about ...I agree in total.<BR/><BR/>Carrie K made a good point about the critical talk. Words--they are powerful!<BR/><BR/>And, while we're at it, thank you for writing without using profanity; it's one of the major reasons I enjoy Christian Fiction and how I discovered your books.<BR/><BR/>When I read, I find that words, thoughts, phrases DO stick in my pea brain and come back to haunt me; therefore, I have become more careful of what I read.SmilingSallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10479373067844173653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-66711535937199081152008-07-01T02:26:00.000-04:002008-07-01T02:26:00.000-04:00I always told my children that their vocabulary wa...I always told my children that their vocabulary was a reflection of how smart and educated they were. And that people who use profanity are actually showing how stupid or uneducated they are.<BR/><BR/>I was very disappointed several years ago when Bill Cosby spoke at the National PTA convention. He felt it was necessary to use profanity to illustate his points.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-33677511705393304742008-06-30T14:02:00.000-04:002008-06-30T14:02:00.000-04:00Carrie K - You reminded me - the other day a nice ...Carrie K - You reminded me - the other day a nice Messianic Jewish lady was driving when all of a sudden we hit an ice cooler that had dropped into the middle of the road - I had seen it, but not in enough time to warn her - and also being from New York she let out a "s**t" For two weeks everytime she saw me she apologized.<BR/><BR/>I kept trying to tell her that I understood! It didn't offend me - seriously - what is the difference with saying that and with saying "jeepers" or "gleeps" or "sassafrass 123" or "son of a motherless goat"- they are all expletives - its just some are "ok" and some are deemed "vulgar"Lesliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05648816340111618869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-57622383386583552252008-06-30T11:19:00.000-04:002008-06-30T11:19:00.000-04:00Very well said. My husband and I listened to a ser...Very well said. My husband and I listened to a sermon online - I think it was Mike Gunn, a pastor of a church plant out of Mars Hill in Seattle, about the verses "Let no unwholesome talk proceed..." He made the wonderful point that many Christians self-righteously think that their speech is wholesome because they don't use words from some list that society has deemed "vulgar." They will then turn around and say unkind things to their spouse or children, gossip about their pastor or church leadership, and talk critically about people still in bondage to sin. Which grieves God more: someone saying d*mn when they hit their thumb with a hammer, or spreading evil gossip through a church body and causing division? It's all about what's in the heart, like you said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-48538311731626612202008-06-30T10:20:00.000-04:002008-06-30T10:20:00.000-04:00Excellent post, Angie! You can write position pap...Excellent post, Angie! You can write position papers for us any day of the week. I expect most of us devour them. Glad that Linda brought up the situation about the man fired for using the word "niggardly", because that one comes readily to mind when I think of words that "offend". Sometimes we allow our sensibilities to wander when we should be looking instead at the big picture. May God forgive us our frailties. ClydeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-15334558196396272212008-06-30T09:46:00.000-04:002008-06-30T09:46:00.000-04:00Don't know how an extra "i" can pop in there, even...Don't know how an extra "i" can pop in there, even when I preview. Sigh. That would be <I>niggardly</I>.Mocha with Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16387717261200678465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-60628875008285152752008-06-30T09:42:00.001-04:002008-06-30T09:42:00.001-04:00Very well said. You should write books. :-)As I ...Very well said. You should write books. :-)<BR/><BR/>As I read this it reminded me of the uproar years ago in Washington when that guy correctly used the word <I>niiggardly</I> (meaning miserly, a word that goes back to the 1300's Scandinavian/Middle English roots) and people got so bent out of shape thinking he had made a racial slur that he had to resign.Mocha with Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16387717261200678465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-22715306492431344542008-06-30T09:42:00.000-04:002008-06-30T09:42:00.000-04:00I've often thought about this...why some words are...I've often thought about this...why some words are considered "bad" and other are "ok" when they mean the same thing.<BR/>And why is hell considered a bad word? It's a bad place, but it seems to me that saying "Oh heavens" would be more disrespectful than saying "oh hell"<BR/>But none of this is based on logic. <BR/><BR/>I've just finished reading Schaeffer's The Mark of a Christian, and it all comes down to Love. You are right about that. Well, you are right about most things. :)Kay Dayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14915323487092648396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13498449.post-35446987194784967142008-06-30T08:57:00.000-04:002008-06-30T08:57:00.000-04:00Amen and Amen.(for the record I've never understoo...Amen and Amen.<BR/><BR/>(for the record I've never understood why people think anal-retentive was a bad word - but then, that's probably because I first learned it while studying about Freud! LOL)Lesliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05648816340111618869noreply@blogger.com