Authors on the Boards

[Drago-Kazov]

How is MILF categorised these days? At first i tought it was completely unofensive.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I dunno, I always thought people that have to drop a curse word in every sentence, sometimes more than one in a sentence just lacked basic imagination. You can zing someone or express displeasure without said words.

Absolutely true. But if we're talking posts on a BBS you rarely find that kind of usage. Usually the word seems to be quite deliberately selected.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The most important question is: will an author on the board get a warning or an infraction if he mistreats a character that has the same name as a TrekBBS member in one of the novels? Flaming, mocking, killing, that sort of stuff.

I once managed to piss off TerriO (Osborne) with too many mentions of Therin Park here on the bbs, so she had some Tellarite terrorists blow it up. Because it was in an eBook, I was totally unaware of the occurrence for some months. But she then posted here that it was, indeed, vengeance.

Mind you, David Mack had the Borg destroy the park utterly, but I believe he knew I'd probably enjoy the scene. And I did. It was amazing.

How is MILF categorised these days? At first i tought it was completely unofensive.

It's quite derogatory, if I understand the "American Pie" movies correctly, which is how I was introduced to the term.

 

[Christopher]

I dunno, I always thought people that have to drop a curse word in every sentence, sometimes more than one in a sentence just lacked basic imagination. You can zing someone or express displeasure without said words.

But as we've been discussing, different cultures and generations differ on whether those words even are emotionally loaded profanities or just neutral verbal pauses like "y'know" or "like." Profanities have a way of losing their impact over time and becoming harmless. I already mentioned how "golly" was once a serious profanity.

If anything, I feel kind of sorry for people who use formerly serious swear words so casually and routinely that they've lost all their impact. I mean, it leaves those people with a deficiency in their vocabulary, because if they want to convey strong emotion or powerfully grab the attention or really, seriously insult someone or whatever, they don't have any verbal tools left to do it with. They've defused all the available words through constant use.

 

[JarodRussell]

How is MILF categorised these days? At first i tought it was completely unofensive.

It's only not offensive when used in Babe of the Week threads.

 

[Sci]

I dunno, I always thought people that have to drop a curse word in every sentence, sometimes more than one in a sentence just lacked basic imagination. You can zing someone or express displeasure without said words.

But as we've been discussing, different cultures and generations differ on whether those words even are emotionally loaded profanities or just neutral verbal pauses like "y'know" or "like." Profanities have a way of losing their impact over time and becoming harmless. I already mentioned how "golly" was once a serious profanity.

If anything, I feel kind of sorry for people who use formerly serious swear words so casually and routinely that they've lost all their impact. I mean, it leaves those people with a deficiency in their vocabulary, because if they want to convey strong emotion or powerfully grab the attention or really, seriously insult someone or whatever, they don't have any verbal tools left to do it with. They've defused all the available words through constant use.

I don't fucking know what the fuck you're talking about. My fucking vocabulary isn't the least bit fucking deficient. Why, when I'm really fucking angry, I yell all sorts of fucking things. I fucking yell things like, "Hey!" And, "Damnit!" And "I'm so angry at you!" People fucking take that shit fucking seriously.

 

[JarodRussell]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCmJUiidu9k[/yt]

 

[Captaindemotion]

Personally I'm enjoying the mainstreaming of cunt.

I find it amusing how in England, for example, calling someone a cunt is the most serious of serious insults. My friends and I use it against each other all the time, almost as a term of affection.

In fact, if we haven't been in contact for a while, we may text each other just to say 'Cunt' to remind each other that we're alive and we remember that the othera are alive.

That must be a Celtic thing, as we Scots do that as well

I agree.

On the subject of Scots, few people can swear as well as Malcolm Tucker/ Peter Capaldi in The Thick of It.

 

[Greg Cox]

Profanity does have its place in the culture and in writing; I will concede that. But if/when it gets gratuitous, that's when I just wish the speaker/writer would get a thesaurus and use it. As Shakespeare showed, there are many ways to be an unpleasant person while using pleasant words.

But people disagree on when it's gratuitous and when it's colorful. Sometimes the point of the word choice is to cross a boundary. Pleasant words won't have the same oomph.

On a fictional level, it also depends on what kind of character you're writing. If you're writing a Brooklyn mobster or Marine drill sergeant, a witty Shakespearean riposte might not be all that realistic . . ..

And, of course, you have to consider the intended audience. Throwing f-bombs into a NANCY DREW novel is probably inappropriate. But an R-rated TERMINATOR novel . . . .

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Of course, Star Trek managed to incorporate the immortal song "I Hate You", complete with accompanying gestures.

 

[JarodRussell]

Profanity does have its place in the culture and in writing; I will concede that. But if/when it gets gratuitous, that's when I just wish the speaker/writer would get a thesaurus and use it. As Shakespeare showed, there are many ways to be an unpleasant person while using pleasant words.

But people disagree on when it's gratuitous and when it's colorful. Sometimes the point of the word choice is to cross a boundary. Pleasant words won't have the same oomph.

On a fictional level, it also depends on what kind of character you're writing. If you're writing a Brooklyn mobster or Marine drill sergeant, a witty Shakespearean riposte might not be all that realistic . . ..

And, of course, you have to consider the intended audience. Throwing f-bombs into a NANCY DREW novel is probably inappropriate. But an R-rated TERMINATOR novel . . . .

Reminds me of the script of Star Trek 2009, where Orci & Kurtzman drop the F-bomb constantly in the descriptions. Just why? The intended audience of the script is the director, producer and actors. Where's the need?

 

[zarkon]

I find it amusing how in England, for example, calling someone a cunt is the most serious of serious insults.

?

It's certainly not in london.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Reminds me of the script of Star Trek 2009, where Orci & Kurtzman drop the F-bomb constantly in the descriptions. Just why? The intended audience of the script is the director, producer and actors. Where's the need?

Clearly, it's how they talk. To them it's nothing, they wrote for their limited audience. It's a bit strange to complain about language on the script which was only intended for the writers, director, actors and producers.

 

[Greg Cox]

Reminds me of the script of Star Trek 2009, where Orci & Kurtzman drop the F-bomb constantly in the descriptions. Just why? The intended audience of the script is the director, producer and actors. Where's the need?

Where's the harm?

Scripts, being unintended for public consumption, are often written rather informally--and meant to convey the feel of the scene so readers can imagine how it will play out on screen. "Suddenly, the biggest fucking monster ever SMASHES through the wall!"

I recall a fight description from one of the UNDERWORLD scripts that basically consisted of: "She kicks their sexy butts!"

 

[JoeZhang]

I find it amusing how in England, for example, calling someone a cunt is the most serious of serious insults.

?

It's certainly not in london.

Depends on situational context surely? When I visit my home town, it is perfectly normal for people to great me with 'Hello Dr. zhang, fucked any more children yet you cu*t?"

That is a friendly greeting however when I'm meeting my fellow academics, I don't tend to start the conversation with "what's up you cock-gobblers"?*


* having said that, I do work with someone who would start a meeting like that.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

But people disagree on when it's gratuitous and when it's colorful. Sometimes the point of the word choice is to cross a boundary. Pleasant words won't have the same oomph.

On a fictional level, it also depends on what kind of character you're writing. If you're writing a Brooklyn mobster or Marine drill sergeant, a witty Shakespearean riposte might not be all that realistic . . ..

And, of course, you have to consider the intended audience. Throwing f-bombs into a NANCY DREW novel is probably inappropriate. But an R-rated TERMINATOR novel . . . .

Reminds me of the script of Star Trek 2009, where Orci & Kurtzman drop the F-bomb constantly in the descriptions. Just why? The intended audience of the script is the director, producer and actors. Where's the need?

It's a Bad Robot thing apparently. The scripts for Lost were full of F-bombs also. I'm think that the Alias scripts were full of those too but I've never read any of those so I'm not sure but since Orci & Kurtzman wrote for Alias it's a good bet that they are.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I find it amusing how in England, for example, calling someone a cunt is the most serious of serious insults.

?

It's certainly not in london.

Really? I must admit, I was going really on some things I've seen on tv and the reactions that the C-word got. Like the reaction when John Lydon called the audience a bunch of c*nts on I'm a Celebrity... or an incident on Big Brother many years ago.

 

[Relayer1]

The C word is still a social no-no as far as I am aware, in a way that the F word is losing as we go on. It's still the one I reserve for when I am really really annoyed.

 

[JarodRussell]

"You cock juggling thundercunt!" is my most favorite insult ever. It's the Mount Everest of insults. I don't think "cunt" is acceptable anywhere.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^It is a great insult. And Ryan Reynolds delivered it perfectly. I have never been able to join in RR-bashing, purely on the strength of that scene.