On the nature of curses and expletives.

[Svrtnsse]

My PoV character just fell on her face in the snow - unexpectedly. I felt this would be a good opportunity to show off a bit of world building (word building?) by having her use some kind of fitting expletive.

Coming up with a curse fitting the setting isn't very difficult. Something like By the lady's unmended mittens! would fit quite nicely with the character's cultural background and with the setting in general. It just seems a bit long and unwieldy (ok, it's also a really silly example, but it's just an example). No matter how well it fits the character and the setting, it's not the kind of thing you let out when you fall on your face, or stub your toe, or hit your thumb with the hammer.

For things like that, you want something short and powerful, that you can release with a single breath. You'll want one syllable, or maybe two, at most. You're not going to rant off a long harangue of words, are you?

Maybe you are?
I know I wouldn't, but maybe that's just me.

What kind of curses or expletives do you use? Long ones or short? In real life and in your writing?

It's pretty fun making up long and colorful curses, but to me they rarely seem natural, and sometimes even comical.

What's your take on it?

 

[Trick]

I'd say your at a 3 syllable max for a reaction expletive, for it to seem natural (pure opinion). As someone who curses much more than he should, I can agree that long, colorful curses are more suited to rants, thought out insults and perhaps the occasional "life just dumped on me" moments.

I don't know the culture of your world but I can tell you what I did. I kept hell, damn and, occasionally, shit. I dropped the F-word completely and a few others that I don't even want to abbreviate. I use bloody for a few characters to represent that they are from a slightly different culture (with differences akin to US/UK). Other than that, everything has etymology in world, the most common being: "Gant's Balls" or some variation thereof. Gant is a negative historical figure thought of like the devil. Not A devil, The devil. There are also totems in my world so people are often insulted by 'lesser' totem animals. For instance, being called a gibbon may mean you are agile but it also might mean you're a loud mouth.

From what I've seen of your current work (I've read a few excerpts you've used for examples) I can't imagine her using curses quite so inappropriate as Gant's Balls but I could see her using farm/country related cursing. Sheep Dung! for instance. Now, if you're trying to communicate a more extreme reaction to convey a particularly dark mood, you might want a little shock for the reader so you could have her use a curse that is out of character. Anything scatological or reproduction-related would probably work and feel natural. Religious ones that are actually offensive, at least a little, often work for this. What religion/gods/creation structure do you have (or at least, what do your characters believe in?)

 

[Feo Takahari]

I use a certain word that, considering this site's standards, I'll substitute with "gently caress."

Seriously, most of my characters don't swear. At all. But when I'm writing a tired old mercenary who no longer cares or a young soldier who wants to prove she fits in, I have no excuse for keeping their speech clean. The old standbys feel like a good way to go.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I ended up going with boots.

"Boots!" Emma cursed. "Stupid! Boots!"

It's a bit on the silly side, but it ties in well with how the anfylk grow thick fur on their lower legs and feet, making it both uncomfortable and unnecessary for them to wear foot gear - even in winter.

 

[stephenspower]

Curses are generally built around defecation, sex (where it's taboo) and profaning the gods (where there are gods). What cultural taboos and profanities would your culture then inspire?

 

[Ayaka Di'rutia]

Most of the time I just use "cursed" or "swore," along with a descriptive word or phrase, such as "explosively," "viciously," or "with spit flying out of her mouth." (The latter of which I can see with the character falling on her face.) Let the reader fill in what cursing and swearing might be for the world, although using things relative to the world (like the previous post mentioned) could also work.


Also much less distracting to a reader than using real world cursing.

 

[Addison]

In real life, which is rare, it's usually one word, sometimes two.

In stories it depends on which character as they all come from different backgrounds. One does so much as say words as he does make angry noises. Like Tim Taylor grunts meet excited monkey. One speaks in Greek, the other doesn't say anything unless he's either REALLY ticked or thinks the person deserves his worst, a third is not afraid to speak what she's thinking and the final one can't string words together but in the end he'll make a noise and do something.

So there's all kinds of ways. Look at where the characters started and everything that happened to them up to the point where they're needed to say something.

Happy Writing.

 

[Bruce McKnight]

Given the American theme of swearing with Christian influence ("g-d- it" and "J.C.!"), I model most of my swearing around religion.

My world has a few major religions, with their own specific curses. Those who worship The Ten Gods would say "By The Ten!" Followers of the animal gods would say something like "Mother of Wolves!" People who follow the Elemental Gods would say "Holy Elements!"

I tried (with mild success) to get curses around three syllables because it seems that the English language gravitates towards that with the rampant popularity of three-syllable curses like "g-d it", "j.c.", and even old agnostic standbys like "f- that s-" and "f'n A!"

I'm struggling to think of any ideas off the top of my head where books has made up real good world-specific swear words.

 

[Bropocalypse]

I'm not a huge fan of elaborate swearing. I prefer good, old-fashioned curses that we know and love in the real world. They will always have more weight than anything we could invent ourselves.

 

[X Equestris]

Curses are generally built around defecation, sex (where it's taboo) and profaning the gods (where there are gods). What cultural taboos and profanities would your culture then inspire?

Don't forget calling one's parentage into question.

 

[Bropocalypse]

Don't forget calling one's parentage into question.

I seem to recall an anthropology professor telling me that when it comes to insults, a common theme across cultures is the insinuation that group X's men are weak and the women are ugly.

 

[SeverinR]

a surprised painful encounter is usually a one syllable curse, in English it tends to be a four letter word.
A prolonged painful encounter tends to be multiple syllable curse words, I would agree with the 3 syllable maybe a fourth.
Then the proverbial sailor could probably run a chain of profanity of 30 syllables or more.