Worldbuilding and Writing 201: Offensive language.
Greetings and salutations! But no solutions! In today’s episode! ...no, this is a blogpost, today's blogpost! Anne and I are discussing offensive language and its usage, worldbuilding- and writing-wise. But of course, official disclaimer time!
Disclaimer: Slurs are a sensitive collection of words that invoke many strong feelings in people and for proper causes due to history. We at this blog do not under any circumstances sanction nor condone usage of them in any negative manner in order to push down on people and will advise that the usage of such words within fictional work has to go through many revisions together with people whom it may affect. However, any usage of actual real life slurs within this blog post is under no circumstances intended to refer to any person and denigrate them. We on this blog firmly believe that is wrong. We are using them to make certain you know what is being discussed and for historical reasons only in order to illustrate their development. We will of course try to minimise any and all usage out of respect.
So are we clear? They are bad to use willy nilly and need care. Be nice to people! No slurs or [CANCELLED].
What is offensive language?
(Vivian:) First off, what is even “offensive”? A definition that is quite workable and usable is this one:
Offensive language and actions are actions that provoke negative emotions that also involve feelings of anger and hostility toward the person engaging in the offensive actions.
So being sad and such does not mean it is offensive, but generally, you feel bad, uncomfortable, and get a certain level of hostility toward the person for doing it. This can of course be very momentary or context sensitive. Offensive in one context is not in another.
Types of offensive language
(Vivian:) Let’s talk about differences!
Slurs
(Anne:) What constitutes a slur can be highly divisive, but a possible definition of it is this:
A term intended to denigrate a group sharing a specific property that is considered lesser by the speaker which may include, but is not limited to, race, appearance, function, ethnicity, religion, economics, etc.
(Vivian:) As the definition says, these are generally used toward a specific group of people that have a specific property. If a person lacks said property, the word loses a lot of its punch and thus is unusable in certain contexts.
Swear words
(Vivian:) Swear words are generic words that generally come in three flavours: holy, sex, and bodily waste. They are generally considered offensive to some degree regardless of innate properties the target might have. They are on their own offensive even, to some tiny degree. They can be applied to anyone and trigger an emotional reaction, unlike slurs which are more specific to groups.
Slang
(Vivian:) Slang is a casual term within a specific subculture of people used in reference to something. It’s commonly used to mark someone as being in the group by understanding its usage. This can and will often include references to other groups of people which, generally but not always, are not intended to cause offence but rather mark the ingroup. However, when this goes into the broader culture outside said subculture, the meaning can become a slur.
Name calling
(Vivian:) Name calling is when one talks down to a group of people, or a singular person, by using offensive words. It may include slurs but does not require their usage. If I call you, my beloved reader, “a fucking idiotic imbecile of a shit-stained gorilla”, I have been offensive and name called you. Of course I would never do this for real; all readers here are intelligent and curious people! But notice I didn’t use a single actual slur? Sure, it was a string of mostly offensive words that are meant to make fun of your intelligence or claim it is subpar, extremely subpar, along with some basic swear words, but not a slur. Name calling is very targeted and generally degrades some property in order to push the person/group down and say they have a certain property or lack thereof. Slurs on the other hand don’t push down on a property that the members have but refers to people that have a specific property.
Levels of offence
(Anne:) Now, not all offensive language is created equal! As Vivian mentioned earlier, context matters a lot, and some language carries loaded meanings on a cultural or social level that make it unacceptable in any context without causing offence.
(Vivian:) How scandalous, Anne is showing her ankles!
(Anne:) Oh no! No one was supposed to see! Wait a second, this isn’t some old-timey setting, this is modern day! The context is totally different! Whew, I thought I was offending people for a second there.
There are several levels of offence you can loosely group words under, with the understanding that it’s very context-dependent. Who is saying it to whom and under what circumstances is really important. The shock value of words is also extremely important, and as the shock value goes up, the level of offence goes up as well.
Avoiding Offence
(Anne:) For people who don’t swear for whatever reason (personal choice or preference, or a parent or elder leaning over your shoulder), there are certain replacement words that people have. They often share similar sounds as the offensive words, but are harmless. Darn instead of damn, shoot instead of shit, heck instead of hell. There aren’t really replacements for slurs that readily come to mind, but honestly a lot of “politically correct” or “woke” language comes from a desire to talk about something without giving offence (quotation marks there because those terms themselves are actually intended as low/mid offence slurs towards people who care about causing harm to others). Words like darn and shoot are clearly intended as replacements, but aren’t themselves seen as offensive.
Low Offence
(Anne:) These are the types of words that if you say as a kid, you might get in trouble for or might not depending on who is raising you. For example, after you venture from heck, hell is commonly said as “H-E-double hockey sticks” in order to avoid saying the word as a child since it’s a naughty word. However, that phase is pretty brief. Since hell has other non-offensive meanings, it’s pretty low offence even if you’re threatening to send someone there.
Basically, those raising you may look at you askance at these words, but really by the time you enter school, they’re fine to say. The shock value is extremely low, though of course if you’re a kid saying it to other kids, it’s a bold step to indicate your independence from those damned adults policing your language! Other examples from my experience are ass and shit. Personally, I didn’t say them (I very rarely swear), but other kids my age even at 6-7 years old were saying them for their shock value except that most adults never really noticed. (Vivian: Ah shit, here we have me, the opposite.)
Mid Offence
(Anne:) When these terms are used, there’s a definite shock value, but it doesn’t cause as much anger and upset as it could. These are often used in a “joking” way (or at least the person will claim afterwards that it’s a joke when they see they’ve offended). While people might be upset at these terms, they can usually brush them off. While low offence words are generally swear words, slang, and name calling, some slurs get into this category. For example, in Britain, “cunt” fits in this category. Offensive, sure, but it can be used in other ways and isn’t necessarily negative given the context.
(Vivian:) It can actually even be used in an endearing way that is gender neutral.
(Anne:) In the United States, however, it falls heavily in the High Offence level! You definitely do not want to say it in the US. So as you can see, context matters a lot! What is a casual term in one country is a slur in another!
(Vivian:) And this is a great example of how you can make your world feel much bigger and rich. By having characters act at different degrees of offence to what is an offensive word.
(Anne:) Absolutely! Take advantage of the variety of your world and the flexibility of language to shift levels of offence! So basically, mid offence is definitely something that will get people’s attention and create negative feelings, but it’s usually something that can be brushed off.
High Offence
(Anne:) These are words whose shock value can’t be easily dismissed, and they’re intended to cause harm in some way. Context matters, however! Fuck is the easiest one to place here because it’s definitely a word you don’t want to say in polite company. However, if you swear a lot, it may be a perfectly normal part of your vocabulary. Again, context! When you’re creating characters, think of their tolerance level with swearing. Do you have characters who swear as easily as breathing? Do you have other characters who spell out H-E-double hockey sticks because they’re so averse to swearing? Awesome! There’s some great conflict.
High offence words are also context specific depending on who you are and who you’re speaking to. A lot of comedians, for example, take advantage of things that would normally be quite offensive to say but get away with it. How? Because they’re a member of the group they’re making fun of. Gabriel Inglesias can make fun of “fluffy” people because he is one, giving him credibility. Joe Eurell, who has Cerebral Palsy, and Robin, a trans-woman, can make fun of each other because they’re actually part of those communities, and this exchange shows how two people in disadvantaged communities can use things that would be slurs if said by anyone else to create a humorous back and forth.
Comedian 🎭 in Wheelchair🦼 Joe Eurell Wins DISS Battle 🙀🙀 😂🤣 hands down 👌👌
If I were to make any of these jokes, I would be cancelled. I’m not in either group, and it would come across as a slur because I would be demeaning and insulting the entire group of people who share this characteristic. However, because these two have a friendly relationship and are tossing friendly barbs back and forth, neither takes offence and the audience can laugh instead of be shocked. Well, the laughter and shock mixes. The shock value is honestly what makes it so funny! Vivian and I will have an entire blogpost on different types of humour, and a lot rely on offending people to a certain degree.
Now, on a more negative note, there are some slurs that are said among people who are actually using them as slurs, but in company that holds the opinions of the slurs. For example, a group of all men (a very specific type of men, definitely not all) would be far more free insulting women, using slurs against them, demeaning them, etc. In America, there are “old boy’s clubs” of older white men who not only deal in sexism but racism as well. There’s a certain word that I’ll cover in the next section that a certain portion of the American population has no problem throwing around, though not in “mixed company.” Generally speaking, if it’s something you wouldn’t say in front of someone from that group or possessing that characteristic, it falls into the high offence level.
Did you seriously just say that?
[CANCELLED]
(Anne:) Then there are the words that you just shouldn’t say at all. Ever.
(Vivian:) Never say the W-word (Winchell)
(Anne:) Close! Replace W with N, and you’ve nailed it. (Vivian: No). Now, Vivian will quibble and say there are instances when it’s acceptable to say, such as if you’re analysing it as a word and not using it as a slur, but I still come down on the “never say it” side. This is actually quite a debate in English classrooms that teach Huckleberry Finn (a classic that definitely should be taught). It’s riddled with the N-word (Vivian: No). So the question is, do we censor it? The answer to that is luckily no for most, which I agree with. I don’t think we should be changing or censoring books just because they have slurs. Okay, so now the question is, when you as a teacher read it out loud or have a student read parts out loud, do you say it and allow them to say it? Personally, I’m on the no side of this because in my high school class in my very white town, there was one black student in class, and every time it was said in full, they definitely felt it as a slur. Partially because some of the students smirked and looked straight at them when they said it. It’s definitely a matter of discussion.
For a word to reach this level, you basically can’t say it. As John Mulaney said, “if you’re comparing the badness of two words and you won’t even say one of them? That’s the worse word.”
(Vivian:) Being the Limax that I am, I will just add that it is a rule of thumb. If you want to use these levels of REAL offensive words, make certain you have a VERY good reason to use it. “Historically accurate” is a legitimate reason, but be aware of what it will make it look like and know it is not an excuse for shitty writing and freedom to spout slurs as you like in your writing. When in doubt, ask other people to help you check your writing.
(Anne:) That’s right. Not everyone can be Quentin Tarantino, after all, and you can bet he had advisors on his films!
So basically, there are some words in our world and in the worlds you create that people just don’t say. As I mentioned earlier, though, in some company, the N-word (Vivian: No) is said as regularly as a Tarantino film, and in various other places like online forums or even online gaming, you’ll hear words like this. In your books, you can absolutely ban words, but there should always be some segment of the population that will use it when in private.
(Vivian:) NOTHING WILL STOP ME NI-.....GERIA! GOT YOU, YOU FOOLS!
Origin of offensive words and terms
(Vivian:) The origin of these words and terms are the three types I keep repeating and will again later: holy, sex, and bodily waste. Well, this is the group each falls into, but very few words started there. For example, the word for “Negro” and its many derivations including the one Anne gives magical powers to all stem from the meaning of “black”. It just referred to a person as being black-skinned. This is in and of itself entirely harmless, as many other words are used today in the US. African American, Black American, Black, etc. The thing is that due to context, power imbalance, and much more, many of these words (but not the latter I mentioned) have turned into slurs and offensive words because they were used to bash black people as inferior. I give a Swedish example further down the blog of how negative context changes a word's meaning which is considerably lighter in mood.
A lot of other offensive words stem from… the avoidance OF offensive words. Yes, attempts to avoid offence creates offence. “Idiot”, “Imbecile”, and the most current one, “retard,” (Anne: CANCELLED) OH SHIT! Oh well, they were all at one point MEDICAL, yes, used by doctors and such, to discuss people with intellectual issues which could stem from a myriad of things. But people tried to avoid being offensive so they used the medical term… except by using it, it became the new word for dumb people which in turn made it offensive once more, and medical science had to make a new word, and it keeps on going like this. Avoidances of offence can in many instances actually make the words offensive due to the reference to things generally viewed as negative, and increased usage darkens its connotations.
Changing meanings
(Anne:) Times change, and so do people’s sense of what offends and what doesn’t. The levels of offence also depend on many other factors that I’ve already touched on, but what about the meanings themselves? Does that ever change?
Well, if you know anything, you know the answer to a rhetorical question in a blog like this is yes. It’s not just how offended we get, but what the actual words mean. One fun example a lot of people are familiar with is the word “gay.” As many people know, it used to mean cheerful and happy. Having a “gay old time” meant having a great time with lots of fun and laughter. All sorts of songs include “gay” in this meaning, and I remember as a child at first being confused by it until my mom explained the older meaning. In the 1960s, homosexual men began identifying as “gay,” leading to a whole new meaning to the word! And as the meaning of two homosexual people (usually men) took off, it also gained a derisive edge. I mean, people love insulting queer people, so why not turn the word against them? So being called “gay” was offensive in some circles, implying that someone wasn’t manly enough.
Around the 2000s, that derision led to another meaning that I was most familiar with, since I was in high school at the time, and that was “lame.” Being called “gay” was now offensive because you were so incredibly lame. Recently, the word has been reclaimed. While it still is used to offend by some people, it’s pretty much just a description of two homosexual men at this point. For a lot of people, calling someone “gay” is a statement of fact or observation with no ill will. But the meaning of being unmasculine (which is seen as the worst possible fate!) or just being boring and lame remains. It’s undergone a few different meanings, from a happy word to an offensive word to, in most circles, a neutral word, with the meaning changing quite a bit.
(Vivian:) Time for anal astronauts!
(Anne:) Vivian and I compiled some fun links for y’all to check out to see the amazing variety of slurs and offensive terms that exist, and to also show how context really matters, since you might be called one of these and not even know it if you didn’t know it was a slur! Vivian thinks this one is hilarious, and Wikipedia offers some ethnic slurs here. We’ve got some SLURLIGIONS! And of course, Vivian’s favourite, anal astronauts! (aka Queer slurs).
(Vivian:) For clarity, I enjoy them because of their enormous creativity, not because I like calling people shitty stuff.
Creating your own offensive language
(Anne:) So you’re ready to offend people in your own books? Awesome! You want swear words without relying on the ones we use here on Earth and in English? Excellent! You want to be able to insult people without them knowing? Okay, maybe that one is less good, but it’s wonderful if you want to create your own offensive language instead of just using plain boring prebuilt language. There are certain tricks that can help you come up with something compelling and easily understood, so buckle up!
Type
(Vivian:) As I mentioned, there are three types of offensive language in general! But adding in slurs, we have four: holy, sex, bodily waste, and slurs. The reasons for each are obvious, but I will explain.
Holy: This refers to anything believed to be sacred or important. Because it is held in such high regard (or low regard if it is holy for negative reasons), it gets a lot of punch!
Sex: This is sex, genital grinding, bed destroying, whatever you wish to call it. It is considered highly personal, so calling that out in public becomes a big thing.
Bodily waste: Okay, imagine eating actual faecal matter, okay now that you are gagging, please stop. This is why it is potent, because it is so disgusting, and it is disgusting because parasites and illnesses thrive in anything we expel. As we say in 🇸🇪 “One’s death is another’s bread.” It rhymes in Swedish, but you get the point.
Slurs: Well, this one is just talking shit about a group of people, so it gains power from the constant downward pushing and negative context. Not quite a slur but a fun thing is that the word “kärring” in Swedish used to mean like “darling” toward a woman, but because it was often used in negative contexts like “God damn it, Darling!”, it is viewed like “bitch” is today.
So when you want to create offensive language, pick one of these categories. Which ones matter depends on language. English loves bodily waste and sex a lot, Swedish and many south Slavic countries go for religious (aka holy) ones. Besides, who doesn’t love saying “the devil will fuck your mother!”?
Sound
(Anne:) Ever wondered why Fuck is so offensive? Those sounds are just wonderful! We’ve got the F that explodes into the uh sound, and we land on a decisive ck. It just spits out the sound and even if you didn’t know it was a swear word, you could probably guess from the sound and the way it’s said. I’ll let Vivian talk more about word sounds since that’s zhir wheelhouse, but for now, just start thinking of swear words and their sounds.
One very common strategy for scifi/fantasy swear words is to take an existing swear word and change a few letters while trying to preserve the sound. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. One of my favorite books uses “vulk” instead of “fuck,” and it works! It keeps the same sounds without being the same word. Other times, it feels like you the author are just too lazy to be creative with your language. I’ll turn it over to Vivian to explain the sounds that have the most offensive potential, but do keep in mind that as long as you’re careful, you can base your words on existing ones.
(Vivian:) I have studied linguistics, and one reason why sound matters is because you generally want everything to match the emotion of the word. Explosive emotions that are short bursts of frustration and the likes need very short sounds and words to get it all across for the moment it lasts, while more prolonged emotions can endure longer sayings that match it.
The thing is that in general, which sounds fit is an ear thing. As in, it has to “sound right,” which is highly subjective. For my own creation I made “Tsan.” Some may have noticed Anne using it very occasionally. I wanted a very short sounding word, so one syllable (a syllable is a string of consonants, a vowel, more consonants, that are grouped together in speech–I am being very imprecise here), I wanted it to be alien, so starting with “ts” made sense, and the rest just felt right.
Meaning
(Anne:) Here’s where you can start having fun! Now, your terms and phrases and words might have meaning in your own language that readers will understand, but you might rearrange it or take advantage of your unique cultures to get phrasing and pairing of ideas that wouldn’t be offensive in our world. “May you live under a cat’s paw” might seem like an odd but benign phrase to us (cats are cute, why wouldn’t we want this?), but if you’re in a society where humans have been enslaved to cats for centuries (they became real gods during the time of the Ancient Egyptians obviously) and humans are just now breaking free, cursing someone to go back to that slavery is quite the low blow! Okay, that’s a terrible example, but I made it up on the spot and my cat is quite literally sitting on my arms so I’m under a cat’s paw right now. It isn’t great.
Basically, look at your world and their society. What is holy? What would be sacrilegious to them? What about sex? What’s accepted, and what’s taboo? Excrement tends to be excrement, but how is it viewed and treated? Some cultures are far more accepting of it than others. Cleanliness varies, after all. And of course there’s slurs. What characteristics of groups are discriminated against, and what are some catchy ways to insult that characteristic? Having an easy to say slur is important! For example, one type of people in my world are humans, essentially, but because of all sorts of factors in their home, their skin is almost entirely without colour and is just shades of grey. Officially they’re called the Shem people, but you want to denigrate them? Tell those damn monos where they belong!
Now, if you want to really be different, then don’t use our language in different formations. Make up your own! I’ll often find sounds that I like and form neowords around them that are unique to my world. The meaning might not be obvious to the reader, but that’s done through context and character reactions. It takes a little more work but being completely original in terms of meaning can be great! What is a tsan? What does it mean? And where does it come from? Which leads us to…
(Vivian:) Me interrupting. When you do want to conjure up meanings, do as Anne says. But it has to be symbolically something (generally) negative in some context or sung to high praises. The meaning is important to the language itself. To all bilinguals out there, including myself, swearing in one language loses all punch in another. “Fan ta dig!” which can be directly translated similar to “Devil take you!” is funny in English but very negative in Swedish. The English version would be “Fuck you!”
History
(Anne:) Coming up with offensive language has a lot of potential for fun worldbuilding, since the history of swear words and phrases reveals a lot about not just the present day world’s values but the past, too. In the above example with cats, saying “May you live under a cat’s paw” might have been a blessing at one point because it reinforced the status quo of cats being in charge. Now that everything is being upended, the phrase has also been turned on its head.
When you create words, always remember that they come from somewhere. Gay has meant many things over the years, and its transition is understandable (though weird). Your words will also shift over time, at least in terms of level of offence. “Damn you” was never a pleasant thing to say to someone, but at various points it’s been better or worse. So if you call someone a tsan in today’s world, maybe it doesn’t mean much, but your grandparents would faint at the notion. Or maybe it used to be quite commonplace but now it’s sharpened in meaning and turned ugly.
Your words and phrases will have their own trajectory, but the key thing is to make sure that they’re not static. Think of your word’s meaning, think of your society, and try to come up with interesting paths that word might have taken to arrive at where it is in the present day. Will the history show up in your book? Maybe! But even if it doesn’t, it’s a great way to explore your world and understand the history of your people and their relationships to the divine, to sex, to excrement, and to other groups of people.
(Vivian:) Example of a word's journey is the word “Silly.” I know I know, not a swear, but go with me. It started out hundreds of years to mean “Holy,” but then it started to refer to innocent people. Innocent as in not knowing about the world. That is because the idea was that a holy person would have not done wrong and not be of this world, so they wouldn’t know how things work in the world. This then came to be associated with people not knowing and making stupid mistakes, and thus it gained the modern day meaning of saying or doing stupid or silly things. Isn’t this silly?
Usage
(Vivian:) Given that these are entirely made up, the offensiveness to the reader is highly reduced, in most cases. What is important when it comes to usage with fictional words is to give them context. Like the most infamous of words in this blog… Tsan! 😱 You will have to use fictional swears in very specific contexts to give them meaning. This is especially true if you have some nasty habits of explaining and infodumping and would want to give context to the job rather than you as the narrator. (Anne: It’s tempting to just define words right after giving them but context is so much better! Your audience will thank you!) Yepp! It is much more fun trying to figure out the nuances of the word than having it explained.
So how can you do this? Well it all depends on what it is. Is it a slur? Have the characters use it against the specific subgroup and then show others acting highly offended. Or you can have the target group act angrily but do nothing because they have no power; their emotional reactions will illustrate it is very negative to them. Is it a more general swear? Then you can use it in generic negative situations. Stub their toe, fail at something, etc. Unless you are a swear prude, just imagine any generic situation where you would go “FUCK!” and you can use it there.
A thing I recommend is that if you are going to make up several types of swears, give them very specific contexts. Like maybe one is used only when it is pain or things you have to endure because it isn’t caused by a person. But then the other is one you throw at the causer when a person causes it. Just as examples for it. It all depends on what you want and how the culture will be like.
(Anne:) You can have the same word be a noun and a verb (Vivian: Which only works in English but hey, it is the language we write in here, right?), since most swear words can be used as both, but there are always little differences in what they mean and how they’re used as each. If you don’t feel confident, then stick with a single part of speech, but it can be fun to see if calling Vivian a tsan is as satisfying as hoping zhi tsans off! 😜
Real slurs in literature
Historical
One reason I loved literature classes in college was because the professors would point out what was offensive and why in the time period the literature was from. This was especially helpful in texts with older English (or straight up Middle or Old English). Learning about Canterbury Tales was especially fun because it has some of the raunchiest, most offensive language and situations you can imagine, but a lot of people today treat it like some kind of holy and pure literature. Have you heard Chaucer’s “caught hire by the queynte”? If you can’t figure out what that means, say it out loud (that’s generally what to do with Middle English, noting that the “que” sound was “k” then). Does that sound similar to a phrase that’s entered common parlance thanks to a certain American politician? So you can see how a pretty offensive phrase today was equally offensive a few hundred years ago, but if you don’t really know how to read Middle English, the offensive nature wouldn’t come through. And don’t even get me started on Shakespeare and his insults, slurs, and offensive language! Actually, please don’t, I’m going into English professor mode, and that’s never a good thing. Okay! Let’s get to modern times, shall we?
Language in the past hundred years or so has had essentially the same meanings as it does today. So how does that measure up? Well, there’s still wiggle room with some words, such as gay, but what about others that have fallen out of use because they’re just too offensive? I talked about the quandary with Huckleberry Finn above, and it’s a legitimate concern. Writing tends to use the language of its time, and as society has progressed, some of those terms have become unacceptable. Now, I’d like to point out that the N-word has always been a slur (Vivian: Minor correction, it has always been used to refer to Black people of African descent, thus sub Saharan. It being a slur has come over time, even if fairly early in English. I want to emphasise however that the early times are complicated, and broad statements are likely to be wrong, but that we acknowledge that the slur part of the word in question arose very early in its existence in the English language). Even though a ton of people said the N-word historically, it was meant to be harmful and hurt black people. It really wasn’t ever just a description, as you might get with negro. So in Huckleberry Finn, the word is used as a signal that those characters were racist (or ignorant). Which raises the question: is Huckleberry Finn a critique of racism, or is it racist itself?
Shoot! I’m going into teacher mode again! Abort! Abort! (But if your friend happily tells you she’s pregnant, shouting “abort” goes from perfectly normal and humorous to highly offensive, and you’ll probably get slapped, for good cause!)
Anyway, many slurs and offensive language have been common in the past and usually get excused because “those were different times.” As I said before, I don’t believe in censoring books or media of any kind. Put a warning on it that it has offensive language, sure. Actually take time to talk about why it’s offensive, how it was intended in the time it was written, how it’s perceived today, how to interpret its use, etc, that’s an absolutely wonderful idea. But don’t just censor or change existing literature. Authors should be allowed to create what they create, and if it casts them in a negative light as racist or homophobic or sexist or anything else, well, yeah. That was probably true, at least of the characters. Keep in mind that a progressive, accepting author can have biassed characters who use slurs. And that actually gets into stories published right now, and in particular, your stories.
(Vivian:) There is a difference between the author's voice using slurs and offensive language, and the characters using slurs and offensive language.
Today’s stories
This section has two parts. First, you want to write something set in a time when slurs and offensive language were common. And/or second, you want to include characters who use slurs and offensive language without it reflecting badly on you. I guess there’s also third, you want to use offensive language for shock value and because you genuinely don’t care who you hurt, but if that’s the case, you’ve got other problems to deal with rather than how to use offensive language well in writing.
(Vivian:) I guess I can jump in and talk about the historical bit because I am a huge nerd of accuracy. Blame my autism! Remember this one true rule for all of history and it continues to today:
Humans are shit toward each other.
Yepp, has happened, is happening, always will be happening. Just part of life and how awful humans are. You might look at yourself and think you are enlightened and nice and all but, I say this with utmost care, you’re still shit. There are people that you have wronged, consciously or not.
In the past, it is just much more visible because it is obvious to you, but it wasn’t to them. In a hundred years, you’ll be viewed the same. No, this is not a carte blanche to have absolutely abhorrent people in your stories. You still write for modern people, and while they might be bad to reflect their times, there must be a corner of good that modern audiences can cling to and root for! HUZZAH!
So think on the place in society, what language they would likely use, and use a modern touch of sensibility. If you are writing about a slave owner in the USA in the early 1800s, or their daughter or son, or just a general person there, they are likely going to use the infamous word. But just because they would likely have used it a lot in their time doesn't mean you can do it every time they refer to a black person. It will be jarring and likely highly offensive toward the reader and make them question, where are you standing on this? If you use it on and off, it is likely okay just to remind the reader what kind of person they are. Use sensibility and ask help from others if you are uncertain! (Anne: you can also use n— in place of it the same way older novels blank out locations and swear words. One show I watched had dead silence every time the slave owner used it, and the utter lack of sound reflected the utter lack of humanity and was extremely effective. So you do have options.) One does indeed my friend, I am one much more for bluntness, but there are stylistic choices that can get specific effects across to consumers in ways way better than my style, so do what you think suits your needs!
Stepping aside to speak more generally in fiction, when it comes to generic swears and name calling, it is mostly a question of your own comfort. Some people just don’t want to see or hear it, which baffles me as they sound more robotic than an autist in my eyes. You can have them swear and name call rarely, which works to increase what they say because the rarity emphasises the situation at hand. If they are a sailor or “marine,” as in some space operas, swearing every other word is normal, but that gets tiring, so you also need to dial back to not exhaust the reader.
(Anne:) I’m one of those who doesn’t like using swear words and other offensive language in English, so in addition to making up my own words (which my characters still don’t use a lot), I’ll just describe them swearing. I honestly started doing this because I didn’t know much creative offensive language, but I wanted my characters to have some, so instead of actually writing out swear words, I’ll say something like “the curse words that sprang to her mouth would have shocked a sailor and sent her father to an early grave” or the like. (Vivian: which is fine but removes a lot of the punch of swearing.) I dunno, I can’t think of any actual swear words or phrases that extreme! Loses the punch, maybe. Makes it more powerful? That would be my argument! But you get it. Or I’ll do a simpler “he swore” if I don’t want to actually write out the swear word. However, I write for a younger audience, which matters a lot! My general audience is young adult/new adult, so swearing isn’t nearly as common.
Summa Summarum
(Vivian:) When it comes to offensive language that is not standard in whichever language you write in, it is important to know where it comes from and how it is structured. Remember what situations the words or phrases are used in, create rough meaning spaces where they apply, make them of the length that matches the duration of emotions and intensity, and finally, give them meaning that is fitting to the culture whence they came.
(Anne:) In terms of how you use it in your stories, it’s important to remember that some characters swear, some don’t, some aren’t easily offended, some get offended at the most innocuous comments, and the combination of those can be very, very fun to write about. Pair up characters whose level of comfort with offensive language differs, and you’ll get some wonderful conflict. Offensive language differs dramatically in levels of offence and is highly context specific, so you can do a lot of fun things to reveal your world and characters. Is there a word your characters say in front of their friends but not their parents or superiors? A phrase they use in a derogatory manner but not when anyone of the impacted characteristic is around? All of these things reveal so much and can be used to great effect.
Do you have any topics you struggle with or that you would like to suggest for a future blogpost? We’re open to suggestions!
Copyright ©️ 2023 Vivian Sayan and Anne Winchell. Original ideas belong to the respective authors. Generic concepts such as swear words, name calling, slurs, and slang are copyrighted under Creative Commons with attribution, and any derivatives must also be Creative Commons. However, specific ideas such as the use of tsan or mono as offensive language in addition to all language or exact phrasing are individually copyrighted by the respective authors. Contact them for information on usage and questions if uncertain what falls under Creative Commons. We’re almost always happy to give permission. Please contact the authors through this website’s contact page.
