Generic Swearing

I spent my first school year of college at University of Arizona, in Tucson. My roommate was a very bossy and snarky sort, but in a good way. Mostly. She introduced me to her very lively group of friends. There is more to that story, but it is not related to the point that I am about to make. I very quickly learned that words like "shit" and "fuck" were, in reality, very tame and boring compared to some of the creatively strung together combinations of otherwise harmless words, these people could put together. Why use one general fly swatter to the periphery, when you could articulate your distaste for something much more accurately with a several well aimed bodkins thrust right into the heart of the matter?



In one of our first writing exercises for class, I used the phrase "bored out of her fucking mind." Almost instantaneously, I became agitated with the decision. "Fucking" was such a boring word choice! Why not "hormonal", "simplistic", "overly dramatic", "teenaged", or any combination thereof? Those words would have actually given the audience relevant information about the character.



While I do not have as well honed an ability to colourfully elaborate my distaste for something, I have decided that normal swearing is just plain lazy. From now on I will shy away from such mundane descriptors in favor of attempting to actually enhance the listener or reader's understanding of the character or situation.