profanity

[brytta.leofa]

So, I feel uneasily certain that I am unusual in this: I basically never use profanity in real life. I generally dislike hearing it.  Yet it is fairly pervasive in 'geddon, to the extent that I often find it difficult to avoid using it in-character.

If I were in charge, I guess I would urge people to move towards a more neutral selection of language that is considered foul in-game but not out-of-game...somewhere between Farscape's "frell" and Robert Jordan's "burn me!," I guess. I suspect that a lot of you would find that silly and annoying.

This is a poll post without a question. Discuss.

But guys, I beg of you, no long expositions on How Silly It Is to View Good Saxon Words as More Offensive Than Their Latin Equivalents...I can construct such arguments, too. ;-)

[Is Friday]

I think it's fun to swear like a Zalanthan. I am a loser.  

[staggerlee]

Two minds, I sympathize highly with you on one hand (despite swearing like a sailor in real life) I realize that we have to negotiate communal space here, and that's going to take some work.

On the other hand, using made up swear words does kind of take all the kick out of profanity, and if someone is trying to be disgusting, edgy or shocking I'd strongly suggest sticking to good old fashion swear words.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I'm number three.

[Is Friday]

I highly recommend the mixture of Zalanthan and RL swears. Changing the vowel, too. It's almost surreal!

[Marauder Moe]

You're missing an option.

I swear plenty in real life (but probably not any more or less than anyone else in my usual social group), but my current character rarely swears.  :wink:

I don't mind having more Arm-specific swears, but I would be very much against banning all real-world profanities.

[brytta.leofa]

On the other hand, using made up swear words does kind of take all the kick out of profanity, and if someone is trying to be disgusting, edgy or shocking I'd strongly suggest sticking to good old fashion swear words.

And I'm aware that one factor here is the relatively high rate of tense, life-threatening situations into which our characters get. ;-)

Code Select Expand

The black-haired, leather-clad woman whirls, knocking a hand-crossbow from a human soldier of Tektolnes' hand!
The black-haired, leather-clad woman disarms a human soldier of Tektolnes.
The black-haired, leather-clad woman subdues a human soldier of Tektolnes, despite his attempts to struggle away.
The black-haired, leather-clad woman strikes a human soldier of Tektolnes on the chin, doing grievous damage!
A human soldier of Tektolnes crumples to the ground.
The black-haired, leather-clad woman kicks a wobbly baobob stool across the room.
A wobbly baobob stool strikes a human soldier of Tektolnes in the face, doing grievous damage.
A human soldier of Tektolnes crumples to the ground.
A human soldier of Tektolnes fires his hand-crossbow, the bolt narrowly missing the black-haired, leather-clad woman.
The black-haired, leather-clad woman runs around the room on the wall.
The black-haired, leather-clad woman subdues a human soldier of Tektolnes, despite his attempts to struggle away.
The black-haired, leather-clad woman disarms a human soldier of Tektolnes.
The black-haired, leather-clad woman picks up a hand-crossbow.
The black-haired, leather-clad woman fires her hand-crossbow at a human soldier of Tektolnes.
A human soldier of Tektolnes crumples to the ground.
The black-haired, leather-clad woman hits a human soldier of Tektolnes on the neck, doing grievous damage.
A human soldier of Tektolnes crumples to the ground.
key body
In the room:
 1.body - the body of a human soldier of Tektolnes
 2.body - the body of a human soldier of Tektolnes
 3.body - the body of a human soldier of Tektolnes
 4.body - the body of a human soldier of Tektolnes
The black-haired, leather-clad woman says, in southern-accented sirihish,
"Shoot."

[mansa]

I like telling people to fuck off over the way.

psi FUCK YOU.

think I hope he gets the message.

[Gimfalisette]

Invented swear words lack visceral power.

I like seeing invented euphemisms, though, e.g. "kanking". But euphemisms aren't supposed to have punch anyways.

Some of my characters swear. Some don't. Some swear situationally. (Awesome = seeing that look of shock when someone hears your usually genteel noble chick let loose with the foul language.) Generally speaking, though, when any of my characters swear it's going to be with real swear words. Again, due to the fact that invented swear words are...limp.

[Maybe42or54]

I love using IG swear. I love it a lot. I make up my own words, alot. I'm pretty bad about it actually. I don't say anything real provacative IRL.

[Rhyden]

My characters never, ever swear.

[Simple]

My characters never, ever swear.

Or lie.

[Janna]

I'm number three.

[DesertT]

I rarely swear irl, but sometimes, I catch myself thinking Armageddon swear words, like Krath.

[staggerlee]

Oh man, bringing the armageddon profanity to real life sounds like social suicide just waiting to happen.  
Just wait till you scream "kank me" in bed...
"uhh no, I said spank, I swear to god... no, no really"

[Zhaira]

Partially, it depends on the area my character is from.

I'll always use Armageddony swear words (Krath, Drov, etc) but because they don't have any pre-programmed 'oomph' to them, I only use them for milder situations.

Sometimes, I'll let loose with a 'feck', if the situation doesn't really warrant complete and utter horror.  Most of the time, however, since I can't say our 'interim' swear words (god damnit, holy shit), I usually just have to decide to tone it down to a mild Krath, or let loose with the almighty fuck.

Social class comes into play in terms of *how* often I use these words, and if I decide to use more offensive and graphic ones.  A 'rinthi or Stormer might casually make a rather rude comment about inserting a knife into a young lady's nether bits in far more graphic terms than I'll use on the GDB, but an aide's really only going to shout fuck once in a while if the situation really warrants it.

Sometimes I feel bad about being graphic.  But not much.

[X-D]

My PC would make a sailor blush.

[Mood]

The word 'fuck' flows freely from my lips and fingertips.

[Fathi]

I grew up in an environment where even the most unholy grails of western civilization's curse words were tossed around like confetti. Profanity doesn't cause me to OOCly bat a lash whether ingame or to my face simply because I'm so accustomed to it.

That being said, for my PCs, it's entirely situational.

[jstorrie]

I type more 'cunts' than 'kills' in Armageddon.

[Vettrock]

I swear in RL, mostly when I get pissed off, or worked up about something.  My characters generally don't swear that often though.

[WWYD]

I actually hate swearing IRL and think it feels just plain wrong when I use one word like it, but for some reason my character has a sailor's tongue. It's gotten so natural I just type it out and enter it before I realize it's there.

I just feel kind of silly, I guess, when my characters say feck or fek when everyone around him is dropping the full f bomb.

[Zoltan]

I swear -way- too much IG and IRL. I think it's making me sound like a broken record. To keep me from swearing when I was a kid, my dad would tell me that swear words were used by someone when they were too lazy/stupid to find a more eloquent word or phrase to express themselves.

Now I guess I don't give a fuck!  :oops:

[Cutthroat]

Depends on the character, and the situation. If it would make sense for my character to use it (if he stubs his toe on something, gets surrounded by aggressive things, etc) then he will swear. Same thing for me IRL.

[Rindan]

I am a vulgar mother fucker in real life to the point where I find I have to check myself around certain people due to me propensity to curse like a sailor.  In Armageddon I tend to cut loose and at times every third word is a swear.  I happily mix Armageddon swears, with real world modern swears, with 1800's English sailor cursing (I have been reading the Master and Commander series).  "Krath burn yer fuckin' eyes!" is a happy melody of all three.

I imagine you real issue are the curses that are offensive to this day.  For those, all I can say is that you are just going to have to grin and bare it.  There are a lot of potentially morally offensive things going on in Armageddon with swearing falling close to dead last.  We have torture, sex, violence, slavery, racism, and cruelty of all kinds.  This can can't and shouldn't be sanitized.  The worst of what can be done has consent rules, but outside of that it is fair game.

A nice offensive curse just conveys emotion so much better than any lame attempts to blank out the curse.  Feck just doesn't hit the way fuck does.  It is like typing sh*t like that.  Replacing a letter just reminds me of when children try and swear.  They kind of stumble over the word or give it too much weight.  It just comes off looking awkward and like they are uncomfortable cursing.  No one wants to swear and look awkward about it, do they?

So, I am sympathetic if it offends your sensibilities, but I really wouldn't expect much in the way of change.  I know my character will continue to curse in ways that would make my mother beat me.

And with that, let me leave you all with quote from a man known for being a master of the art of vulgarity:

He could, when necessary, open up with both barrels and let forth such blue-flamed phrases that they seemed almost eloquent in their delivery. When asked by his nephew about his profanity, Patton remarked, "When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty. It may not sound nice to some bunch of little old ladies at an afternoon tea party, but it helps my soldiers to remember. You can't run an army without profanity; and it has to be eloquent profanity. An army without profanity couldn't fight it's way out of a piss-soaked paper bag."

"As for the types of comments I make", he continued with a wry smile, "Sometimes I just, By God, get carried away with my own eloquence."

[Simple]

I swear in RL, but more IG. I've noticed myself swearing more after Arm sessions.

[flurry]

It's part of the game.  I don't mind it.  The only time I find it iffy is when people seem to be using vulgarity in an especially sexist or homophobic way.  I've definitely seen that happen in-game, and it just seems out of place in Zalanthas.

[mrhomeless]

My wife doesn't even play she watches me play quite a bit. The other day she called me a Kank fucker  :cry: Forgot to mention she was pissed about something!

[brytta.leofa]

Heh, I was not aiming this at anyone in particular, by the way (mah clannies!).  Just something I've been thinking about for a long time.

Now, let me tell you about the time a good friend from college invited me to her ROTC party...  :shock:

[Ghost]

My characters never, ever swear.

[Kyviantre]

Depends on the character...I've had some that swore frequently, some that swore only when drunk, or only when angry, and some that very fairly swear.  I hate using the 'f' word IC, and use Krath, or Fek far more.  I also have happily made up things depending on character history - Sands (usually used instead of the 's' word), Rat-fekker/kank-fekker...etc.  I prefer using made up words, keeps me more interested, uses more imagination, and adds to the character (or at least, I feel it does to my character!).  Not adverse to other people swearing like gypsies, its all part of the character!

[manonfire]

I swear all the fucking time.

[Mood]

I swear all the fucking time.

Fuck is a staple of my fucking vocabulary.

[Only He Stands There]

Option one. I never swear and you people disgust me.

[Ghost]

Option one. I never swear and you people disgust me.

you and me both bro you and me both

[Rhyden]

Option one. I never swear and you people disgust me.

you and me both bro you and me both

I thought I was the only one.

[rishenko]

My amount of real life swearing depends on the cultural mindset of those I am around at that particular moment.

My characters generally use profanity. 

My current character has a mouth spawned by a vile, swollen, cunt-lipped whore of a Nilazi mother.

[Cerelum]

Stop being some fucking pussies...

Swearing is alright..bitches.

J-Rod

[Tomeglow]

I don't swear in real life, rarely at all. However, my characters never seem to have that big of a problem with it. I like mixing kank and Krath with different parts of real-world swears to make their Zalanthian counterparts. However, I'm sure that's how much people do it as well.

[Pale Horse]

My personal views of profanity is that I can live without it, and an overabundance of it just turns me off...but you know..call it what you will, there are times when nothing seems to suit the situation better than a good swear word.

Maybe that's the "beauty" of a well placed expletive.  Or it could mean that I'm just not smart enough to come up with something more eloquent.

IG, my characters tend towards the more Zalanthan curses.  "Fek" "Feck" "Krath", and such, are staple words for them.

..and I catch myself using feck quite often, outside of the game..thankfully not around anyone who's good opinion of me is valuable to my ego and social well being.

[Vessol]

I don't curse a lot in real life, usually.
But my current char IG is pretty rough and tumble so he does.

[Rhyden]

One of my favorites is 'fekk'. The extra 'k' just gives it something extra.

[Little Darkness]

Swearing does not work to shock people in a world like Zalanthas.
The best way to shock people in Zalanthas is to give them the warm, fuzzy, smiley, love treatment.

They will typically gape at you in horrified astonishment before you spill their blood all over the desert sand in pretty, haunting patterns.

[Ghost]

One of my favorites is 'fekk'. The extra 'k' just gives it something extra.

awww squishy cute

EDIT: God, I do have some problems don't I?

[Qzzrbl]

One of my favorites is 'fekk'. The extra 'k' just gives it something extra.

EDIT: God, I do have some problems don't I?

Yep.... Seems that way.

On another note. My next character will be a living incarnation of this video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xf7frtuyF14

[Spoon]

Bynner's would have a very limited vocabulary indeed. In fact most my Byn Pcs pretty much only say one word per sentence that isn't a profanity, and that's usually "Gaj", and on the odd occasion "stew".

[a strange shadow]

It depends. I swear less than I used to IRL. One of my favorite characters swore like a drunken pirate, and another rarely let slip with the mildest of profanities. Most of them are somewhere in between, and I feel absolutely no shame at letting loose with a phrase peppered with enough 'fucks' to satisfy a harem. Armageddon is an adult game that should be rated n-17 for sex, violence, and adult language.

[Maybe42or54]

I need profanity to fit in.

[Akaramu]

I swear a bit in Zalanthas (like the cool kids) but never in RL. I only flip the bird to my webcam to prove a point.

Feck, Krath, sands etc are just so fun to use, and much more stylish than the stupid real world profanity.

[Akaramu]

Meh double post.

[Desertman]

I can almost honestly swear that I have never sworn.

[Troicha]

Where's the, "I can make your ears wilt but my character's a perfect angel," option?

[Cerelum]

Why are you fuckers still talking about god damn mother fuckin swearing..

It happens...in arm it's ALLOWED, so whether you're character is a prude who doesn't hold hands on the first date, let alone swear and say words like, dick, ass, cock, cunt, slut, bitch, fuck, motherfucker and any variations.  Why bother fucking discussing something you can't fucking change.. My favorite word and activity are are fucking.  I fucking love fucking as a whole, in language and it's meaning...

Ahh...such a sweet fucking release.

J-Rod