At fourteen my parents began openly cursing in front of me. From that point on swearing became a staple in our household vocabulary. Ironically, my parents also stressed that people who cursed were just showing their own limited vocabulary. As a result, I became a young adult who cursed but hated the fact that I did. Once I hit about 25 I began making the yearly resolution to give up swearing. It didn’t really take until I moved to Texas. Living in the bible belt REALLY makes you self aware of how much you swear. Although my vocabulary periodically trends to the colorful, as a rule I keep it clean. But what about the blog?
Deciding on the subjects you write about on your blog and how you go about doing it is a personal choice for each blogger. This reminds me of that quote from Jerry Seinfeld who said that using profanity is a “comedy shortcut”. When I look at bloggers that I find particularly funny, Dooce and The Bloggess, I wonder if it is because they use the f-word in relation to motherhood. Is it their frequent use of shocking language in conjunction with the banality of motherhood that actually makes them funny? If they didn’t swear would they still be funny? That doesn’t mean that I’m somehow superior because I try to go for the joke without the use of profanity. (I would only be superior if I was actually funny or if my jokes actually worked). Is The Bloggess funny because she is blatantly offensive to EVERYBODY or because she is truly witty and talented? I don’t know, but I’d sure like to see her write a post without the f-word and see how it works out.
I think this is a really, really good question. One of Dooce’s strengths or tropes is that — there she is, describing the expected, the mundane, and then phrases an observation in a seemingly new way.
And that way often includes vulgarity. I think her talent for observation would hold even without the shock factor, as long as she kept the surprise factor. Would very much like to see, though.
The Bloggess is also talented by virtue of seeing the world differently, absurdly. I think she’d be as funny without the bad language, because in hers, it’s just part of the background, the vulgarity is not the surprise, as in Dooce’s, but rather the norm. It adds to the humor, but isn’t the point of it, I think.
This is very good question. For me, I right as the running dialogue in my head. This often includes profanity. When I was growing up the rule in our house was that we could use profanity as long as we were not using it against SOMEONE! I think that’s the rule that I will employ in my house. I believe words are only words and people are the ones that give them the power they carry.
Jane: they are both truly talented and obviously much better writers than me. However, the over the top use of profanity, in particular by the Bloggess, always makes me stop short. I just wish she didn’t do it as much. I think she would be even funnier
Kate: I agree that writing is a reflection of our own individual voices and sometimes that isn’t always clean. However, I find it hard to believe that the Bloggess is talking about vaginas in her work place. Although, I could be wrong.
I’m certainly no prude and cursing doesn’t offend me per se. I think it’s a bit lazy and doesn’t reflect well on the person using it and that’s why I try to avoid swearing in my posts, but it slips out now and again. I don’t read Dooce, but I like The Bloggess and her humor is tied up with shock value and the absurdity and the taboo of swearing is a big part of it. Don’t know what she’d be like without it.