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Profanity unfortunately, is a normal part of a young adult's upbringing and it is rare when I run into a teenager who is totally clueless about current profane terms and the proper usage of them. Consequently since it is commonly used, I feel it could be used effectively in young adult fiction provided the author is careful to ensure the situation calls for it.

The reasons for profanity in fiction are 1) it helps to enhance an interjective statement such as , once John found out he was passed over again for a raise, all he could think was"I was f*cked!". 2) it can be used to impart realism to the story itself (let's be serious, what inner city gang member is going to approach you and say "Excuse me, would you mind giving me all your money and valuables?") 3) usage can be used to delineate the class status of characters in the story with the lower classes using profanity on a more regular basis versus the upper class who tend to be more culture. For those of us that remember the classics, this was beautifully illustrated in "My Fair Lady", where Eliza Doolittle was taken from the streets of London and taught to be a lady.

Are there lower class folks who don't swear? Probably but not many. Are there upper class folks who constantly swear? Again, probably but not many. Personally the only time I use profanity in speech is when I'm extremely upset and even then not all the time. I had learned many years ago from a friend who was Mormon that is possible to let others know you were upset without using profanity. I admired him for being able to restrain from using profanity.

But like anything else in life, it is possible to get carried away when writing stories with profanity. If every other word in the story is a four letter word, the chances of losing the reader is very good. So if you choose to use it for enhancement or impart realism or distinction between classes, remember to use this technique sparingly.

For those parents who disagree with me, I would seriously recommend you check out what type of computer games your "children" play or movies and TV shows they watch or music they listen to. Don't be surprised if you learn a few new curse words you never knew before. For parents who don't let their kids play those kinds of games or watch those kinds of shows or listen to that kind of music, the odds are they still learned profanity from their friends or relatives.

So the bottom line, like it or not, profanity is here to stay...

Learn more about this author, R Shimoda.
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