Color me surprised. As I'm getting a little further into HP7, I've noticed that my beloved Ron, Hermione and Harry are SWEARING! Well, not really swearing, but a watered down version by saying, "Effing" blah blah blah.I was mostly taken back that I had probably already passed a number of instances of this when I realized it. How sad is it that I didn't even notice that they were swearing? A kids book, and they are swearing! Of course they are supposed to be 17 years old at this point, and most 17 year olds swear a little, eh?
Did any of you catch it?
Do you consider it swearing when THE word isn't used?
Would you mind if your kid read that?
And yes, I realize there is death and murder going on around the non-swearing, but for some reason the non-swearing is bugging me more as I don't think it was really needed for the story. Prude? possibly.
7 comments:
I don't think you are a prude. You are correct.
Yeah, I did notice Ron saying "effing" quite a bit. The first time I saw that my eyeballs did a back take and I stared at the word for a while. Then I realized that they were also consuming alcohol here and there as well.
I'm no prude, but it was a bit surprising to see E-word :)
Hmmm. I guess it wouldn't bother me too much, but I would stop and say, 'does it progress the story? Is it important to the characters?' The truth of the matter is that while the characters are 17, quite a few of the readers are not. Then again, I certainly knew the E word WELL before I was 17.
And using the E word instead of the F word, as Ma in Little House (the books, not TV) would say, is "Wooden Swearing"...it's fake, but it's no better, because your intent is the same.
Having an opinion on the matter certainly doesn't make you a prude.
I was living in NYC when Good Will Hunting came out. In NYC, the "f" word is used almost as frequently as "the" and "hello", so I grew completely desensitized to it. After seeing the movie with a friend who was in visiting me from out of town, she commented that the movie was good, but too much swearing for her taste. I was like, "There was swearing in that movie? I never even heard it!" Yikes!
My oldest is 17 and of course she never swears (wink, wink). I haven't read any of the books, but I can see where that would bother a person. My daughter's friends will laugh at me because I don't like them saying "Oh my God" even though I am not particularly spiritual. Sometimes some things just don't sound right.
Man, I didn't even notice it.
I noticed their language has changed a lot over 7 books. But I think JKR quit writing the books as children's books several books back. Most of her readers are adults. Do people in England use that phrase (effin) regularlly? Maybe it is more common and less offensive then it's American alternative.
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