On Cussing: Bad Words and Creative Cursing by Katherine Dunn

On Cussing: Bad Words and Creative Cursing Reviews

• 
  Patricija || book.duo

  5/5
  
  Ar žinojot, kad nors visi žodžiai šiaip laikomi vienoje smegenų dalyje, keiksmažodžiai, kaip mokslininkai mano, laikomi visai kitur – vietoje, kuri atsakinga už automatinius veiksmus, kvėpavimą, refleksus, alkį ir emocijas. Todėl ir galvojama, kad kai Alzheimeriu sergantiems ar dideles smegenų traumas patyrusiems dingsta kalba, jie vis dar gali keiktis. Ir nors knyga toks labiau straipsnis, visgi net įdomesnis ir įvairialypiškesnis, nei tikėjausi. Labiausiai todėl, kad autorė paliečia ir mano galva ypač įdomią temą – keiksmažodžius literatūroje. Ji ne tik nagrinėja jų raidą (pavyzdžiui, kaip keikėsi Oskar‘as Wilde‘as? Ir kodėl amerikiečiai sako „roosters“ vietoje gaidžių, o ne „cocks“?), bet ir klausia – kaip įdomiai autorius gali keiktis? Ir kodėl aktualu tai daryti nenuspėjamai?
  
  Įdomu, kad pateikdama pavyzdžius, ji tarsi apgina tiek visus įmanomus būdus pasakyti „fuck“, tiek labai originalius ir unikalius keiksmus, paties autoriaus sukuriamus, veikėjui pritaikomus. Bet negalėjau negalvoti, kad angliškai visgi keiksmai skamba vienaip, o lietuviškai, jei bandytume rasti tokių įdomesnių būdų žmogų literatūroje pasiųsti, nesunku ne tik keiksmažodį pritaikyti tik trumpam laiko tarpui (todėl skaitant vėliau bus cringe), tiek padaryti jį kažkaip perdėm tautišku, kai panašus angliškas variantas to paties poskonio neturėtų. Žodžiu, turėjau apie ką pagalvoti ir man patiko – ieškosiu dabar autorės „Geek love“ paskaityti.
• 
  Bonnie G.

  A brief essay on using profanity in your writing that is quite good and super fun. About an hour on audio, time very well spent!
• 
  Vicki

  Advice for writers on when and how to use foul language in one’s writing, some of which is laugh-out-loud funny.
• 
  Bookeater504

  Her mention of "shit on a stick" makes me feel seen.
• 
  Erik Deckers

  A clever little tome that not only educates and enlightens, it certainly puts to bed the argument, “People who use profanity have a limited vocabulary.” Not only is this an erudite argument on the joys of cussing, it shows the long, rich history of swearing and obscenities. A must for anyone who loves to swear or wants to give it to the swear-scolds in their life.
• 
  James

  This was a library find. A short little booklet on swearing and writing. Dunn discusses the history of bad language, and how to write less monotonous curses. This was fun.
• 
  Geoff

  Short and sweet with some nice vignettes on the history and power of cussing. Ignore the horrible neuroscience.
• 
  Ryan Schwartz

  I stumbled across this and realized it was from the same author of Geek Love, which I loved, which is probably, honestly, the only reason I was interested in this. This was very funny and the foreword, which contained commentary on many of the sentences and ways in which Katherine Dunn used cuss words in Geek Love, reminded me how much I loved her writing, how creatively she actually was swearing in that book, and how much it did add to her story and writing. This whole essay is on how to use swear words deliberately when writing and brought you through a bit of its history and I weirdly found it really interesting. Really what I took out of it though is that everyone has to go and read Geek Love.
• 
  Aneesa

  I know exactly who is getting this for her birthday.
  
  Though for such a short volume there seem to be quite a few editing mistakes, perhaps because it was published posthumously.
• 
  Vincent Scarpa

  “The tone of the language is the writer’s voice. Violations of tone are the equivalent of a singer‘s voice breaking or hitting a wrong note. It jars. With all of this ammunition, I trust you will give serious consideration to your cussing, both live and written. Bring zest and sting to the language. Avoid cliché and tedium.”
  
  
• 
  Kent Winward

  Always fun to read writers on cussing . . .
• 
  Holly

  Witty, fun. A short read. For anyone who appreciates swearing and swearing well.
• 
  MonumentToDecency

  A brilliant and quick exploration of the wonderful world of swear words. So worth reading, I couldn't put it down (also partly because it was so gosh-darned short).
  
  My Rating: 5 fuckity fuck von fucks out of 5
• 
  Benjamin

  A charming little history lesson and advice piece on using profane and obscene language in your own writing from the best to ever do it
• 
  jeremy

  on the bus reading katherine dunn's on cussing, a posthumous offering (adapted from a lecture given to pacific university's mfa writing program):
  
  "is that a book on cussing?"
  
  "yeah, it is."
  
  "really, it's just all about cussing?"
  
  "yes, it's an entertaining history about cursing and swear words."
  
  "wow, that's wild."
  
  it is, my friend, more than you fucking know.
• 
  Molly

  A fun easy read about offensive words. Some of the best cussing combinations I’ve ever read.
• 
  Tracey

  "When it comes to using foul language, be specific. Calvin Trillin urges us to never say car if we can say Pontiac. The same goes for cussing.
  
  Make your cussing specific to the target, whether that's a person, an object, or situation. A sailor once explained it to me this way: 'He's never just a motherfucker. He's a conniving, bald-headed motherfucker. Or a snot sucking bastard. Or a whining, toothless cocksucker.' For longer phrasings, experiment with alliteration for musicality and ease of flow, as in, 'You slimy, pissing scum sack.'" Dunn covers a lot of ground in this very short book. Historically, there are three types of cussing in English: profanity, obscenity, and slurs. What I appreciate is that she spends zero time on slurs, as this book is meant to be an instructional text on how to morr effectively write cussing into your fiction writing (I appreciate that she was not instructing people how to write slurs more effectively - feel like people have a good handle on their hate speech). However, since profanity and obscenities are some of my favorite types of words, I enjoyed the "how to" categories, which included topics such as, "Get emotional" (e.g. he shit bricks), "Complain" (e.g. I'm totally fucked), "Flat-out Instruct" (e.g. Go take a flying fuck at a rolling donut), and "Issue an insult" (e.g. I wouldn't piss in his ear if his brains were on fire). I love language and I love cussing, so it was fun to read a short primer on this aspect of language. Totally fucking worth the read.
• 
  Kathy

  That was a fun listen. Some great, and hilarious, examples of creative swearing.
• 
  Rachel Jackson

  I'm not sure what I was expecting when I requested On Cussing from my local library, but I was initially surprised by its diminutive size. Turns out the book is just an excerpt from a speech that Katherine Dunn gave to the Pacific University MFA in writing program on cussing, rather than an extensive history and cultural study of swear words like I was somehow expecting. Knowing that, I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped, but it was still kind of interesting, getting at least a small glimpse into the lives of curse words. Dunn's tone is very entertaining, and the examples she gives of possible effective curse words and phrases for writers to use were equally amusing to me. I only wish it had been a longer study of cussing, but I suppose there are already plenty of books out there on that subject.
• 
  Larry

  Too bad I didn't experience the talk that this book is transcribed from. As an academic speech to an auditorium full of earnest graduate students, all those taboo words and examples delivered aloud in Katherine Dunn's memorable voice must have been a scream. Even an audio version would probably be both informative and hilarious. But, as the author repeatedly reminds us, such language has lost its shock value in literature and entertainment. Therefore, as a book it ironically suffers from the very thesis at the heart of it. Mildly entertaining and lightly instructive, Dunn encourages writers to be more creative with the cuss words we put in our characters' mouths.
• 
  Dave Hull

  Short but comprehensive
  
  This was enjoyable and instructive. It was aimed at writers looking to effectively employ foul language.There were many examples of how various writers shared swearing. It managed to both be comprehensive and to feel to me that it was abbreviated.
• 
  Sarah

  “Fuck the fuckity fuckin’ fucker”— verb, adverb, adjective, noun; or, the only words you’ll ever need.
• 
  Ralph Carlson

  Interesting little book.
• 
  Jacob Seifert

  More insightful and entertaining that I could have possibly imagined. This makes me want to go home and practice my cussin'.
• 
  Brianna Sowinski

  The most adorable cute and tiny book on swearing. I loved it.
• 
  Elizabeth

  Interesting and informative. From the cover, I did not expect to become more informed, just entertained.
• 
  Jaime

  Interesting take on how overuse of swear words have made them less potent and less effective. Be warned, there are a lot of examples, ie. a lot of creative cursing.
• 
  S

  Frick yes, this book was the shiz.