Profanity in TEWWBAD

A member of the Patreon comments:

The casual use of the word "fuck" by the elves is kind of off-putting. Does the word have the same multifaceted meaning for them as for modern English? Its an ugly word.

Yes, the wood elves use "fuck" and a few other words in the same way as native English speakers.

You'll note that I've varied real-world idioms, and invented new ones for the wood elves to draw upon, to better illustrate their culture. It should therefore come as no surprise that I went back and forth on what sort of profanity the elves should use.

I eventually concluded that how the lines had to land with the reader necessitated using words and phrases for curses that were emotively loaded in English. A made up word like "smeg" or "frak" just doesn't land the same as "shit" or "fuck," for it doesn't carry the same social connotations.

As for why the wood elves use profanity?

I could talk about the verisimilitude of writing believable characters, and especially teenagers, but the deeper reason is to do with cultural notions of politeness and where they come from. For all that the society of wood elves has flaws, how it handles status is, to a varying degree, very different from how we do.

A reader in comments elsewhere once described Saphienne as cheeky — and I picked up on that, and said that the concept of cheekiness is quite important to this story. To call someone "cheeky" is to perform (in the sociological sense of performativity, i.e. enacting something through speech) the effect of mildly censuring them as being too inferior in social status for it to be acceptable for them to say what they say.

It's not a harsh censure: implicit in the formulation of "cheekiness" is that it's being tolerated, and won't be punished... but there's a contextual threat as well, which says "You're pushing your speech too far, and if you continue, there will be reprimand."

The only character in TEWWBAD who has called someone cheeky thus far (excluding when Peacock parrots her own words back at her) is Celaena, the daughter of an important wizard. She did it in Chapter 5, when she was properly introduced to Saphienne, in response to this line of dialogue:

“But I’m their equal, and I’ve attained it quicker than them. I’m probably better.”

After Saphienne proves she's as good as she claims, Celaena never says it again.

Meanwhile, Iolas is noted as being polite, for the most part, and well-mannered. What does his politeness actually translate as? Largely, a respect for personal dignity (such as not barging into private rooms), and sensitivity toward other's feelings, which manifests in his following agreed norms of behaviour that maintain dignity and sensitivity.

Recognising this, consider the following exchange:

[Speaking of Faylar] “He jokes.” Saphienne shrugged. “I joke back. But not as… we don’t go so far.” [As Celaena and Iolas go when teasing each other.]

“Well.” Celaena squeezed her hand. “I suppose he makes allowances.”

Coughing, Iolas gave Celaena a meaningful glance. “Sounds like he has tact. Knowing what you should say and how far you can take things, well, you need to know your audience for that. I only tease Celaena because she teases me. And because she’s unusually uptight about her friend.”

“You’re one to talk! He’s incredibly proper about things, Saphienne.”

“Being ‘proper’ and being uptight aren’t the same thing.”

Celaena rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Taking a step back... profanities are expressions of passion. They can be used as intensifiers that convey strong feeling, or, when directed at individuals in the form of curses, they can be used as expressions of contempt.

Why is the use of profanity frowned upon? In the second case, yes, it's offensive to curse at someone in public — because it's a performative act that challenges their social standing in front of an audience. Anxieties around cursing – even going back to when curses were regarded as literal curses – fundamentally resolve to anxieties about gaining or losing social status, whether or not these anxieties are misinterpreted and reified as fear of physical or spiritual harm.

One can see why the use of profanity for cursing is not to be undertaken lightly. But, still, there are times and places where it's undeniably warranted to show contempt to people... so why is it taboo today?

As for the other use, there doesn't (on first glance) appear to be a valid reason to disapprove of the use of profanity as an intensifier. Apart from the fact that it uses the same words that can be used as curses, there's nothing much different between "I'm very fed up," and "I'm fucking fed up," except for the intensity of emotion on display.

Except, that performance of intensity is the difference.

Who determines what is polite or impolite? Ultimately, social authorities.

Back when curses were irrationally and mystically feared, there was a clear reason for everyone to hold them taboo. Some of the remaining taboo today derives directly from this, a superstitious holdover conveyed down through the generations, often through aesthetics (wherein parents say things like "Don't use such an ugly word!" to their children).

The remainder derives from social authorities maintaining power and control through dictating the terms of engagement in public life, by deciding what is or isn't permissible, and controlling how it may be expressed through enforced politeness.

Curses directed at an individual are challenges to their social status — by creating a social context where such impoliteness results in the individual being shunned, the social authority prevents challenges to its status being taken seriously, creating a context to ignore or silence challenges to it.

Moreover, in the public sphere, curses as intensifiers are more likely to be used by those who are unhappy with the existent order of society than by those who are prospering (who tend to be aligned to the social authority).

Say you're in London, debating whether or not clearing the Highlands would be in the interests of the national economy. You have a remoteness from the immediate implications of any clearances that affords you a certain detachment, and so you can more easily be calm and composed. But if you're in those Highlands, and they're talking about clearing your community, removing your methods of subsistence to force everyone into slavery in the dark, satanic mills? How composed will you be then? How can you resist your passions?

In a society where one group of people has authority over another, and seeks to keep them excluded from the social discourse that resolves disputes and accords power (or that doesn't in fact do this, but rather serves as a convenient fiction for why power happens to be consistently held by a certain group of noble nice people), the social authority benefits from declaring profanity impolite and unacceptable. By doing this, they defang their likely critics by denying them legitimacy.

In contrast, the profanities of the wood elves tell you a lot about the reality of their social structure.

I leave you with something to consider.

Do you think the populations of the elven protectorates swear so freely?