The amazing topic of profanity :)

[Nifflas]

Sooo...

I may try to fit this game into PEGI 12 for mild swearing and/or offensive language.

Here's the funny part. It allows words such as damn, hell, God, bloody, son of a bitch, sod, tart, crap, bugger, screw, arse, slag, slut, tosser, Christ, dickhead, bitch, shit, piss off, whore, arsehole, prick, bollocks, twat, bastard, wanker and shag. On the other hand, words like fuck, cunt, and motherfucker is not ok.

Kinda weird when you think about it, I can use whore and bitch, but not fuck. I wish it was the other way around, but those are the rules. Sex is apparantly worse than sexism. Oh, blasphemy isn't allowed either.

So, what I want to pull in this game is kind of what they did in the Dark Knight, but with language instead of violence (noticed how violent Dark Knight was without showing a drop of blood?). That is, make it as strong (though not racist or sexist) as possible yet fitting it into the "mild language" PEGI 12 rating.

The reason is that one of my characters absolutely needs it.

So, I'm looking for a way to replace my excessive use of "fuck" with... well, some creative use of language. Both kinda stuff that makes you go "oh my god, what is she saying?" but also just clever and funny phrases. Doesn't always have to be clever and funny though, sometimes the character is too upset to come up with something clever to say and just want to hurt people. I'm going to avoid harmless stuff like something captain haddock would say tho, otherwise the tone would be too "childreny" for the game. Got any great expressions to share?

Oh, and development is going mighty fine. The game world is massive, I'm perfectly on schedule, but it's a bit early for an exact release date.

[poland45]

Is the good old irish "feck" allowed?

[Raicuparta]

Replacing "fuck" with "sod" works in pretty much every situation, but I guess it may not work for every character. Or you could even make up your own word, like the "frak" in Battlestar Galactica.

[Nifflas]

I'm not sure I wanna make words up, it works a bit better when spoken than written. Sod is a bit tricky, in a situation where a character gets totally upset and want to scream out "FUUUUUUUUUCK!!!" it's kinda hard with "sod".

I think one way to go is combinations of things which results in a really horrible mental image. Like "wank artist" which I found at Urban Dictionary. Could be a good insult.

[sergiocornaga]

I've always been a fan of "flip you, melon farmer" from the TV edit of Repo Man, though that might be too comical.

I once read of a newscaster getting into trouble for claiming a rival newscaster "takes it up the chutney".

Also, "shart" has the benefit of sounding really gross while not being widely recognized as a swearword.

[back seat astronaut]

How about playing around with the order of the letters, like "cucksocker" and "fothermucker"?

[Nifflas]

Yeah, maybe

[LPChip]

Or do it how comics do it for young children. Since it will be written text, its probably not that hard to add images instead of text?


This above example is plain text, but there are also images known with lightning bolts and skulls and bombs, indicating swearing.

[Nifflas]

Either that's going to feel childish or like the stupid bleeping they do in TV shows. It's exactly what I'm not going for. As I said earlier, I'm not trying to tone anything down, I'm trying to push the offensiveness as far as I can possibly go within PEGI-12.

[SiamJai]

I think one way to go is combinations of things which results in a really horrible mental image.

Hmm, how about these:

Shitshaker, mothersucker, whore opener, sheep-shagger, wankmaster, pole-sharpener, mulepump, horse-extractor.

Combined:
Go to hell, you sheep-shaggin' wankmaster!
I'll rip you a new one, you dirty little shitshaker!

Snappy:
I've met the likes of you before, but I had to pay admission.
You look like you've grabbed more dicks than doorknobs.
If I ever made a game, the asshole character would be named after you.
I cuss only 'cause I can't punch you in the face.

[Nifflas]

Haha I really like some of those!

[PONTO]

Spoiler: Some strong language here... (click to show/hide)

Upon receiving criticism: "The funny thing is to hear that coming from you."
"Any more shit coming out of your mouth?"

Insults based on the character's mother can always make very strong impression.
"Your mother once took a shit from the wrong hole, didn't she?"
"What, did daddy replace mommy during breast feeding?"

[Dj Gopher]

The problem with fuck is that it is an extremely unique word that can be used as a noun, verb, adjective and an adverb; there aren't any other swear words I know of that behave like this. Shit works nicely as an adjective- shitty, a noun- shit, and a verb- shit. But what if "that guy is fucking fast?" It also implies a sort of annoyance in description- saying I have to write a fucking paper is a lot different than saying I have to write a god damned paper. Though said and done, I think shit and god damn would be the best and most used/accepted alternatives to fuck.

"What the shit?!"
"Ah mother-shit!"
I'll look through facebook and edit in some more later

It's kinda funny trying to genuinely and accurately describe something so... fucking silly

[Raicuparta]

The problem with fuck is that it is an extremely unique word that can be used as a noun, verb, adjective and an adverb; there aren't any other swear words I know of that behave like this. Shit works nicely as an adjective- shitty, a noun- shit, and a verb- shit. But what if "that guy is fucking fast?" It also implies a sort of annoyance in description- saying I have to write a fucking paper is a lot different than saying I have to write a god damned paper. Though said and done, I think shit and god damn would be the best and most used/accepted alternatives to fuck.

"What the shit?!"
"Ah mother-shit!"
I'll look through facebook and edit in some more later

It's kinda funny trying to genuinely and accurately describe something so... fucking silly

I've seen "sod" being used exactly the way "fuck" is used. For example, in Dragon Age: Origins, at least one character did that, "That sodding bastard", "What the sod is happening", stuff like that, although I'm not sure its being used correctly, it seems very uncommon.

[Nifflas]

Yeah, that's what makes "fuck" so great. Of course I'll never find one word I can use as a substitute, which is why it's great to get as many various expressions and words as possible - that gives me better odds to find something that'll fit in each case. I'll probably use sod a bit, but I don't feel that it has the right tone to work as a substitute all the time.

Sometimes, unexpected things can be quite nice too.

"How are you doing?" "Anus."