101 Comments
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Ellie Nova's avatar

Fucking YES to all this!! I swear because I was raised to be a ‘good girl’ and swearing was absolutely NOT allowed. Swearing for me represents freedom and not crushing myself into a good girl box to be palatable for other people.

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Debra's avatar

I am older and don’t think age is summarily a metric. I swear like a sailor when around my gorgeously subversive friends and vice versa. I adore your narration in your books also and am charmed - the swear words do not feel gratuitous but feel a part of the fabric. Thank you for being you.

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Ann Clyde's avatar

If you were a dude no one would bat an eye. Sexism is alive and well. Do you..

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Rachel Knight's avatar

Was going to say this, too. Glad I saw it first!

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Rachael Amber's avatar

So true

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Renee Louise's avatar

Hell yes to all of this. The amount of “fuck”’s in my self published book are high, and I specifically left them in because they are so true to me. I fucking love swear words.

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Tara Calihman's avatar

Fuck yes. More of this please!

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David's avatar

I'm something of an incorrect gramma myself. Jokes aside, agreed. A writer should be true to themselves and write how they see fit, not in order to fit into a certain mold. I used swear words much more often in my earlier writing than I do now, but it wasn't a conscious decision or me being against their usage. The types of characters I write have simply changed. FUCK IT.

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Kaitlyn Ramsay's avatar

a-fucking-men. I remember being a teen scared to swear. My friends did it, but I was so tightly wound up in my good girl box that I feared using certain words that, like you said, were used in a way that felt scary and unsafe in my home growing up. I still remember the first time I swore in front of my mom (something we still laugh about today) and it was SO liberating. Since then, I've reclaimed the power of using language in a way that feels empowering to me.

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Super_Kat's avatar

I remember being utterly shocked when a random man swore at me while I was walking down the street. (I still don't know why). What was worse was that I felt I couldn't swear back at him, for so many reasons but mainly out of fear for my safety. It infuriated me then, that women are expected to be silent, or be accused of provoking violence, and it fucking infuriates me now. So, thank fuck for you Amie.

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Julian Rowlands's avatar

When I used to drive my kid to nursery I was only on the A406 for 3-5 minutes but could I do that without emitting a profanity? Could I fuck.

That word has a special role in language, like a fuse that trips between the realms of signifier and signified. It is unfortunately irreplaceable.

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Simon Wilson's avatar

Fucking brilliant.

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Kay Stratton's avatar

The notion that swearing means your vocabulary is limited is one I have heard so often. Mate, I've got a masters in linguistics, I know 'words', I just prefer fuck, cunt and prick. I especially love the reaction Americans give to cunt. In the UK it can be used as a term of endearment, or the worst curse in your arsenal - how many other words can say that? Very fucking few. Lazy bastards.

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Holly Hilgenberg's avatar

FUCK YES. 100%%%%%%%%%%%%

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April Isaacs's avatar

Amie love, I fucking love your swearing and I’m catching your fire of inspiration right now reading all your reasons for swearing. My feeling is that some people will be alienated and that it is never any one person’s job to include everyone. Those who are alienated will be served by someone else doing something similar but with a different flavor. Let them. That’s the beauty of our diverse world. Your swearing lures me in, inspires and empowers me. It’s the realness and anger we need right now. I’m with you.

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Benjamin Sharp's avatar

Fucking beautiful.

“I am fiery, and alive, and filled with fucking sparkles.”

Inspiring.

Botherypoo made me laugh.

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Rachel Knight's avatar

I fucking love this!

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Henny Hiemenz's avatar

Wow, there are a lot of fucking comments already, not sure if you’ll see this one. If you do, and it hasn’t mentioned yet, you should google the research out there that suggests people who swear frequently are typically more intelligent. Also check out Tony Robbins talking about why he swears so much.

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