MightyWarrior wrote:Funny thing is I swear a lot, and don't mind hearing it either, but I admit find it weirdly jarring when reading the Graham column too...don't know why exactly, because in the right way swearing can be hilarious, but Billy does it to emphasize a point, which doesn't really come over well in print.
I'd leave it out, and just tell him it's because young kids read the mag too, so he won't mind
Not read the mag yet, came through the door and will tonight.
Very surprised Graham didn't give the whole cover over to the Big Fight, but cut if down with a banner, listing fighters no one out side of the hard core will have heard of ( who would be presumably buying it anyway )
Hello Mighty.
We did pretty much give over the cover to the super fight. The banner is part of a template design. Wladimir Klitschko is a big name. As for Tommy Martin and Virgil Hill being in the banner, I go by the "That looks interesting" rule. That is, someone picking up the magazine and being in half a mind to buy it might, hopefully, go: "Hmm, that looks interesting."
Re. the swearing in Billy's column. Swearing is so commonplace in today's society, is the "F" word really that offensive any more? When I was last in London and riding on the Tube, I was surprised to hear office girls swearing up a storm and not an eyebrow being raised.
I can't watch the BBC America network on North American TV because it seems there's a word bleeped out every 20 words. (Presumably, the "F" word.) The BBC obviously lets swear words be part of its dramas because, well, that's how people talk, but, in the United States/Canada, the BBC's grittier shows are language-sanitised to the point of making them bland, IMO.
I like watching a travel show called
No Reservations, featuring the writer and food critic Anthony Bourdain, who is an erudite man but also one who uses the "F" word an awful lot. The constant bleeping of words is intensely irritating. When Bourdain says something like: "Well, after the freezing weather in Moscow today, this bowl of piping-hot borscht is just what I
bleeping need!" we all know what word he is using. There is no
need for Bourdain to swear, but, well, he just does.
If we leave out the "F" word in Billy's column, well, it's not Billy. I tend to leave the "F" word in place when the person quoted is using it for emphasis. The same with other swear words. I think it looks absolutely stupid to read this sort of thing in a publication: "In the first round, he hit me with a big right hand, but I decided to keep steaming into him, s*** or bust." Here again, everyone knows the word being uttered. It's almost as if the person editing the story is insulting the reader's intelligence.
I believe the British quality newspapers (
Guardian,
Telegraph,
Times,
Independent) allow swear words when used in context but all seem to draw the line at the "C" word, and I agree with that: I do find the "C" word offensive. But, honestly, the "F" word just seems to be part of everyday speech.
As regards leaving the magazine (any magazine) lying around where young children might pick it up, and being concerned the kids will read what in Britain we used to call "bad language", I can understand a parent's' concern. But, let's face it, children will be exposed to "earthy" language soon enough. My own children are adults now, but young kids? Without wishing to appear to give the impression that I have great parenting skills, I might have said: "Oh, by the way, if you ever read this magazine, it contains some language that I wouldn't want you ever to use, but it's just the way some people talk, it's their way of expressing themselves. OK, son?"
Now, the British redtops -- I wouldn't leave
those around the house if I had young kids!
North American TV sanitises BBC programming, writer/critic Anthony Bourdain is sanitised on North American TV — I just don't wish to sanitise Billy Graham. But I think we have to use commonsense. We don't want the magazine littered with swear words. But I also don't wish to insult a reader's intelligence. It's all a balancing act, really.
