I just closed the book I am
reading to come write this article.
The author is one I’ve read
before and liked. I’ve even heard her speak in person. She impressed me
favorably. She’s a well-known ACFW member and author of a prodigious number of
books—both fiction and non-fiction. Most of her work is published with CBA
houses, including the one I’m reading. My guess is that she’s in her forties or
early fifties. I would further surmise that her critique partners and editors
are under fifty-five.
“What has age to do with it?”
you might ask. Perhaps a lot. It might explain some naïveté on the part of
younger writers.
It doesn’t take a lot of
discernment to realize that slang words and phrases such as gosh, golly, jeez (or geez),
cripes, judas priest, and the like are actually euphemisms for God, Jesus,
Christ, and Jesus Christ, and are therefore equally as profane as using the
actual names of deity loosely and without reverence—in vain. Other words are fairly
obvious: heck, shoot, darn, tarnation (a form of damnation), for example.
Then there are the words that
have insinuated themselves into common usage, even among Christians, including
the one that prompted this piece. Here’s where age comes into play. I’m over
fifty-five; therefore, I remember the original words and their meaning. The
enemy has done an excellent job of disguising some of that language—drop a
letter here, change a letter there, you get the idea—so that people either
really don’t know what they’re saying, have forgotten, or don’t give a hoot.
(Did you catch that? Insidious, isn’t it?)
The word that sent me off and
writing this is ragging. If you’re
about my age, you may be blushing about now. Today it means nagging, giving a
hard time, being downright hateful. As a woman might be when she’s on her
cycle, which is, by the way, the original meaning. It was meant to be
insulting, crass, and vulgar. Do I think for one minute this godly author would
have used that word had she known what she was saying? Absolutely not! Further,
it was the Christian main character who said it. Ms. Writerly simply didn’t
know.
Oh, and in case you’re
wondering, any slang word beginning with the letter “f” –please don’t make me
list them—probably is a euphemism for the great-great-granddaddy of “f” words.
Do you really want that in your manuscript? (Side note: when a student would
use that ancient word in my English classroom, I assigned them to do a thorough
etymological study of the word. That deflated their sails quickly.)
My advice to writers would be
this: If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit
indwelling. Listen to Him. Listen for that still, small voice. He’s really good
at waving red flags. Pay heed to those, and “if in doubt, CHECK IT OUT!” Though
I don’t recommend it as recreational reading because it has plenty of extremely
offensive content by nature of its purpose, urbandictionary.com is a good
source.
“. . . keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings . . .”
~1 Timothy 6:20
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation
of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my
strength, and my redeemer.” ~Psalm 19:14
Write on!
Because of Christ,
Sharon Kirk Clifton
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