What counts as insults or extreme dialogue, and in what context?

[BreakerZero]

Are you asking if perverted in that context is extreme dialogue or insulting? It's not. In that context, it just means that something has been changed or warped, usually in a bad way.

Or in this case where it's completely out of the intended context. You hit it square on the head. The question though in terms of how extreme a word it is (regardless of context) has to do with the word itself, not necessarily what I'm talking about. (And for the record, I originally started this discussion with maturity analysis in mind so make of that as you will.)

I think that "a godd***ed lack of understanding" would hardly count as a "cultural zinger". Very anodyne. It looks to me as if you might be over-estimating what counts as extreme.

Even if I did, the fact is that when I end up using that word on some real-life consequence and my family is involved, they literally go "ten commandments" on me for doing so. (Never mind that we're all guilty of at least some form of that madness.) That more than anything is where the cultural reference is derived from, in case it helps to understand my intent.

 

[The Stranger]

Well, perverted devoid of any context isn't an extreme word, not in my opinion. It just means corruption. If applied to a person or action, especially one sexual in nature, it can be insulting.

If I called you a pervert, I'm guessing you'd take it as an insult. If I called a philosophy or belief perverted, or a perversion, I could mean it's wrong, or I could mean it's a corrupted version of what it once was. I don't really think you can judge words devoid of context, because words are fairly meaningless without that context.

 

[YoraeRasante]

I never heard of "perverted" as a curse word. in situations seen as sexual it could be an insult or a code word for some extreme things, but it is not a curse or extreme word itself.

But you also need to take in mind the culture saying it. Disregarding everything, last I heard "c*nt" (pre-censored there, the * is an u) is a censored word anywhere but Australia and places around it, where on the other side of the spectrum "bloody" is one in England but not even raising an eyebrow in most other english-speaking places, a show of mild annoyance at most.

 

[The Stranger]

@YoraeRasante Bloody isn't really used as a curse here anymore, it's used more as a way to add emphasis to something. You bloody idiot has more of a punch than you idiot, for example. Saying bloody here won't, or shouldn't offend anyone.

We do use words such as 'fanny' differently than Americans, though. Over in the States I think it means the same as backside, over here it means something very different. lol.

 

[BreakerZero]

I never heard of "perverted" as a curse word. in situations seen as sexual it could be an insult or a code word for some extreme things, but it is not a curse or extreme word itself.

But you also need to take in mind the culture saying it. Disregarding everything, last I heard "c*nt" (pre-censored there, the * is an u) is a censored word anywhere but Australia and places around it, where on the other side of the spectrum "bloody" is one in England but not even raising an eyebrow in most other english-speaking places, a show of mild annoyance at most.

Then I guess it's like the difference between a horny toad and a horny b**** to name another perverted example, although I have zero intention in actually going that far. However it's not so much for context as the word itself, which is where I'm trying to determine how extreme it is for the purpose of maturity analysis.

 

[YoraeRasante]

@The Stranger oh, really? I'm not a native english speaker, and only read them mostly in things like Harry Potter fanfiction and the like, where they are treated as if saying something is "bloody" is even more extreme as "f*cking". So I'm kinda forced to take my lead from them, I mean most of those actually speak english so should know right?

 

[The Stranger]

It's can add emphasis to something in the same was as f*cking, but isn't the same when used by itself. It's also used like d*mn (that word is censored here). I use it all the time. lol. That was a bloody good meal, that was a bloody good film, you bloody idiot, etc. Then again, perhaps I, and everyone I've ever known, simply swear too much. xD

 

[BreakerZero]

After some consideration I just finished running the final word on which I was questioning (in this case perverted) and decided that since it also has common use in sex situations gone wrong (again, think horny b***h vs. horny toad) that I don't think even with the contextual difference that I can simply short sell myself, and therefore as a cautious measure I will treat it as if I was using the context. More specifically, based on results from Bing, Google etc. I feel like I should essentially be comparing this to dropping f-bombs. And needless to say, I have a very bad feeling that context mix-ups are probably going to be more likely than I previously accounted for because of this.

This doesn't mean that I have anything to announce regarding how I'm going to approach WTF moments in light of this revelation, of course.

 

[YoraeRasante]

I kinda doubt many people that are already fluent or native speaker will take offense at someone using the word "perverted" in a non-sexual way. After all, using the words in a sexual way is a perversion of the original meaning of perversion.
In fact, going out of your way to avoid the word despite the lack of actually being a curse word will very likely make your dialogue be clearly dancing around the subjects and both suffer from it and make people have even more extreme alternate interpretations of what you may have actually meant to say.

But it is your game, so your choice.

 

[BreakerZero]

As I ended up doing regardless. And due to my use of the word I also did break down and build out the WTF moments with the actual phrase in use, if only to justify the means and cover my *** at the same time.

 

[ave36]

My favourite thing to use in RPGs is unusual minced swearing. For example, the words for "b***h" and "pike fish" sound similar in my language, so I can throw in phrases such as "son of a pike fish" and people will understand what I had in mind, without using the actual expletive.

 

[ADMtn]

If the dialogue is good and suitable for the intended audience (i.e., you shouldn't be cursing up a storm in a game marketed toward young children), then you can do whatever you want with foul language.