Profanity or not profanity?

[Nathan V]

While most of the time profanity is obvious, I do believe there is some that is somewhat subjective. Personally, I do not view the word "tits" as profanity, and I am hesitant to label it as such. However, I want to gauge how this word is labeled among the community when it is encountered in a book. Right now I have tentatively labeled the word as borderline profanity but that is subject to change depending on the feedback here. Thank you for any help in advance.

[Seetha E]

I too have encountered words that I am unsure of. I would also list it under borderline profanity.

[a1coder]

The classification of certain words as profanity can indeed be subjective and may vary depending on cultural, societal, and personal perspectives. Words like "tits" fall into a gray area where some might consider them to be more casual or colloquial language rather than explicit profanity. However, it's also important to recognize that these terms can still be considered offensive or inappropriate in certain contexts or by certain audiences.

When deciding how to label such words in your writing, it's helpful to consider the tone and style of your content, as well as the potential reactions of your readers. If your target audience is comfortable with casual language and your writing aligns with a more informal style, you might choose to include words like "tits" without categorizing them as profanity. On the other hand, if your content is aimed at a broader or more formal audience, you might consider labeling it as "borderline profanity" to provide readers with a heads-up about the language they can expect.

[Mary O Dougherty]

I like to use the Official Profanity Guide. I think "tits" should probably belong in at least borderline profanity as it's a non-medical way to refer to a part of the body.

Here is another way of describing the same technique:

You can just imagine you are asked, "is word X profanity?"

And then imagine you only have three answers you can give:

1. Yes.

2. No.

3. I'm unsure.


If you would choose 1, then it's profanity, a.k.a. "non-borderline profanity".

If you would choose 2, then it's not profanity.

If you would choose 3 (unsure), then (and only then) it would be marked as "borderline profanity", meaning it's on the border of what you call profanity versus what you would call not profanity, such that you cannot give a simple yes/no answer.

Personally, I could be tempted to put it in non-borderline depending on the context, mostly because "asshole" is non-borderline profanity. But "ass" and "prick" are borderline.

[Claudia Angelucci]

I had the same doubt when having to label a word as profanity. Then I asked myself, would it be appropriate in a children's book? If the answer is no, I marked it as profanity. I don't know if it makes sense. I would definitely label 'tits' as borderline profanity. The term 'tits' is generally considered a profane or vulgar term, especially in formal or polite contexts. Hope this helps.

[Michael David 33]

Identifying profanities might be difficult for readers who are not native English speakers. I have faced this issue and the word I thought was borderline was non-borderline profanity and it is frustrating because you only get to know it after your review has been checked by an editor and this affects the score. Even the editors or the guidelines don't provide a list of profanities which are borderline and non-borderline. Initially, I used to check for profanities online with any random profanities checker but those don't show if it is borderline or non-borderline and when in confusion it is always better to choose non-borderline. I had gone through multiple forums and finally found the forum created by Scott from onlinebookclub.org and it has been a saver. viewtopic.php?f=132&t=226478

[Tobi Adefila]

This profanity of a thing is always confusing. Once I'm not sure if a word is profane I just indicate it as borderline profanity.

[Alissa Nesson]

There is an Official Profanity Guide that you can find a link to in the guidelines, but I have discovered that if a word is not on the list but the author considers it borderline profanity, it will be a problem for the reviewer. I think this is unfair because the author shouldn’t get to make up their own rules. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about this. The lists are generally a good guide but they aren’t completely reliable. If the word could possibly be construed as offensive to anyone, do yourself a favor and mark it down as borderline profanity and hope the author doesn’t have a problem with it.