• HOLY SHIT! Teens read books! With curse words in them!
    94 replies, posted
[QUOTE]In a recent analysis of best-selling teen novels, researchers from Brigham Young University report that young readers encounter about seven instances of profanity per hour — and those characters with the dirtiest mouths are often the richest, most popular and best-looking. As with so many things, surmise the researchers, parents are probably in the dark about the trash their kids are reading. Brigham Young University professor Sarah Coyne and her colleagues analyzed profanity use in 40 teen novels on the New York Times’ best-seller list of children’s books published in 2008. All the books reviewed targeted children age 9 or older. ... The researchers found that on average, teen novels contain 38 instances of profanity, which translates to nearly seven curse words per hour of reading. Of the 40 books in the study, 88% contained at least one “bad word.” Some books were especially laden with dirty words. For instance, the novel Tweak contained 500 instances of profanities. The “F-word” alone appeared 139 times in Tweak, 50 times in Gossip Girl–The Carlyle and 27 times in the novel Tempted. The novels with the foulest language were typically aimed at older adolescents ages 14 and up. Five of the novels did not contain any profanity, with all but one of those falling in the reading category for 9- to 11-year-olds. “I had no clue there would be that type of content in those books,” says Coyne. “If they were made into movies, they would easily be rated R, and parents have no clue.”[/QUOTE] [url]http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/18/profanity-in-teen-novels-characters-with-foul-language-are-often-the-most-desirable/[/url] There's more in the source. Personally, I find the article hilarious. I mean... who didn't know that there were curse words in books? Probably people that don't read books.
All the more reason to not read books. Their obviosly a tereble inflewince on our childrn and have no edyewkashunel valyew.
No fucking way! This is goddamn bullshit! There is no way in hell that our innocent children should be reading this fucking smut! Pisses me off is what it does!
I have to admit, the books I read don't even have THAT much swearing in them. Or maybe it's because I've never counted.
actually i always wondered why books never had a rating system
"Stop sitting at the computer all day, read a book" "Okay." "NO STOP THAT, ITS BAD FOR YOUUUUUUUUUUUU"
We need to keep sheltering our children so they grow up to be socially retarded manchildren!
They should be happy they're reading at all. I think I've only met 2 people in the last 3 years in my age group that read anything more than magazines and Facebook posts...
Needs Stephen Fry [video=youtube;NxW2Q_vE8co]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxW2Q_vE8co[/video]
Used to love this in english literature, when you're reading and a swear comes out just over emphasize it
[QUOTE=Lyoko774;36008771]They should be happy they're reading at all. I think I've only met 2 people in the last 3 years in my age group that read anything more than magazines and Facebook posts...[/QUOTE] You're exactly right. Maybe they're not exactly discouraging them from reading, but I think it's just silly to try to protect teens (teens!) from curses in books (books!).
When I was younger (elementary school) I would often go to the library and look in books for swear words with my friends. Although to be honest in the actual books I read I haven't encountered THAT many swear words, and I was a huge book worm who was reading books well above the average 4th grade reading level.
My English teacher assigns us books to read that are filled with profanity. A few years back I read a book that had a sex scene that went on for about 2 paragraphs. It is a lot better than Twilight and everyone just saying I love you every other page and makes the writing seem more believable.
[QUOTE=meppers;36008758]actually i always wondered why books never had a rating system[/QUOTE] I'm not sure we should have ratings at all. I mean, the kind of parent that knows nothing about a game and buys it for their kid is going to buy it whether there's a big, scary M on the box or an E. However, I do understand your point. I think only pictures/paintings have been the only other medium to escape from ratings, and even then some are blocked from younger people (like porn magazines and those useless 'I am 18' pages).
[quote=Comment in the article's source]You'll find more instances of profanity if you spend five minutes in a middle school hallway than you'll find in any of these books.[/quote] True.
God my favorite book is Stephen Colbert's I am America and that has tons of profanity, I don't feel ay different.
Heh, wonder how many teens are already reading stuff like Game of Thrones. Hard to fret about the bad language between all the incest.
I hear the word "nigger" in my school's textbooks.
[QUOTE=cdr248;36008912]My English teacher assigns us books to read that are filled with profanity. A few years back I read a book that had a sex scene that went on for about 2 paragraphs. It is a lot better than Twilight and everyone just saying I love you every other page and makes the writing seem more believable.[/QUOTE] One sex scene? You clearly aren't in a high-level English class. In AP Lit I think there were three books without some sort of extensive sex or rape scene, and we read about one book every week and a half. Keep in mind, almost every one of those was regarded as a piece of classic literature. I'm not surprised that this study came from Brigham Young University. Mormons are a bit obsessed with profanity and the like.
So has the hate train worked its way through comics, rock and roll, rap and video games all the way back to [I]books[/I] now? Shouldn't you just be happy that your kids are fucking literate in this day and age? Or would you prefer they spend the rest of their lives watching re-runs of The Wiggles?
[QUOTE=ASmellyOgre;36009142]One sex scene? You clearly aren't in a high-level English class. In AP Lit I think there were three books without some sort of extensive sex or rape scene, and we read about one book every week and a half. Keep in mind, almost every one of those was regarded as a piece of classic literature. I'm not surprised that this study came from Brigham Young University. Mormons are a bit obsessed with profanity and the like.[/QUOTE] Did your class read The Bluest Eye? It's a fucked up but amazing book.
[QUOTE=Penultimate;36009156]Did your class read The Bluest Eye? It's a fucked up but amazing book.[/QUOTE] No, but we did read One Hundred Years of Solitude.
[QUOTE=elevate;36009127]I hear the word "nigger" in my school's textbooks.[/QUOTE] "Jew" is used as an insult in a lot of books here, but it's a commonly used insult here.
I read the unabridged "The Stand" in middleschool, and I kept getting boners and reading naughty words.
[quote]The "F-word" alone appeared 139 times in Tweak[/quote] I need to post a clip of Louis CK because it fits so well with my thoughts right now. ~0:28 [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waehONGY-yI[/media]
What, no "The Storm" or "A&P?" Infidelity and excruciating detail like a muh.
More reason to pull children away from teen novels seriously go read some crichton or something DECENT
oh no i read Huckleberry Finn that's going to make me racist because it has the n word in it oh no
[QUOTE=Red scout?;36008764]We need to keep sheltering our children so they grow up to be socially retarded manchildren![/QUOTE] The alarming amount of people with adult voices whining like children in online games is re-assuring!
[QUOTE=Ownederd;36009484]oh no i read Huckleberry Finn that's going to make me racist because it has the n word in it oh no[/QUOTE] nigger lol now you're a racist
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.