Misused: Precision F-Strike

Speaking of, when this trope is appleid to characters who are already sailor-mouthed (Like, say, the Angry Video Game Nerd, Jack from Mass Effect 2, John McClane from Die Hard) the troper misusing it is basically saying its OOC for them to be saying "fuck" when they already swear a lot as it is. At best. At worst they're saying its OOC for them to be swearing at all, which is flatout wrong and ridiculous.

Kids cartoons letting out even a "damn" would be a borderline case, right? I remember an ep of Dexters Lab where someone outright said "What's this crap?"

Would it be better to change the first paragraph to, "The Precision F-Strike is when swearing is used in an unusually strong manner to show that things have just gotten really serious. This is in sharp contrast to either the character swearing, or for the overall tone of the work, which may not use swearing much otherwise," or something like that? I mostly wonder if that's better, or if it's better to reverse the statements to something like, "The Precision F-Strike is when swearing is used in an unusually strong manner for either the character swearing, or for the overall tone of the work, which may not use swearing much otherwise. This is to show that things have just gotten really serious."

I'm also thinking the description could also use some pruning, since it's a bit meandering and redundant. The two largest paragraphs basically say the same thing: language is different in different cultures.

I like it! How about this variant though:

"Precision F-Strike is when a character suddenly swears in an uncharacteristically strong manner, or when a swear is unexpectedly used in a work with mild language. It's usually intended to show that shit just got real fucking serious."

edited 11th Sep '15 7:59:31 AM by Rjinswand

What about when a character who never swears at all let's one out?

That's good. As long as "fucking" isn't potholed to Self-Demonstrating Article. It's used several times on the page, so it wouldn't be an example, and it encourages people to use it that way too. It's not a troper pothole, since tropers swear all the fucking time.

That's pretty much as it should be used.

Eh, we can ditch the "fucking". I just inserted it there for fun.

Fine by me. Any other opinions?

I like it. I say go for it.

Yeah, seems like a good start.

Done. What next?

I guess a clear list of guidelines on proper usage and how to avoid slapping it on anything.

Dead thread that didn't pick up after 7 years. Morguing.

Edited by MacronNotes on Mar 2nd 2022 at 6:41:16 AM