Verbal ‘Spice’ Doesn’t Conceal Rotten Writing

Re “A Shroiking Good Idea for These Foul Times,” Commentary, April 21: While I agree with Theodore Roszak’s perception of the excess of cayenne pepper in speech everywhere, I disagree with his assessment of the source of the problem.

The problem is not the overuse of spice but the increasingly substanceless recipes these words are meant to embellish. We’ve nothing left but the spice, as though we’ve opened up the spice cabinet and dipped our spoons straight into the cayenne jar. Even garlic eaten this way would be revolting.

His concluding sentence, “Get blorked, you blevving spludge-nukker! No more shroiking awards for you,” exemplifies this; it’s nothing but pure pepper (though perhaps of an original flavor) sprinkled over an entirely flavorless dish.

If our society bred better cooks, we wouldn’t be resorting to such desperate spicing methods.

Nedda Black

Laguna Beach

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This was an excellent commentary but does not go far enough. Every time I see a warning about “adult language” preceding a TV show, I am insulted. No adult that I know uses the kind of language that is in these shows. I have not heard that type of language since I was a youth. It should be called profane, obscene, gutter or even “youth language,” but certainly not adult.

This type of language does not add anything to the program. If the script is well written and presented by good actors, the program will be successful without the profanities. The use of them only detracts from the integrity of the characters, as if their vocabulary is so limited that they cannot express themselves without their use.

Gordon Guillaume

Glendora

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The first film widely shown in the U.S. to use the F-word was “What’s New, Pussycat” (1965). That it was unexpected and delivered with a French accent may have been why it got past the old production code, was not noted in reviews and sparked no negative reaction, at least nothing reported by Variety or the exhibitor magazines of the time.

However, United Artists was aware enough of its existence to delete it from the internegative used to make 16mm TV syndication prints in the ‘70s and ‘80s, which is probably why most film buffs and social historians are unaware of it. It’s also possible that the word might have been used before that in English adults-only and/or underground films.

Rick Mitchell

Los Angeles