Cuz they are. More powerful than the spoken word, in my experience.
I am curious why this should be so.
For example, when someone says “Oh, god,” out loud, you know that they are vexed, expressing frustration, maybe surprise. When a character in a book says it, the first questions that pops into your head are “Is this person religious? What religion? What god? How religious are they?”
Or fuck.
Seeing that written ALWAYS makes me pause, no matter how many times I say it out loud. Or write it, for that matter. It’s getting slowly less shocking, but it’s still one of those words that makes me titter ridiculously when written.
I wonder about that though. Why should something that falls effortlessly from our lips or to our ears make us pause and wonder completely different things when we see it written out? Is a different part of our brain responsible for processing writing as opposed to speaking? Which part, exactly? Why does one word bring to mind several connotations when written, but only one when spoken?
This is, I think, one of the things I love about writing. That we can bring to mind so many ideas with the simple choice of words used. It’s also why I think reading your work out loud to edit it is slightly suspect. Spoken word and written word are such different mediums. You wouldn’t think so. You’d think they would be just two versions of the same thing. To an extent they are, but to a much deeper extent, they are not.
Talk to me, three readers! I would love to know what you think of this phenomenon. Does someone have some science they can point to? A theory? An idea? A word that always shocks them or makes them wonder when the author only intended to mimic real dialogue? Or even a way to handle words like “god” and”fuck” that make them less pause-worthy in text?
(Also, onimonipea always throws me for a loop — if the writer uses a word that I don’t think describes the noise they are trying to describe. Sussaruss, for example. That word does not sound like the soft hiss of clothing on skin or green leaves in a gentle breeze to me. You?)
