Pardon My Language:

I was thinking about something David Arroyo said regarding White Tiger.

I also hate that spanish curse words can be printed in a marvel comic because they "dont count" as real swear words. Puta and Puto are not said in casual conversation. I could never say cocksucker or motherfucker in a marvel comic unless its MAX.

Now, I've been enjoying White Tiger. It'll never be one of my favorite books, but I think it's reasonably fun and exciting. I like the main character enough to want to give the book some time to really wow me. But this complaint is something I agree whole-heartedly with.

Farther down in the comments, Ms. Pierce defends her use of Spanish curses:

We use those words--and the word bitch--precisely because they count. This is the street. These are criminals. And we hear these words every day in New York City.

This is a truly disappointing response. I respect Ms. Pierce a lot, especially as it's rare to see a creator in polite discourse with a critic. It's very nice that she's willing to respond seriously to these complaints.

However, this answer is not good enough.

This answer makes it look like she's not reading David's complaint at all. Or at least not thinking about it. Because David, who speaks Spanish fluently, doesn't equate "puta" and related words to "bitch", he equates them with "cocksucker".

Not all curses are equal, and the specific difference here is that "bitch" is something we will see said on television and in print in general young-adult oriented material. "Cocksucker" is not.

I don't doubt that Ms. Pierce has heard words like "puta" used on the street very often. I myself heard the word "cocksucker" on a near-daily basis. (My father would drive me to high school via I-75, and freeway traffic first thing in the morning tended to turn my Dad's Bruce Banner into a veritable verbal Hulk.) That does not make the word printable.

I also, pardon me for saying, doubt "bitch" was the worst English profanity Ms. Pierce has heard in her experience. But there is a reason the harder words aren't used in non-MAX type comics. This is a standard that should be applied to foreign languages as well as English.

I understand the temptation to use foreign curse words. To get away with saying things the censors/editors would NEVER allow in English. To pull a fast one on the bureaucrats. It's fun and adds color!

But it's stupid. Especially in the case of Spanish, which is, if you'll recall the second most prominent language in the United States. The same reasons that we feel "cocksucker" to be inappropriate for a comic book page should certainly apply to "puta" considering how much of the audience likely speaks both languages.

From the sound of Ms. Pierce's response, I don't think she is using the words maliciously. It sounds like she's making the common non-native speaker's mistake of underestimating the level of her profanity. Curses are the hardest part of a foreign language to learn, as teachers tend to avoid the subject at all. It's natural to hear a word in context and assume that it is the equivalent of "bitch" versus "cocksucker".

I'm not saying Ms. Pierce should avoid using Spanish curses altogether, however I would suggest that she consult with a few native speakers first (I suggest a few because no one ever completely agrees on a question of "how offensive is this?"). It's not a matter of censorship here, it's a matter of respect.