Heckuva?

I wrote earlier that I would reconsider using "words" such as gonna and gotta, but y'know what? That's exactly what people say, that's how they speak--especially athletes. All that is is accurate reporting, isn't it? If I quote some NBA player as saying "going to" or "got to," then it's obviously an attempt at covering up their lack or articulation.
As for heckuva, my prudish editors would never let me get away with using "hell of a," just as I can't use the word suck.

 

One thing that bothers me about threads like this is how annoyed people get by what other people write. Don't like heckuva? Don't put it in your stories. I'm not being judgemental, because I've complained about the same things before. I've just (recently) gotten to a point where what other writers do or don't do has no bearing on what I do.
We just worry about too many things like this that are ultimately inconsequential to readers.

 

I think it just points out that many of us care about how we write and what we do. You can take it or leave it. Nothing wrong with that.

 

I might not have explained this well enough the first time. My point is that you should care about what you write -- not what other people write if all you're doing is criticizing and saying, "Oh, I'm better than that because I would never write something that bad."
Please don't make the assumption that I don't care about my writing because I fail to see the purpose of criticizing how others write.

 

That's a heckuva line of thinking, Billy.

 

OK, but if you keep using "gotta," then you're obliged to use "hafta." Or "I couldina asked for more." Don't go down that path, man. No good can come of it.

There's a fine line between reporting the words people speak and spelling those words out phonetically in print. The former provides a basic service of journalism, the latter is just being a dick.

 

I shoulda stayed in bed.

 

Why didncha?