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Non-Road Boards => Off-Topic => Topic started by: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 12:40:58 AM

Title: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 12:40:58 AM
I'm 45, but apparently a lot of younger people think nobody cussed back in my day. But I guarantee you they did. Every single day.

I started 1st grade way back in 1979, and kids at school were already throwing the F-word around fluently. And they were flipping the bird all the time too. (This was at a Catholic school, incidentally.) This was before we had cable TV.

They usually didn't cuss in front of adults, but there was always that one kid who always got mad and yelled out the F-word in front of the teacher.

I actually remember hearing adults cuss before I was even old enough to start school. So this was 1977 at the latest.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Max Rockatansky on December 28, 2018, 12:50:41 AM
Considering my Grand Father took great pride in teaching me all the swears when I was little that is a definite yes.  I noticed people in Detroit Area who were in blue collar work swore a lot more than people with white collar backgrounds.  Even saying "Hell"  and "damn"  we're a big deal for my parents. 
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Scott5114 on December 28, 2018, 01:57:46 AM
Several older Presidents were known to cuss pretty frequently, including Harry S Truman and LBJ.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 06:51:49 AM
Goes back even further than that - Deadwood is accurate in that regard.

My guess is that this misconception comes from the fact that there was little or no profanity in the movies and TV shows from that era.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Brandon on December 28, 2018, 07:24:58 AM
Oh fuck yeah, they did.

Jean Shepard in "A Christmas Story" doesn't pull any punches with it, and that was about 1940.

QuoteIn the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.

QuoteNow, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master. But, I chickened out and said the first name that came to mind.

QuoteI have since heard of people under extreme duress speaking in strange tongues. I became conscious that a steady torrent of obscenities and swearing of all kinds was pouring out of me as I screamed.

And, of course this one:

QuoteOnly I didn't say "Fudge." I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Brandon on December 28, 2018, 07:26:24 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 06:51:49 AM
Goes back even further than that - Deadwood is accurate in that regard.

My guess is that this misconception comes from the fact that there was little or no profanity in the movies and TV shows from that era.

Hays Code (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code).  That thing stifled movie making for a few decades, IMHO.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 08:16:23 AM
Quote from: Brandon on December 28, 2018, 07:26:24 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 06:51:49 AM
Goes back even further than that - Deadwood is accurate in that regard.

My guess is that this misconception comes from the fact that there was little or no profanity in the movies and TV shows from that era.

Hays Code (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code).  That thing stifled movie making for a few decades, IMHO.
Yeah, it was quite spectacular. The movie version of The Seven-Year Itch had to end with the protagonist running back to his wife before he could sleep with Marilyn Monroe (in the play, the protagonist and the Marilyn Monroe character have sex). The original Ocean's Eleven had to end with the money from the robber being inadvertently incinerated, because you couldn't show protagonists committing a crime and getting away with it.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: kphoger on December 28, 2018, 02:34:07 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 12:40:58 AM
They usually didn't cuss in front of adults

This is the biggest difference, in my opinion.  Youth nowadays have no problem throwing around that kind of language around both their elders and other people's kids.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: US71 on December 28, 2018, 02:56:23 PM
My dad swore like a proverbial sailor when he was upset.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Big John on December 28, 2018, 03:10:45 PM
^^ Mine too, even when he was not upset.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 04:33:55 PM
When it comes to movies, older childrens ones have more cusses.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: MNHighwayMan on December 28, 2018, 04:54:38 PM
Quote from: US71 on December 28, 2018, 02:56:23 PM
My dad swore like a proverbial sailor when he was upset.

My grandfather takes that one quite literally. He was in the Navy during Vietnam and comes up with the most clever and dirty cusses when something pisses him off. I find it hilarious, but it seems so rude to laugh when he's pissed.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 05:33:59 PM
Something funny happened once when I was in 1st grade, but the word in this case was "farted", which is pretty mild. Some kid in my class passed gas, and I yelled out that he "farted." Then the teacher corrected me and said the proper term is "flatuated."
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: NE2 on December 28, 2018, 06:24:49 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 05:33:59 PM
Something funny happened once when I was in 1st grade, but the word in this case was "farted", which is pretty mild. Some kid in my class passed gas, and I yelled out that he "farted." Then the teacher corrected me and said the proper term is "flatuated."
My younger brother and I once compared notes on the worst profanity we knew. First I attempted to verify that I wasn't telling him anything he didn't know by asking what letter it began with. His was fartknocker (technically "fratnokcer"). Oops.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 06:26:26 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 28, 2018, 06:24:49 PM
My younger brother and I once compared notes on the worst profanity we knew.

I remember when I used to think "crap-up" was the worst profanity in the world.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Max Rockatansky on December 28, 2018, 06:35:02 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 04:33:55 PM
When it comes to movies, older childrens ones have more cusses.

Back in the older days the rating system was way more lenient than it is today.  There was some PG movies back in the 1970s and 1980s that would easily in R rating territory if they were made today. 
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 06:36:47 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 28, 2018, 06:35:02 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 04:33:55 PM
When it comes to movies, older childrens ones have more cusses.

Back in the older days the rating system was way more lenient than it is today.  There was some PG movies back in the 1970s and 1980s that would easily in R rating territory if they were made today.
Were the ratings more followed? Most of my classmates have watched r rated movies.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Max Rockatansky on December 28, 2018, 06:41:35 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 06:36:47 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 28, 2018, 06:35:02 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 04:33:55 PM
When it comes to movies, older childrens ones have more cusses.

Back in the older days the rating system was way more lenient than it is today.  There was some PG movies back in the 1970s and 1980s that would easily in R rating territory if they were made today.
Were the ratings more followed? Most of my classmates have watched r rated movies.

There wasn't PG-13 until the mid-1980s and getting an R rating required quite bit of graphic content.  For example the original Poltergeist was rated PG when it was released in 1982.  Said movie includes scenes of a guy ripping his face off piece by piece and lots of fleshy gore.  I'd attribute the more mature PG movies of yesteryear to a less sensitive viewing public than today. 
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 07:25:44 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 05:33:59 PM
Something funny happened once when I was in 1st grade, but the word in this case was "farted", which is pretty mild. Some kid in my class passed gas, and I yelled out that he "farted." Then the teacher corrected me and said the proper term is "flatuated."
We weren't allowed to say "fart"  growing up and I intend to strongly discourage my son from doing so. We had to say "make a buster,"  which unfortunately meant that everything including the word "buster"  (Blockbuster Video, Peanut Buster Parfait, Buster Brown) now had a double meaning.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 08:03:56 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 06:36:47 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 28, 2018, 06:35:02 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 04:33:55 PM
When it comes to movies, older childrens ones have more cusses.

Back in the older days the rating system was way more lenient than it is today.  There was some PG movies back in the 1970s and 1980s that would easily in R rating territory if they were made today.
Were the ratings more followed? Most of my classmates have watched r rated movies.
In theaters, they were less followed - my mom bought tickets for the neighbor kid and me to see Demolition Man in the theater (I was 14, he was 12 or 13). Things got so tight post-Columbine that I couldn't buy a ticket for my brother and me to see BASEketball (I was 19 and he was 15). We both had to sneak in.

In terms of what was shown at home, they were followed as much as they are today. I had classmates who'd seen R-rated movies at a much younger age than you (R means "no admittance for anyone under 17 without a parent or guardian,"  not "no one under 17 is allowed to see it" ).
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: vdeane on December 29, 2018, 12:10:35 AM
Also worth noting that the ratings meant what they said.  G was "general audiences", not "kids", and PG was "parental guidance" rather than "everyone".  PG-13 didn't exist at the time (it was created after Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom revealed that parents couldn't be trusted to keep young kids from watching movies with unsuitable content).
https://www.npr.org/2013/06/06/189189054/when-g-movies-are-for-kids-do-kids-avoid-g-movies
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: kphoger on December 29, 2018, 10:42:18 AM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 08:03:56 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 06:36:47 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 28, 2018, 06:35:02 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 28, 2018, 04:33:55 PM
When it comes to movies, older childrens ones have more cusses.

Back in the older days the rating system was way more lenient than it is today.  There was some PG movies back in the 1970s and 1980s that would easily in R rating territory if they were made today.
Were the ratings more followed? Most of my classmates have watched r rated movies.
In theaters, they were less followed - my mom bought tickets for the neighbor kid and me to see Demolition Man in the theater (I was 14, he was 12 or 13). Things got so tight post-Columbine that I couldn't buy a ticket for my brother and me to see BASEketball (I was 19 and he was 15). We both had to sneak in.

In terms of what was shown at home, they were followed as much as they are today. I had classmates who'd seen R-rated movies at a much younger age than you (R means "no admittance for anyone under 17 without a parent or guardian,"  not "no one under 17 is allowed to see it" ).

Growing up in small-town Kansas in the 1990s, I used to see the movie at the theater every week-end, no matter what it was.  For 'R' rated movies, all I had to do was call my parents and have them give verbal permission to the ticket-clerk.  Back before that, in suburban Chicago in the 1980s, I used to rent 'R' rated movies for my family to watch together from the local video store.  I was probably about seven or eight years old at the time.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: qguy on December 29, 2018, 05:01:22 PM
People have always cursed or otherwise used vulgar or coarse language, of course, but the difference was that they did so mostly in private, not very much in public, and almost never in mixed company or in front of children. When coarse language was heard in public, it was mild compared to today. People simply did not casually and unashamedly toss around F- and S-bombs in their ordinary speech like they do today. Could you find pockets of it? Sure (I was in the military; I could provide many examples), but that would virtually universally be in specialized populations or circumstances, not general society.

This is part of a larger phenomenon that some sociologists have called "the death of ought." IOW, a growing percentage of people do not do things or avoid things because they think they "ought to" or "ought not to" but only because they "want to" or "don't want to." They have no sense of ought, only of want. They see themselves as having zero responsibilities toward their neighbors or toward the community as a whole.

As an example, I was in a local supermarket recently and passed by the customer service counter. A man was berating the girl behind the counter using extremely foul language, including the F-bomb. (I don't know why he wasn't already tossed by security for abusing an employee, but that's another question.) After just thirty seconds, I couldn't stand any more of it and told the man to stop using such foul language in front of the children who were present. He started unloading on me, of course. "Who the F do you think you are, telling me what I can and can't say, wherever the F I F-ing well please?" I turned to the employees in customer service and said, "Are you going to allow that to continue?" They just sorta impotently raised their hands as if to say, "We're not getting involved." When those being abused think they can't or shouldn't do something, whatever I try to do will have zero effect, so I just walked away.

Because of the death of ought, a growing percentage of people self-centeredly think they should be able to do whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, with no consequences to themselves, and no matter the consequences to other people. Many believe it's a growing problem, with long-term negative consequences for the cohesiveness of society.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: michravera on December 29, 2018, 05:09:00 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 12:40:58 AM
I'm 45, but apparently a lot of younger people think nobody cussed back in my day. But I guarantee you they did. Every single day.

I started 1st grade way back in 1979, and kids at school were already throwing the F-word around fluently. And they were flipping the bird all the time too. (This was at a Catholic school, incidentally.) This was before we had cable TV.

They usually didn't cuss in front of adults, but there was always that one kid who always got mad and yelled out the F-word in front of the teacher.

I actually remember hearing adults cuss before I was even old enough to start school. So this was 1977 at the latest.

I remember sounding out the F-word for my parents that was written on a table at a drive in. This would had to have been in 1966. I definitely heard the word at my first recess in public school from first graders.

Sailors swore, well, like sailors all throughout history. I am sure that sailors in the time of the great migration (c 20000 BCE) did.


The reason that you didn't hear it on TV was that sponsors would pull their sponsorship and advertisers would pull their ads.

The Hayes Code kept a lot of nudity, sex, and salty language out of the movies until a number of producers told the Hayes Office to fuck themselves in about 1963. Movies that weren't originally released in the US didn't have the same restrictions. A few years later, the Supreme Court told movie makers "Produce what you like. It's not illegal to make the film. If the locals shut you down, you can sue them and see what a jury says about it."

Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 05:16:01 PM
Quote from: qguy on December 29, 2018, 05:01:22 PMThis is part of a larger phenomenon that some sociologists have called "the death of ought." IOW, a growing percentage of people do not do things or avoid things because they think they "ought to" or "ought not to" but only because they "want to" or "don't want to." They have no sense of ought, only of want. They see themselves as having zero responsibilities toward their neighbors or toward the community as a whole.
Yeah, who would've thought there'd be a downside to rugged individualism.

Quote from: qguy on December 29, 2018, 05:01:22 PMAs an example, I was in a local supermarket recently and passed by the customer service counter. A man was berating the girl behind the counter using extremely foul language, including the F-bomb. (I don't know why he wasn't already tossed by security for abusing an employee, but that's another question.) After just thirty seconds, I couldn't stand any more of it and told the man to stop using such foul language in front of the children who were present. He started unloading on me, of course. "Who the F do you think you are, telling me what I can and can't say, wherever the F I F-ing well please?" I turned to the employees in customer service and said, "Are you going to allow that to continue?" They just sorta impotently raised their hands as if to say, "We're not getting involved." When those being abused think they can't or shouldn't do something, whatever I try to do will have zero effect, so I just walked away.
Unfortunately store customers have been berating store employees at Christmastime since time immemorial.  The recent phenomena of taking power away from front-line employees and taking "the customer is always right" to extremes by rewarding customers who make a stink, even when they're wrong, doesn't help.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: hotdogPi on December 29, 2018, 05:26:37 PM
Quote
Quote from: qguy on December 29, 2018, 05:01:22 PMAs an example, I was in a local supermarket recently and passed by the customer service counter. A man was berating the girl behind the counter using extremely foul language, including the F-bomb. (I don't know why he wasn't already tossed by security for abusing an employee, but that's another question.) After just thirty seconds, I couldn't stand any more of it and told the man to stop using such foul language in front of the children who were present. He started unloading on me, of course. "Who the F do you think you are, telling me what I can and can't say, wherever the F I F-ing well please?" I turned to the employees in customer service and said, "Are you going to allow that to continue?" They just sorta impotently raised their hands as if to say, "We're not getting involved." When those being abused think they can't or shouldn't do something, whatever I try to do will have zero effect, so I just walked away.
Unfortunately store customers have been berating store employees at Christmastime since time immemorial.  The recent phenomena of taking power away from front-line employees and taking "the customer is always right" to extremes by rewarding customers who make a stink, even when they're wrong, doesn't help.

I work at Stop & Shop. One cashier swears at the cash register*, although she tries (not always successfully) not to when there's a customer there.

Then there are the parents at their cars saying to "get the #*@% in your seat" to their children while I'm waiting for them to empty their shopping cart so that I can take it back in.

(Bonus points if you can figure out why I used those symbols specifically.)

*Not in that way, unless the cash register is malfunctioning like it does occasionally.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 05:28:26 PM
3827?
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 05:30:15 PM
I remember once about 15 or 20 years ago I was at the grocery store up the street and there was a woman cussing in front of her daughter who was only about 2 or 3. The woman was mad because someone allegedly stole money from her, and she declared, "I'm gonna f--- her up bad!" Then the little girl in the stroller said, "You're gonna f--- her up bad!"
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: hotdogPi on December 29, 2018, 05:30:41 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 05:28:26 PM
3827?

Are you using a different keyboard? The last digit is a 5 on mine.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 05:33:15 PM
Quote from: 1 on December 29, 2018, 05:30:41 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 05:28:26 PM
3827?

Are you using a different keyboard? The last digit is a 5 on mine.
No, you're right, 3825.

Still don't get it.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 05:33:31 PM
Also, just a few months ago, I was at Kroger, and there was some kid who was about 10 throwing a huge temper tantrum. He used every word in the book, and he went on like this for at least a half-hour. I think he was mad because he got a really bad toy from one of those gumball-type machines that dispenses a random toy.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 05:43:45 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 05:33:31 PMI think he was mad because he got a really bad toy from one of those gumball-type machines that dispenses a random toy.
Man, that's just the worst.  Also terrible: When you try to get one of those NFL stickers, but it's for a team you hate.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Beltway on December 29, 2018, 05:56:09 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 28, 2018, 05:33:59 PM
Something funny happened once when I was in 1st grade, but the word in this case was "farted", which is pretty mild. Some kid in my class passed gas, and I yelled out that he "farted." Then the teacher corrected me and said the proper term is "flatuated."

From a 1960s joke book:

Drunk comes into a bar and sits down next to a couple.  After about a minute, he lets out a rude odiferous zephyr.

The man looks at the drunk and says, "How dare you flatulate before my wife!"

Drunk turns and says, "Hey, if I had known it was her turn, I would have have let her go first!"
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: kphoger on December 29, 2018, 06:36:49 PM
Quote from: qguy on December 29, 2018, 05:01:22 PM
People have always cursed or otherwise used vulgar or coarse language, of course, but the difference was that they did so mostly in private, not very much in public, and almost never in mixed company or in front of children. When coarse language was heard in public, it was mild compared to today. People simply did not casually and unashamedly toss around F- and S-bombs in their ordinary speech like they do today. Could you find pockets of it? Sure (I was in the military; I could provide many examples), but that would virtually universally be in specialized populations or circumstances, not general society.

This is part of a larger phenomenon that some sociologists have called "the death of ought." IOW, a growing percentage of people do not do things or avoid things because they think they "ought to" or "ought not to" but only because they "want to" or "don't want to." They have no sense of ought, only of want. They see themselves as having zero responsibilities toward their neighbors or toward the community as a whole.

As an example, I was in a local supermarket recently and passed by the customer service counter. A man was berating the girl behind the counter using extremely foul language, including the F-bomb. (I don't know why he wasn't already tossed by security for abusing an employee, but that's another question.) After just thirty seconds, I couldn't stand any more of it and told the man to stop using such foul language in front of the children who were present. He started unloading on me, of course. "Who the F do you think you are, telling me what I can and can't say, wherever the F I F-ing well please?" I turned to the employees in customer service and said, "Are you going to allow that to continue?" They just sorta impotently raised their hands as if to say, "We're not getting involved." When those being abused think they can't or shouldn't do something, whatever I try to do will have zero effect, so I just walked away.

Because of the death of ought, a growing percentage of people self-centeredly think they should be able to do whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, with no consequences to themselves, and no matter the consequences to other people. Many believe it's a growing problem, with long-term negative consequences for the cohesiveness of society.

A couple of years ago, my family and I were heading from our car into Wal-Mart.  There was a couple in their car, parked along the fire lane, and the lady was just cussing up a storm on her cell phone with the window rolled down.  I politely requested that she watch her language around my children.  She then proceeded to unload on me with just as foul of language, with my wife and children standing by to hear every word of it.  Eventually, after a couple of minutes of our back-and-forth, her husband got out of the driver's side, came around the car, and asked menacingly:  "Do you have a problem?" (he a big burly black man, and I a young skinny white guy).  I replied:  "Yes, would you please have your wife watch her language in front of my children?"  He mumbled something to me and got back in the car.  Neither one of them once apologized for their behavior.

Now, it's not that I can't tolerate profanity.  I work with cable guys for a living, after all, and some of them can rival sailors when it comes to language.  But there's a difference between shooting the breeze among friends and conducting yourself in a public space.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: NE2 on December 29, 2018, 06:43:06 PM
I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: MNHighwayMan on December 29, 2018, 06:45:31 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 29, 2018, 06:36:49 PM
But there's a difference between shooting the breeze among friends and conducting yourself in a public space.

I think it's really this difference that is deteriorating. My parents find a narrower band of language acceptable in public than I do, and I think it comes from the difference in what we perceive as acceptable audiences for our respective language.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: kphoger on December 29, 2018, 06:49:20 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 29, 2018, 06:43:06 PM
I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.

That was quite before my time.  My grandparents' era.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: kevinb1994 on December 29, 2018, 06:50:17 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 29, 2018, 06:49:20 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 29, 2018, 06:43:06 PM
I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.

That was quite before my time.  My grandparents' era.

Yes, that was way back in the day. Also my grandparents' era.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 07:17:07 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 29, 2018, 06:43:06 PM
I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.
Probably the same number that lionize the Confederacy.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 07:20:43 PM
Quote from: NE2 on December 29, 2018, 06:43:06 PM
I wonder how many people here miss the days when it was more acceptable to say пigger than fuck.

Probably not many. This isn't Facebook.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 07:23:53 PM
I can't say I've ever seen one of my Facebook friends use a racial slur, but if they did, they'd cease being my friend shortly afterwards.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: ErmineNotyours on December 29, 2018, 07:44:30 PM
My mom was an emigrant from Georgia to Seattle, from not the richest family.  She remarried a more formal Boeing engineer and had two more children.  My mom let my half-brother watch R-rated VHS videos with language and violence--but not sex!  When my half-brother was three, there was a grocery strike, and my step dad had to shop in the more formal QFC, because they settled the strike early because, at their prices, they could afford to.  With my half-brother on my shoulders, he was shouting obscenities at the top of his lungs in the produce section, and my step-dad was trying to maintain his dignity without doing anything about it.  Baby's first words!

Later it was fun listening to him try to curse.  He would invent new combinations such as, "you box of shit!"  When we were watching Saturday Night Live time shifted on VHS, a Chris Rock character was hawking a cologne called "Bitch Come Runnin'".  So my half-brother repeated in a sing-song kid voice, "Bitch Come Runnin'".  It's funny when your younger brother learns to curse.  It's not so fun when it's your son.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 07:49:23 PM
About 20 years ago, I used to invent funny sounding words that sounded like cuss words, in order to evade censorware at libraries.

I did not invent 'skeezewocker', though I did propagate it. I did however invent 'vivvlyvoovler' and 'noxawoxawoxawoxalism'.

Apparently, Mad magazine used to do the same thing.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 08:03:13 PM
Quote from: ErmineNotyours on December 29, 2018, 07:44:30 PMIt's funny when your younger brother learns to curse.  It's not so fun when it's your son.
It was adorable when our niece had a potty mouth, ESPECIALLY since she has an English accent, but I'd be horrified if it was my son.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: kphoger on December 29, 2018, 09:08:40 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 07:49:23 PM
About 20 years ago, I used to invent funny sounding words that sounded like cuss words, in order to evade censorware at libraries.

I did not invent 'skeezewocker', though I did propagate it. I did however invent 'vivvlyvoovler' and 'noxawoxawoxawoxalism'.

Apparently, Mad magazine used to do the same thing.

Am I the only one who thought of this? ...

Quote from: The Simpsons, Season 12, Episode 13
Kent, the young people today, they think comedy is dirty words. It's not. It's words that sound dirty, like "mukluk."
- [Both Laughing]
- [Krusty] Mukluk. You like that? No charge. Mukluk. [Laughs] Mukluk.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Roadgeekteen on December 29, 2018, 09:37:01 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 07:49:23 PM
About 20 years ago, I used to invent funny sounding words that sounded like cuss words, in order to evade censorware at libraries.

I did not invent 'skeezewocker', though I did propagate it. I did however invent 'vivvlyvoovler' and 'noxawoxawoxawoxalism'.

Apparently, Mad magazine used to do the same thing.
These don't sound like curse words.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 09:41:15 PM
I remember once when I was about 10 years old, I drew a picture of Ed McMahon yelling, "SHUT THE CRAP UP!", and I remember hiding it from my mom.

Also, at school they gave us a coloring book about the metric system, and one part said to draw a picture of the President giving a speech about it. So I drew a guy at a podium saying, "This whole damn country should use the metric system!" I remember hiding that from my mom too.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Roadgeekteen on December 29, 2018, 09:58:53 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 09:41:15 PM
I remember once when I was about 10 years old, I drew a picture of Ed McMahon yelling, "SHUT THE CRAP UP!", and I remember hiding it from my mom.

Also, at school they gave us a coloring book about the metric system, and one part said to draw a picture of the President giving a speech about it. So I drew a guy at a podium saying, "This whole damn country should use the metric system!" I remember hiding that from my mom too.
But crap isn't really a swear word.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: triplemultiplex on December 29, 2018, 11:19:28 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 08:03:56 PM
In theaters, they were less followed - my mom bought tickets for the neighbor kid and me to see Demolition Man in the theater (I was 14, he was 12 or 13). Things got so tight post-Columbine that I couldn't buy a ticket for my brother and me to see BASEketball (I was 19 and he was 15). We both had to sneak in.

Baseketball came out in 1998, the year before Columbine.
But you're not wrong about movie theaters post-Columbine.  The South Park movie dropped a couple months afterward and the pearl-clutchers out there made it harder for youths to get in to see it. In fact, South Park ended up making a shit-ton of money for that crappy Will Smith movie "Wild Wild West" because teens would buy tickets to that PG13 shitpile and then sneak into South Park.

Which, if I may; what exactly was the logic there?  "Duh, I heard some swears so now I'm gonna shoot everyone..."?
Ironically the central plot in the South Park movie is an ad-absurdum about censorship going too far to the point of literally fighting a war because of a movie.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: qguy on December 29, 2018, 11:26:58 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 29, 2018, 05:16:01 PM
Quote from: qguy on December 29, 2018, 05:01:22 PMThis is part of a larger phenomenon that some sociologists have called "the death of ought." IOW, a growing percentage of people do not do things or avoid things because they think they "ought to" or "ought not to" but only because they "want to" or "don't want to." They have no sense of ought, only of want. They see themselves as having zero responsibilities toward their neighbors or toward the community as a whole.
Yeah, who would've thought there'd be a downside to rugged individualism.

The death of ought is not a downside to rugged individualism, it's a downside to rugged individualism when it's decoupled from responsibility to the community. Big difference. Both operating together is a force of composition. Either without the other is a force of decomposition. The latter without the former tends toward tyranny. The former without the latter tends toward anarchy.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Beltway on December 29, 2018, 11:28:11 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 29, 2018, 09:58:53 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 09:41:15 PM
I remember once when I was about 10 years old, I drew a picture of Ed McMahon yelling, "SHUT THE CRAP UP!", and I remember hiding it from my mom.
Also, at school they gave us a coloring book about the metric system, and one part said to draw a picture of the President giving a speech about it. So I drew a guy at a podium saying, "This whole damn country should use the metric system!" I remember hiding that from my mom too.
But crap isn't really a swear word.

It is a "swear word lite", substituting for another swear word.  Like darn, heck, geez, frick, gosh, crikey, dad gum, tarnation, sam hill, good grief, to name a few.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Roadgeekteen on December 29, 2018, 11:30:29 PM
Quote from: Beltway on December 29, 2018, 11:28:11 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 29, 2018, 09:58:53 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 09:41:15 PM
I remember once when I was about 10 years old, I drew a picture of Ed McMahon yelling, "SHUT THE CRAP UP!", and I remember hiding it from my mom.
Also, at school they gave us a coloring book about the metric system, and one part said to draw a picture of the President giving a speech about it. So I drew a guy at a podium saying, "This whole damn country should use the metric system!" I remember hiding that from my mom too.
But crap isn't really a swear word.

It is a "swear word lite", substituting for another swear word.  Like darn, heck, geez, frick, gosh, crikey, dad gum, tarnation, sam hill, good grief, to name a few.
Good Grief doesn't fit with the others.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Beltway on December 29, 2018, 11:32:00 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 29, 2018, 11:30:29 PM
Quote from: Beltway on December 29, 2018, 11:28:11 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 29, 2018, 09:58:53 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 09:41:15 PM
I remember once when I was about 10 years old, I drew a picture of Ed McMahon yelling, "SHUT THE CRAP UP!", and I remember hiding it from my mom.
Also, at school they gave us a coloring book about the metric system, and one part said to draw a picture of the President giving a speech about it. So I drew a guy at a podium saying, "This whole damn country should use the metric system!" I remember hiding that from my mom too.
But crap isn't really a swear word.
It is a "swear word lite", substituting for another swear word.  Like darn, heck, geez, frick, gosh, crikey, dad gum, tarnation, sam hill, good grief, to name a few.
Good Grief doesn't fit with the others.

Think!
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: TheHighwayMan3561 on December 30, 2018, 12:27:32 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 29, 2018, 09:58:53 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 09:41:15 PM
I remember once when I was about 10 years old, I drew a picture of Ed McMahon yelling, "SHUT THE CRAP UP!", and I remember hiding it from my mom.

Also, at school they gave us a coloring book about the metric system, and one part said to draw a picture of the President giving a speech about it. So I drew a guy at a podium saying, "This whole damn country should use the metric system!" I remember hiding that from my mom too.
But crap isn't really a swear word.

I was given pretty harsh responses the first time my dad heard me say "this sucks"  and "crap" . He was also a guy who could drop a few F-bombs now and then, so it probably was a "don't be like me"  response.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Brandon on December 30, 2018, 08:33:24 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on December 29, 2018, 09:58:53 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 29, 2018, 09:41:15 PM
I remember once when I was about 10 years old, I drew a picture of Ed McMahon yelling, "SHUT THE CRAP UP!", and I remember hiding it from my mom.

Also, at school they gave us a coloring book about the metric system, and one part said to draw a picture of the President giving a speech about it. So I drew a guy at a podium saying, "This whole damn country should use the metric system!" I remember hiding that from my mom too.
But crap isn't really a swear word.

Define swear word.  Some of what we call "swear" words are just the Anglo-Saxon terms instead of the Norman French terms.
Fuck - Fornicate
Shit - Defecate

Same reason we have Pig/Pork and Cow/Beef.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 30, 2018, 09:12:26 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on December 29, 2018, 11:19:28 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on December 28, 2018, 08:03:56 PM
In theaters, they were less followed - my mom bought tickets for the neighbor kid and me to see Demolition Man in the theater (I was 14, he was 12 or 13). Things got so tight post-Columbine that I couldn't buy a ticket for my brother and me to see BASEketball (I was 19 and he was 15). We both had to sneak in.

Baseketball came out in 1998, the year before Columbine.
But you're not wrong about movie theaters post-Columbine.  The South Park movie dropped a couple months afterward and the pearl-clutchers out there made it harder for youths to get in to see it. In fact, South Park ended up making a shit-ton of money for that crappy Will Smith movie "Wild Wild West" because teens would buy tickets to that PG13 shitpile and then sneak into South Park.

Which, if I may; what exactly was the logic there?  "Duh, I heard some swears so now I'm gonna shoot everyone..."?
Ironically the central plot in the South Park movie is an ad-absurdum about censorship going too far to the point of literally fighting a war because of a movie.
Ah, maybe it was the South Park movie I was thinking of.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: english si on December 30, 2018, 09:41:56 AM
Quote from: Brandon on December 30, 2018, 08:33:24 AMSome of what we call "swear" words are just the Anglo-Saxon terms instead of the Norman French terms.
Billy the bastard was a right cucking funt and here's yet another horror of the tyrannous Norman Yoke he put England under that we're still trying to overthrow...

The funny thing is is that sometimes these Anglo-Saxon words are paired with an apology of "pardon my French".
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: GaryV on December 30, 2018, 12:58:39 PM
Quote from: Brandon on December 30, 2018, 08:33:24 AM

Define swear word.  Some of what we call "swear" words are just the Anglo-Saxon terms instead of the Norman French terms.
Fuck - Fornicate
Shit - Defecate


But there is also merde ...
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: ce929wax on December 30, 2018, 02:21:31 PM
I can cuss like a sailor and wasn't always careful about it when I was younger, but now I try to gauge my audience. 

When I was a kid, my little buddies and I cussed like sailors, but we would get yelled at if we did it around adults.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: kphoger on December 30, 2018, 03:05:23 PM
Quote from: ce929wax on December 30, 2018, 02:21:31 PM
When I was a kid, my little buddies and I cussed like sailors, but we would get yelled at if we did it around adults.

I remember having a man come out of his house with a baseball bat at me, when my friend and I were riding our bikes and shouting profanely down the street to each other and we woke his wife up from a nap with it.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 30, 2018, 04:25:52 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 30, 2018, 03:05:23 PM
Quote from: ce929wax on December 30, 2018, 02:21:31 PM
When I was a kid, my little buddies and I cussed like sailors, but we would get yelled at if we did it around adults.

I remember having a man come out of his house with a baseball bat at me, when my friend and I were riding our bikes and shouting profanely down the street to each other and we woke his wife up from a nap with it.
One time me and some other kids were flipping people off from the back of the school bus, and one guy followed the bus till we got off and threatened to kick our asses.

How bad of a day do you have to be having that you'd threaten to kick an eleven-year-old's ass?
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 30, 2018, 04:44:57 PM
We used to go "sh...it...shit!" to the tune of the segment on 'The Electric Company' with the faces that spit words at each other. (Anyone else remember what I'm talking about here?)
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: bandit957 on December 30, 2018, 04:49:22 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 30, 2018, 04:44:57 PM
We used to go "sh...it...shit!" to the tune of the segment on 'The Electric Company' with the faces that spit words at each other. (Anyone else remember what I'm talking about here?)

This is what I mean...



We used to go "sh...it...shit!" and "d...amn...damn!"
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: hbelkins on December 30, 2018, 07:06:01 PM
Wasn't "Baseketball" the one that had Dale Earnhardt doing a cameo as a taxi driver with the number "3" on the side?
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: abefroman329 on December 30, 2018, 07:09:49 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 30, 2018, 07:06:01 PM
Wasn't "Baseketball" the one that had Dale Earnhardt doing a cameo as a taxi driver with the number "3" on the side?
Yes, it was.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: Roadgeekteen on December 30, 2018, 09:19:01 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 30, 2018, 04:49:22 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on December 30, 2018, 04:44:57 PM
We used to go "sh...it...shit!" to the tune of the segment on 'The Electric Company' with the faces that spit words at each other. (Anyone else remember what I'm talking about here?)

This is what I mean...



We used to go "sh...it...shit!" and "d...amn...damn!"
I often say the "sh" part but don't finish the whole thing.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: SCtoKC on December 30, 2018, 09:52:48 PM
I remember being shocked that my dad knew all Seven Words from the George Carlin routine (I was around 15 when he repeated them in front of me).  My parents rarely cursed in front of me as a child, and when they did it was pretty mild stuff like "damn," "hell," or the occasional "shit" (which we always called my grandma's favorite word).  Of course, I was saying most of the Seven Words among my friends by this time, but it was still weird for me hearing an adult say it.
Title: Re: People really did cuss in the olden days
Post by: ce929wax on December 30, 2018, 11:26:17 PM
I did call my principal an asshole when I was in fifth grade (he was one).  He yanked me off the desk when I hummed the final jeopardy music when he said I had 30 seconds to get off the desk.