1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: Damn it to hell. Well, that got your attention, right, 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:08,119 Speaker 1: How and why did we start cursing, swearing, even gesturing 3 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 1: when we got angry, or were simply shocked or amused 4 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 1: by something we saw, or because of something somebody did 5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: to us. I'm Patty Steele. What the started the cursing trend? 6 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: That's next on the backstory? The backstory is back. Sometimes 7 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: don't you just want to grit your teeth and spew 8 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: out some vile language. I know it's not very classy, 9 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,479 Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, it's a release 10 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: of sorts. In fact, Mark Twain said that under certain circumstances, 11 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 1: profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer. I guess 12 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: what people have been swearing for at least as long 13 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: as they've been praying. He also said there ought to 14 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: be a room in every house to swear in. It's 15 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: dangerous to repress an emotion like that. How did it start? 16 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: And how has cursing evolved? Well? Actually, did you know 17 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: that all mammals have an impulse to vocalize when feeling 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: strong emotions pain, fear, joy, even sexual excitement. A good 19 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: scream gives us a sense of release from all those feelings. 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: Cursing increases our heart rate, even makes us sweat, but 21 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: it helps us deal with emotional upset, and studies show 22 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: a good swear word can even relieve physical pain. Of course, 23 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: how we curse today is really pretty different from how 24 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: people cursed centuries ago. What people consider to be cursing 25 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: has always depended on what was I don't know, sort 26 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: of taboo at that given point in time. It might 27 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: be considered crude, or it might be blasphemous. The earliest 28 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: expletives were phrases that had to do with religion. For instance, 29 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 1: some of the worst curses in medieval days included God's bones, 30 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: God's nails, or really any thing to do with God 31 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: that wasn't religious. In the fourteen and fifteen hundreds, cursing 32 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: was actually pretty much accepted as a perfectly normal way 33 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: to add emphasis to what you were saying. Some popular 34 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: curses included calling someone a licorice, glutton, freckled, bitter jobber, 35 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: noal goose cap or a ninny lobcock. All name calling 36 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:26,119 Speaker 1: in those days, but amazingly one of the worst curses 37 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: you can utter today. The sea word was perfectly acceptable 38 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: in those times. It was found in medical textbooks, in literature, 39 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: even weirdly as part of street names in areas that 40 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: were known for prostitution. For instance, one town in Glastonbury, England, 41 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:46,800 Speaker 1: was called grope seaword lane Wow. A couple of words 42 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: were the equivalent of the F word, including sard and swive, 43 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:55,120 Speaker 1: just basic words for copulation. One book included the edict 44 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: don't sart another man's wife. By the late fifteen and 45 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: early sixteen hundreds, there was a reform movement of sorts 46 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: that decided swearing was a no no, and as they 47 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: got nicer language wise, they began to combine two or 48 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: more naughty words, creating new slang, but with nicer terms 49 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: like gadzooks, a curse used in place of God's hooks. 50 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,959 Speaker 1: In the sixteen hundreds, the word zounds, a shortened version 51 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: of God's wounds, showed up in Shakespeare's plays, and in 52 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: the eighteen hundreds people in Ireland used the word bijabbers 53 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: as a nicer way of saying by Jesus. Even today 54 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: in England they used the term bloody, which originally was 55 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: God's blood. Now the phrase four letter words was first 56 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: used to describe swear words all the way up in 57 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties, and there was a good reason. Of 58 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:50,280 Speaker 1: the approximately eighty four commonly used American English swear words, 59 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 1: twenty nine of them have four letters, including the F word, 60 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: the S word, the C word, the H word, and 61 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: the D word and what about naughty gesture? The most 62 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: popular these days is the middle finger aka the bird, 63 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: but that gesture has been around for thousands of years. 64 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: It was used as a sexual thread of sorts in 65 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: ancient Greece and Rome, and was basically seen as a 66 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 1: phallic symbol. By the early eighteen hundreds, it became a 67 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:23,280 Speaker 1: common sign of disrespect, most common among actors, celebrities, athletes, 68 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: and politicians. The first documented case of somebody flipping the 69 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 1: bird in the United States was in eighteen eighty six. 70 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,040 Speaker 1: It happened when Old hass Radbourne, a baseball pitcher for 71 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: the Boston bean Eaters, got his picture taken flipping off 72 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 1: a member of the rival New York Giants. By the 73 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: twentieth century, mass media began to make cursing more mainstream. 74 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: In fact, Gone with the Wind, producer David O'selznik had 75 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:54,160 Speaker 1: to fight to get the now classic line Frankly, my dear, 76 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: I don't give a damn into the flick, telling regulators 77 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: this word as used in the picture is not an 78 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: oath or a curse. The worst that could be said 79 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 1: of it is that it's a vulgarism. And in the 80 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:09,840 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested a bunch of 81 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 1: times on obscenity charges for using explicit language in his act. 82 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy two, George Carlin was arrested for performing 83 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: his seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television act 84 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: while performing at an outdoor festival in Wisconsin, not on TV, 85 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: but in public. A year later, his routine was played 86 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 1: on the radio, which led to a number of court 87 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: cases about what words should be banned from broadcast, radio, 88 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:39,119 Speaker 1: and television. All of that was just fifty years ago, 89 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: but that common usage has really exploded. The entertainment industry 90 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: has done the most to normalized cussing. But these days, 91 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: the film industry's classification and rating administration goes through every 92 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,600 Speaker 1: line of every flick and they decide exactly how many 93 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: naughty words it takes to get your movie and r rating. 94 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: Mel Brooks said, I've been accused of vulgarity. I say 95 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: that's BS, and trust me, he didn't just use the initials. 96 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: I bet that felt really good. Hope you're enjoying the 97 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,479 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele. That's me. Please subscribe if you will, 98 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: and if you have a story you would like me 99 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: to dive into, just dm me on Facebook at Patty 100 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:35,239 Speaker 1: Steele or on Instagram at Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. 101 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the 102 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:43,240 Speaker 1: Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is 103 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 1: Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes 104 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,159 Speaker 1: every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to 105 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at 106 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks 107 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:00,599 Speaker 1: for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces 108 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: of history you didn't know you needed to know.