The obscenity of the West was indeed, 'striking,' but the obscenity of mining camps was unbelievable.”
www.notesfromthefrontier.com
"Let’s face it: The Wild West was an example of what happens when testosterone is completely unfettered! Sociologists have discussed how violence—usually fueled by alcohol—was a major theme in frontier life. Language, too, was part of male “posturing” and rough language was used to demonstrate toughness, so guns or other weapons wouldn’t have to be used. But, of course, language also caused plenty of gun play!
The great tv series, Deadwood, has often been criticized for its copious use of profanity of the worst variety. (Specifically, the f-word and its many variants.) Great debates have flared over this issue, some almost intellectual, some less so. David Milch, the creator of Deadwood, maintained that cussing was a central part of the early frontier, especially in the toughest towns in the west, like Deadwood and Tombstone. And he is adamant that the particularly naughty words his potty-mouthed TV characters use are absolutely authentic.
But Jesse Sheidlower, the American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary and author of the scholarly volume, The F-Word, begs to differ. “There were cursing contests when cowboys would get together and insult each other,” Sheidlower says. But “the evidence that we have is that they were using more religious blasphemy than the sexual insults which are popular today.” Sheidlower adds that the f-word, used as an “intensifier,” wasn’t really used commonly in the United States as such until World War I. So, the 43 times the f-word was blurted in one Deadwood episode was “inauthentic,” he maintains."
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