For example, one viewer claimed that there was less swearing in the sixties. As I recall it, there certainly was less swearing, but it would depend on where you were. I well remember a carpenter I came across during a summer job on a building site. A little chap who was very keen on gardening, his conversation went something like this –
“I’m growin’ more f**king dahlias this year because they grew f**king well last year. I want to grow more f**king beans too but I don’t ‘ave the f**king space really.
Exaggerated, but only a little.
I remember reading (I think) Anthony Burgess on the delights of creative swearing among the English working class. He remembered, from his military service, a squaddie lamenting the fact that his rifle would not work properly:
ReplyDelete"This f**king f**ker's f**king f**ked!"
my experience as a 'youth' was that frequent swearing was a 'class' issue - where class also included 'students'. And typically swearing was mostly used in group.
ReplyDeleteIt’s not real swearing unless the f word is placed inside another word, as “unbe-f’ing-lievable”. You hear a lot of that sort of thing in Glasgow. And that example is a very mild one btw.
ReplyDeleteSam - I seem to recall a wider range of swearing possibilities where, for example, 'bloody' was common but still regarded as swearing in many social situations.
ReplyDeleteDJ - I remember it as a class issue which even then was beginning to show signs of leaking between classes.
Peter - from what I see, it's becoming difficult to swear strongly without seeming to overdo it.