Introduction

George Carlin, who passed away the morning of June 23, was a comedian best-known for challenging censorship and morality in his routines.

After submitting a news article linked to an obituary of Carlin, I received a series of comments to the effect of "It's too bad he's in hell now", or "RIP IN HEAVEN DUDE"... But, come on, to quote ~MrColon, "Get yo' sorry arses up and working again! George Carlin wouldn't want you all to be sorry, he wants you to live on and he would definitely not want you to say "R.I.P in heaven!" and so on... I didn't censor the word fuck because George wouldn't. Now get to work people!"

Carlim himself once said, referencing the afterlife: "Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck." As such, I now present to you, as a series of thumbs and etymologies, an educational demonstration of Carlin's best-known piece, Seven Dirty Words.

Shit

"The word can be traced back to 12th century in Old Norse literature and etymologists are all but certain it was used in some form during the Roman Empire. Researchers believe the word meant the same thing it does today referencing bodily fecal matter. Of course, Modern English has developed it into a more versatile phrase being a stand in for lame people (little shits), stuff that is in your way (roommate's shit), and a statement of truth (I shit you not!). In a highly touted FCC exception, a 1999 episode of Chicago Hope used the word on the air and not to be outdone, the ever-clever boys at South Park mocked the media circus surrounding the primetime utterance, saying the word a total of 162 times in the episode "It Hits the Fan" with a counter in the bottom corner keeping track. Hilarious. Now the four letters can be heard everywhere as often as you'd like."

Piss

"It means urination. Why it's on the list, we have no idea. But you can obviously say it on the air now, I present "Tubthumping" by Chubawumba as my sole evidence for the matter. Pissing the night away."

Fuck

"Researchers are unsure if the word has always been considered vulgar, but it can easily be traced back to a Latin/English poem dating before 1500 called "Flen, flyys, and freris", in which it accused certain Church personnel of not getting into heaven because they were banging nuns. It first appeared in dictionary form in 1775 as a vulgar term for sexual intercourse. One of the few 'universal' words, there seems to be a 'fuck' in almost every country in the world and be understood, crossing cultural boundaries. Can you fucking believe it?"

Cunt

"Declared by and far the most terrible word in the English language, it dates far into the annals of history, but its first reported use in print is in 1230 AD London as a street name. In the Middle Ages, streets were usually named after the services available on them. If you needed fish, you'd go to "Fish Street"; if you wanted silver you'd check out "Silver Street". So if you found yourself in London looking for some tail, the original Red Light District was on an alley called "Gropecunt Lane". Grope. Cunt. Lane. Creativity was at a record low, but damn if they weren't direct. It has since been used as a great ice breaker at the bar and a sure-fire phrase to get people to like you. Especially when you yell it in public places."

Cocksucker

"Because the word "fellatio" just sounds so proper, the word has several meanings. The direct being one who giveth head or the more vulgar, common usage, you homo. In ancient Greece, the act was referred to as "playing the flute" and there's a whole chapter in the Kama Sutra about dome called oparishtaka which can be translated into English as "mouth congress". The word is still banned on TV and has sort of fallen out of popular usage, drunk college kids adopting phrases such as "douchebag" or "tool" to express similar sentiment."

Motherfucker

"While some haters wanted Carlin to drop this word from his list because it's just a variation of the word fuck, the phrase holds a far deeper meaning than just muttering those four lovely letters. Bringing the hate and power from the root word, by adding 'mother' it brings it to a whole other level. With a variety of obscenity laden uses, the word can directly be defined as "doing your mom". With incestual connotations and an Oedipus shout-out, it is regarded as second only to "cunt" in severity in terms of obscenities in the English language."

Tits

"Like "piss" this word isn't really considered vulgar anymore. It has been used on TV several times since Carlin pointed it out in his act. Rose O'Donnell used it in a televised court appearance and it has since just been another word for breasts. There is a degree of 1950s misogynistic connotations surrounding the word, but it doesn't seem to be a word of favor amongst anyone under the age of 45 anymore other than as part of the phrase "tits & ass". I think what we should be focusing on here is not whether or not 'tits' is a word fit for broadcast, but rather how Wikipedia's page for 'breasts' is basically porn."




That is all! Except...


<--- He is one dead sumbitch.

-IB out

_{ps. all etymology taken from [link] , who are brilliant researchers.}