The History of Swearing

Swearing on Amateur Radio always seems to evoke the strongest of feelings, in a test case, a local radio amateur called another operator a "Cunt". He was summoned to appear before Magistrates. This was when the BR68 was in force, and we were only allowed to do 2 things:-

• Make transmissions relating to technical investigations
• Make remarks of a personal character.

His solicitor put up such a good defence and insisted that calling someone a "Cunt" was indeed a "remark of a personal character"

The rules have once again been re-written to remove any reference to personal remarks!

Now legislation says that in any so-called "Grossly Offensive Message" It must be proved that the language used in any alleged offence MUST be worse than that encountered in everyday life.

So that might filter out Cunt, but nothing else as far as we can see, as ALL other swear words are regularly in use on free to air TV including the BBC.

WELL, things have recently changed:- Swearing on amateur radio has always been a contentious issue, some people think it's not allowed, BUT, the Terms & Conditions only say we can't use "Grossly Offensive" language. You may think that the gross offence is in the mind of the listener, but OFCOM, the licensing authority, do have a definitive description of bad language.
All broadcast radio and TV is licensed by OFCOM, and they require their license holders to warn viewers and listeners of potential "bad" language.
Films and TV shows containing the word fuck were referred to as containing STRONG language.
The edition of Have I Got News For You on Friday 15th May 2015 contained at least 2 uses of the word "CUNT" - what was the OFCOM warning before the show?
"The following programme contains extremely strong language", no mention of offensive or grossly offensive. Therefore, by their own descriptive criteria, cunt is NOT grossly offensive, and as such is acceptable for use on amateur radio.There is quite a lot of swearing on public domain broadcasters these days, Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You being prime examples of programmes containing swearing but not being preceded by any warning.

Politicians too are not unknown to swear whilst being broadcast:-

1993     Prime Minister John Major was recorded by ITV cameras calling 3 cabinet colleagues a "Shower of bastards".

2004     US democratic candidate John Kerry was interviewed, and when asked why he voted to allow the use of military force in Iraq said "I voted for what I thought was best for the country … Did I expect George Bush to fuck it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did"

2005     John Prescott on BBC TV was seen to mouth the words "Fucking Pillock" towards Nick Robinson

2009     David Cameron talks about Twitter on absolute Radio and says that "too many twits make a twat" he followed this by quoting someone who referred to his party as "effing Tories" and moments later suggest that the public in general were "Pissed off with politicians".

2112     Boris Johnson claimed on BBC television that rumours that he was being sponsored by News International were "Fucking Bollocks". Later he was accused of failing to keep public transport running during heavy snow, he responded "Nonsense, bollocks, nonsense",

2112     Tory Minister Nick Herbert used the term "Fuckwit" on BBC2's Daily Politics programme.

Anyway, here is a partially accurate history of swearing:-

1900

Shot by an anarchist while standing on a Brussels railway station, The Prince of Wales utters the immortal words, “Fuck it, I’ve taken a bullet."

1936

Music hall comedian Hector Thaxter becomes the first man to say “Arse” on the radio.

1947

After cutting food rations as part of a new economic drive, Chancellor Hugh Dalton is accosted by a beggar in the street who says, “You bloody bastard! What am I meant to do, eat shit?”

1957

Interviewed live on BBC News, a British teddy boy is asked his opinion of Bill Haley. He replies, “Haley? I wouldn't piss on him if he went up in flames. I’m an Elvis man meself.”

1965

Appearing on a late night live satire programme called BBC3, Kenneth Tynan becomes the first man to say “Fuck” on TV. A national fit of apoplexy follows with one Tory MP suggesting that Tynan should hang!

1967

After watching an episode of "Till Death Us Do Part" that includes 44 uses of the word “BLOODY”, Mary Whitehouse fumes, “This is the end of civilisation as we know it”

1969

Buzz Aldrin becomes the first man to swear on the moon “Bloody hell,” he tells Neil Armstrong, “I’ve just taken a shit in my space suit”

1972

Oxford English Dictionary includes the words “FUCK” and “CUNT” for the first time. The National Campaign for Real Swearing issues a statement which reads: “We’d be a bunch of lying cunts if we didn’t say that we were totally fucking delighted”

1974

Originating from the Australian “Nasty as Fuck”, the word NAFF is introduced to the British public via Ronnie Barker in Porridge. As in “Naff off Godber!” However the expression looses its appeal when Princess Anne starts using it.

1976

1. On tour in Hong Kong and unaware that he is miked up, The Duke of Edinburgh tells a photographer  “Fuck off or I’ll have you shot.” 

2. The moral majority get into a proper old lather after Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols appears on live TV and calls presenter Bill Grundy “A fucking rotter”.

1979

A Bar steward at a Conservative Club in Middlesex is sacked after greeting a club member with the words, “All right, you fucking old bastard, we haven't seen you for fucking ages!” He is later ruled to have been unfairly dismissed on the grounds that his words “were just a form of greeting”.

1982

British Leyland workers begin their so-called swearing strike after one of the top brass describes them as, “fucking bastards and fucking working-class pigs”.

1983

Jools Holland lets slip with the phrase “Groovy fuckers” on a live broadcast of The Tube and is suspended for six weeks. 

A Pakistani umpire calls Mike Gatting “a fucking cheating bastard” during a Test Match.

1990

Female golfer Muffin Spencer-Devlin is banned from a top ladies tournament after calling officials, “A fucking bunch of incontinent wankers!”.

1991

Rev. Ian Gregory, secretary of The Polite Society, proposes that existing swear-words are banished and replaced with “nice words like 'breadstick' and 'cotton socks'”. A spokesman for The National Campaign for Real Swearing responds by saying “The good reverend can go and fuck himself!”.

1993

1. Pete Sampras, the world’s top male tennis player, shouts at the Wimbledon crowd, “Thank you very much, you mother fuckers!” 

2. A Briton in Saudi Arabia is sentenced to 40 lashes after telling a member of his staff to, “Stuff it up your fat arse you old wanker”. 

3. Boston grunge band, The Anal Cunts, release their first single.

1994

As a private prosecution, the DTI took local radio amateur David Giles-Probert G7GDR, to court for allegedly calling a fellow radio amateur a "Cunt", to which they had replied "Cheerio mate", obviously grossly offended. In Dudley Magistrates Court the defence pointed out the terms of the BR68 rule book and showed the bench where it said we could only transmit "Messages related to technical investigations and remarks of a personal character", he received a conditional discharge.

1995

Annoyed at the constant chattering of children during a performance of “Macbeth” at a Manchester theatre, actor Paul Higgins strides to the front of the stage and bellows, “Shut the fuck up or I’ll rip your fucking heads off!”

1996

Students hackers tinker with the digital storage system at Britain's first talking bus stop in Leeds, with the result that a queue of passengers expecting a recorded timetable are greeted with the words, “Fuck off and walk you lazy bastards”.

1999

With the advent of Channel 4's "Bremner, Bird, & Fortune" and "The Eleven O'clock Show", all known swear words are finally used openly, in entertainment television.
The National Campaign For Real Swearing comments "About fucking time too!"

March 2014

Four different forms of the word 'cunt' have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary, and they're all spectacular. But the crown jewels in the new additions (and the words I'm most likely to use in my day-to-day life) are the Four Cunts -- cunty, cuntish, cunted, and cunting.

Now BBC plans an 'I love the C-word' documentary By JAMES TAPPER - 4th January 2007 The BBC came under new fire after it announced plans for a £200,000 TV documentary devoted to the most offensive word in the English language. The programme - tentatively titled I love The C-Word - is billed as examining why the word has become more mainstream in recent years. Contributors will include feminist academic Germaine Greer and Eve Ensler, the author of The Vagina Monologues, an acclaimed stage play which features women talking about their genitals. Both the BBC and North One claimed it will not be sensationalist. A spokeswoman for the programme said: "It will look at how a word that was considered completely unacceptable has moved into the mainstream, particularly by younger people. The tone will be a serious exploration of the word." And North One's head of factual entertainment John Quinn told the TV industry magazine Broadcast: "It will be a grown-up discussion about how we have got to where we are now with this word without being either sensationalist or po-faced. "It is perhaps one of the last words that has the ability to stop someone in their tracks and it is fascinating to see how differently it is perceived around the world." I Love The C-Word is the latest in a growing number of BBC programmes that have featured the word in recent years, despite internal BBC research showing that it is the one viewers hate the most. Last year it featured 12 times in The Chatterley Affair, a BBC4 drama about the 1960 obscenity trial over D. H. Lawrence's book. It has been used frequently in the award-winning BBC4 political sitcom The Thick Of It, starring Chris Langham as fictional Social Affairs Minister Hugh Abbot and Peter Capaldi as belligerent spin doctor Malcolm Tucker. And Germaine Greer made a 10-minute film about the history of the word for the BBC2 series Balderdash And Piffle. In 2004, the BBC received a record number of complaints about its decision to broadcast the controversial Jerry Springer: The Opera. It contained 8,000 obscenities including the use of the f-word 200 times and the c-word nine times

A kind website visitor sent me this audio clip of the use of the word "Cunt" in feature films.

R Dipole · C*nts In Films

Uses of the word FUCK in feature films:-

Film	Year	Fuck count	Duration	Fucks per minute
The Wolf of Wall Street	2013	569	180	3.16
Summer of Sam	1999	435	142	3.06
Nil by Mouth	1997	428	128	3.34
Casino	1995	422	178	2.40
Alpha Dog	2007	367	118	3.11
End of Watch	2012	326	109	2.99
Twin Town	1997	318	99	3.21
Running Scared	2006	315	122	2.58
Sweet Sixteen	2002	313	106	2.95
Goodfellas	1990	300	146	2.05
Narc	2002	297	105	2.82
Harsh Times	2006	296	120	2.46
Made	2001	291	94	3.09
Another Day in Paradise	1998	291	101	2.88
Pride and Glory	2008	291	125	2.32
Dirty	2005	280	97	2.88
I'm Still Here	2010	280	107	2.40
Jarhead	2005	278	123	2.26
Bully	2001	274	113	2.42
State Property 2	2005	271	94	2.88
Brooklyn's Finest	2010	270	140	1.93
Reservoir Dogs	1992	269	99	2.71
Pulp Fiction	1994	265	154	1.72
The Big Lebowski	1998	260	117	2.22
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	2001	248	104	2.38
Do the Right Thing	1989	240	120	2.00
The Boondock Saints	1999	239	110	2.17
The Departed	2006	237	151	1.56
Empire	2002	236	90	2.62
True Romance	1993	234	121	1.93
Goon	2012	231	93	2.48
My Name Is Joe	1998	230	105	2.19
State of Grace	1990	230	134	1.71
Menace II Society	1993	228	97	2.35
Gridlock'd	1997	227	91	2.49
The Devil's Rejects	2005	224	109	2.06
Eddie Murphy Raw	1987	223	90	2.47
Suicide Kings	1997	222	106	2.09
Zack and Miri Make a Porno	2008	219	101	2.16
30 Minutes or Less	2011	218	83	2.17
Black and White	1999	215	98	2.19
American History X	1998	214	119	1.79
The Original Kings of Comedy	2000	213	115	1.85
Hot Tub Time Machine	2010	212	100	2.12
Layer Cake	2004	210	105	2.00
Monument Ave.	1998	210	93	2.25
Scarface	1983	207	170	1.21
Spun	2002	203	101	2.00
Dysfunktional Family	2003	200	89	2.24
Foolish	1999	200	97	2.06
This Is the End	2013	200	106	1.88
8 Mile	2002	200	110	1.81
A Bronx Tale	1993	200	122	1.63
I Got the Hook Up	1998	197	93	2.11
Sabotage	2014	196	109	1.80
Born on the Fourth of July	1989	196	145	1.35
Next Day Air	2009	193	84	2.23
Killing Them Softly	2012	193	97	1.99
Overnight	2003	191	82	2.32
Ten Benny	1996	190	108	1.75
Superbad	2007	190	118	1.61
Magnolia	1999	190	188	1.01
Monster	2003	187	110	1.70
Belly	1998	186	96	1.93
Hustle & Flow	2005	186	115	1.61
Get Rich or Die Tryin'	2005	185	134	1.38
Clockers	1995	185	128	1.44
The 51st State	2001	180	93	1.93
Flawless	1999	178	112	1.58
Slam	1998	176	100	1.76
Poetic Justice	1993	175	109	1.60
Pineapple Express	2008	175	111	1.57
Project X	2012	175	88	1.98
Human Traffic	1999	174	100	1.74
Bad Santa	2003	173	98	1.76
Tigerland	2000	173	100	1.73
Donnie Brasco	1997	172	127	1.35
Backstage	2000	170	86	1.97
The Commitments	1991	169	118	1.43
Grindhouse	2007	169	191	0.88
Four Rooms	1995	168	98	1.71
Death of a Dynasty	2003	167	93	1.79
Gang Related	1997	165	102	1.61
Crank: High Voltage	2009	164	96	1.71
Funny People	2009	164	153	1.01
Boogie Nights	1997	164	155	1.05
Blood In Blood Out	1993	163	190	0.85
21 and Over	2013	162	93	1.74
The Grey	2012	161	117	1.30
Lone Survivor	2013	161	121	1.33
Snatch	2000	159	102	1.55
Platoon	1986	159	120	1.32
Blue Collar	1978	158	114	1.39
The Heat	2013	158	117	1.35
Colors	1988	157	120	1.30
Dead Presidents	1995	157	119	1.32
That's My Boy	2012	156	116	1.35
Magic Mike	2012	156	110	1.42
The Town	2010	155	125	1.26
Intermission	2003	155	106	1.46
The Blair Witch Project	1999	154	86	1.79
Notorious	2009	154	123	1.25
Good Will Hunting	1997	154	126	1.22
Boiler Room	2000	153	118	1.29
Bad Boys II	2003	153	147	1.04
All About the Benjamins	2002	151	99	1.53
Ash Wednesday	2002	151	99	1.53
Soul Men	2008	151	103	1.46
Smokin' Stogies	2001	151	102	1.48
In the Name of the Father	1993	151	127	1.19
Hoffa	1992	150	140	1.07

Students, Journalists, etc. Please note this is a satirical website, PLEASE no more emails about the History Of Swearing, or requests to be put in touch with The National Campaign For Real Swearing. The vast majority of the above has been researched and is completely true, a couple of items have been made up, and the press cutting about "Piss Flaps" is real, but from VIZ Magazine.