RARA-AVIS: words you now can say on TV, at least on cable

From: Mark Sullivan ( DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net)
Date: 06 May 2004

I heard someone commenting on all of the "dirty words" on Deadwood. He wasn't disapproving, actually said he found them amusing, but claimed they were not historically accurate for the 1870s. He specifically listed fuck, cunt, cocksucker and "cutting the cheese." Now I know fuck goes back further than this. The earliest use of cunt I know of is in Jelly Roll Morton's 1928 recording of Murder Ballad, but it didn't sound like he was making up a new word, so I'm sure it's much older than that. Although it's been some time since I've read it, I seem to remember Jack Black (no, not the one in Tenacious D, who reign supreme, and School of Rock) using cocksucker in I Can't Win. Wasn't that from the early 20th century? Plus I've got to figure that if cowboys were paying for it in whorehouses, they had to have a name for it. I have no idea how old
"cut the cheese" is.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had a slang dictionary that might gives dates for when these words entered the language.

Mark

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