64: F*ck, C*nt, B*tch, Sh*t, Where Does Cursing Come From?
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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. ♪

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. If you don't know, my name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my study and to my podcast, Dark History. This is a chance to tell the story like it is and to share the history of stuff honestly we would never think about.

At least that's the goal here. So all you need to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot, juicy history goss. I'd like to begin today with a word from one of the classiest people ever to live, Mozart. Oh yeah, you know him?

Yeah, one of the greatest musical composers in the history of the world. That's right. He was playing music for European royalty by the age of five. He wrote his first symphony at eight. Just like killing it, right? And when I think of him, I mean my favorite song, Requiem in D minor. That's what I listen to when I wake up in the morning. I lay in my coffin, I put on my Mozart, and then I rise.

It's just, it slaps, it goes hard. But the reason I'm talking about him is because not only is he known for his bomb music, he also wrote some beautiful letters to his family. Let me tell you this one, okay? It's a letter to his cousin. I have it right here. Now, Mozart wrote this, okay?

Quote, "I now wish you a good night. Shit in your bed with all your might. Sleep with peace on your mind and try to kiss your own behind.

Oh, my ass burns like fire. That's right. This guy wrote that. So I guess like he sent a lot of these letters to his family and this was just one of them. And I don't know about you guys, but I was just a little surprised. I mean, you know, he's very successful. He's like, wow, he's Mozart, right? And a lot of the times when we think of stuffy rich people just...

you know, being stuffy and rich. At least I think of them as being, I don't know, bougie in their castle, drinking tea and never saying anything inappropriate ever because, you know, like would you ever curse in front of your grandma? No.

Exactly. Well, maybe. But me? No. I get slapped. What I'm getting at is, um, I think a lot of us have been taught that saying inappropriate things is considered quite trashy. But that's just not true. Everyone says naughty things from time to time. I mean, even Mozart. So I wondered, why? Why, Joan?

Why are we running from swear words when they make us feel better? I mean, they help us express ourselves and sometimes they even make us giggle. So what do I do when I got questions? I start Googling. And before we go on from here, just have to give you a heads up. There's a lot of swear words that I'm gonna be talking about today and I wanna do them all and we don't have enough time

But I'm going to dig into like three big ones. But if you have kids around and stuff, put on some headphones. If you don't care, that's on you. You know, whatever. I'm just letting you know. A lot of cursing up ahead, okay? So hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your dog, put on some headphones. Because we're going to be talking about cursing. And I know the censored daddies are going to be very mad at me for this episode. So I'm going to go hard. I'm putting my whole pussy in it.

You know? What is up with curse words? Where'd they come from? Why are they here? How long have we been using them? I have all sorts of questions that need answers. And the first one I'm gonna start with is a personal favorite and the one that is easiest to answer. And that's the word,

B-I-T-C-H. Now, I'm sure you're all aware, like the rumors as to where it started from a female dog. And the lie detector test determined that that was not a lie. Okay. So the word bitch actually does come from a female dog. But because so many female dogs have so many puppies in a litter, the word shifted to mean slut.

So people kind of were like, "Oh, she has a lot of puppies, therefore she's a slut." Even though the litter of puppies come from the same dog. You know, it's like, okay, that doesn't really make sense, but okay. So it's been considered a harsh insult for a really long time. But I mean, over the years, let's be honest, we've been taking it back. I mean, yeah, no one wants to be a bitch.

But you can't lie. We all want to be that bitch. You know what I'm saying? Like, that bitch. Right, girl? Okay. Anyway, so it got me interested in knowing, like, where all of the curse words came from. So bitch is an easy answer. It's female dog. That's really all it is. But you know my favorite thing to do? When I see a hot guy, I go up to him and I say, hey, nice bitch. And it works every time. Works meaning, you know,

You know. Anyway, so let's start with the word shit. S-H-I-T. Can you use it in a sentence, please? Yes. My cow had a nasty case of diarrhea all week. My barn is full of shit. Well...

Friends, I know, a lot of people think they know where this word shit comes from, but like a lot of other curse words, it's clouded by a mysterious little urban legend, if you will. Back to the 1800s, people would collect cow pies, you know, cow poop.

and they used them as fuel for their ships. Now this would be super handy to the people because cow pies weighed less than I guess other liquid fuel, saving them space on their ship or their boat. But then they ran into a bit of a problem. You see, if the cow pies got wet, like with splashes of water, rain,

just wet, the gas within said cow pie would expand. And if left to expand for a little too long, these pies would turn into shit bombs. Okay? Shit explosions. Explosions of shit.

Not ideal. No, ma'am. Okay. To avoid any literal shit from hitting the fan, sailors would go to extra lengths to make sure that the cargo containers with cow pies were kept high and dry. Now to make sure of this, they would write ship high in transit across the crates. And it's funny. Well, is it funny? Yeah, it is. Because when this is abbreviated, it's S-H-I-T.

Ship High In Transit, S-H-I-T. Right? Fun story, huh? I guess it's not true, but a lot of people believe it's true. So like maybe there is some truth in there. I just want to tell you the story because I actually think it's kind of clever and I could see it to be true. There's just no hardcore evidence that it's true. You know what I'm saying? But it doesn't matter because it doesn't just end there. I mean, the word shit has been traced back even further than the 1800s. I guess the word shit...

Started out in Old English, but it was spelled S-C-I-T-T-E.

And it was like a neutral word meaning cow diarrhea, pretty specific. And the kind of word that you'd honestly just hear on a farm. It had no bad connotation. There was no profanity around it. It was like just a word to describe literal cow diarrhea. An earlier version of the S word shows up in an old English medical textbook from the ninth century. Now in the medical textbook, it said, quote,

Sometimes a person's food digests badly and turns into an evil liquid shit, end quote. Which love, yes. It just shows that the runs have been around since the ninth century. And like literally same shit, different era. Like we can all relate to having the runs. Too much Taco Bell, late night, you know, Del Taco. Woo! Woo!

TMI? Okay. So then an interesting thing happens back in the middle ages, which is like the 13th through the 15th century. Pooping was something people did together. Oh my God, yeah, it's so cool. The idea of it's really cool. Just follow me, okay? Because it was a time to socialize, shoot the shit,

That's probably where it comes from. And it was just something everyone did together. There was no single stall bathrooms or little stall dividers. It was one big room where everyone was doing their business. No shame, no phones, just talking things out, you know, just sitting on the toilet like, hey, what do you got going on today? Tell me about it, you know? And honestly, you probably really get to know someone when you're locking eyes, just like

squeezing one out together. That's some bro shit right there. The downside of these big bathrooms was that like they were a breeding ground for all kinds of diseases. Yeah, wasn't pretty. So then when the Renaissance era comes around, people feel smarter. They're feeling educated. They're like science, we know her.

There's more money and people could afford to start building houses with more rooms. And with more rooms, people made more bathrooms, their own bathrooms. And honey, this changed everything. People started getting used to doing their business in private. So going potty and talking about it became very taboo. It was like, wow, that's trashy. Like poor people talk about that, going to the bathroom. Yeah.

You know, it was also just a sign of status. The rich people, you know, they love status. Anytime they can brag about something, they're going to do it. And now that they had their own bathrooms, it was like, oh, we don't shit with other people. Oh, you know, they love an excuse to look down on anybody. So.

This is when we see the word shit become kind of like a low-key diss. The holidays came early this year, ladies. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.

Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.

discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. So by 1508, very specific, this is when you see the first documented example of someone using the S word as an actual diss. You want to hear it? Yeah, this is what this person said. Quote, Thou art a shit. End quote.

Someone was angry. Now back in the day, it was an insult that was only used towards men, but then shit is also a verb. Well, shit as a verb has also been around forever. The first time it was written down was in 1335 in a poem so romantic. This poem said, quote, whoever so sniffs it, he is ever so wretched. When in that place, you must shit in there, end quote.

I really like that opening, whoever sniffs it reminds me of like whoever smelt it dealt it, remember? Okay, so great. We have these examples, but when did it become like a way to express ourselves when we messed up? You know, sometimes when you are running late, you spill coffee on yourself, or I don't know, you left your Sim in the pool for too long without a ladder. And the only thing you could do is say like, well, shit, right?

So when did that start happening? And surprisingly, not till way later in the 1800s. Cue American star spangled banner song. On July 5th, 1865, an army sergeant named Private James Sullivan, he got into some major trouble when he was told to get into uniform by like someone in charge. And he replied, quote, Oh, shit.

"I can't." End quote. Which I try to find out like why he couldn't, but I guess it's just a big mystery. It doesn't matter. But this is the first time that we have on record, like this man using the word, "Oh shit,"

It was like a reaction. I mean, this is like a big deal, okay? And back then, this was an even bigger deal because this is a man in uniform saying the S word to his boss. But hey, the next time you say, "Oh shit," just take a moment and thank Private James Sullivan 'cause he's really the pioneer who made it a reaction. God bless America.

And finally, the first example of someone not giving a shit comes from everyone's favorite author, James Joyce. Ah, yes, James Joyce. In his 1922 book, Ulysses, he describes someone as, quote, a white arsed bugger. I don't give a shit for him.

End quote. Which I love that. I don't know who that guy is, but he does not give a shit for him. Okay. Now people were probably using this like everyday language before James wrote it down, but I love that not giving a shit is right there for all of us to see in classic literature. And this is a side note, but like this is why classic literature is so important slash beautiful because it's a timestamp as to where society was at the time, how they spoke, what they thought

they thought and what we have in common throughout history. We've been cursing and angry at people for many, many, many years. In the 1930s is when we start to see the word shit as an adjective. In other words, to further describe someone or something. For example, like your friend Bob is shit-faced. Maybe he's a shithead. Maybe he got shit tits, you know? And then we did the impossible.

We, the people, reclaimed shit. Oh, we celebrated it. And by the 1970s in America, we started calling things that we loved the shit. Oh yeah, brother, I love America. It's the shit. We also have more positive spinoffs like holy shit, dope shit, cool shit, hot shit. But nowadays, shit has kind of evolved and is used to describe shit.

crap or stuff or unwanted items, sometimes a negative thing. So it's kind of come like full circle. Like, "Oh yeah, I'll be over intent to drop off all that shit." We need a shit counter. We need a curse counter. Nowadays, the word shit is more of like a chameleon. It really depends on the context. I mean, it can be a negative. It could be a positive. It can mean poop, stuff, a noun, your ex, and an adjective.

It's all based on user experience. And isn't that just beautiful? Really? It's up to you, baby. What I'm getting at is I'm kind of glad that the communal shitting is over. Or am I? I wouldn't mind shooting the shit with everyone. Throughout history, shit has just been there for us. I mean, there are only a few things promised in life. Living, breathing, dying, and also shitting. We all shit. Yeah. Great. Thoughts?

Okay, cool. Great. Dude, Paul's dead. Okay, Paul has had a long weekend. We can't rely on him much to add any commentary because look at him. He's a fucking mess.

Paul, wake up. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. The next curse word is so popular that it is in the top 1% of all words searched online. Yeah. It's an action, a noun, a verb. It's an insult. It's a sin. I mean, it's got a strong K, you know? And maybe you can guess. Yeah.

F as in fupa, U as in ukulele, C as in canoe, K as in ketchup. That's right, my friends. Right now we're gonna talk about the word fuck. I love this word, it's my favorite. I'm sorry, but I really do. Now what's the definition of fuck? I don't know.

while I looked it up. It's usually obscene and it's like to engage in like sexual, they call it coitus, which I was like, what the hell is coitus? It's like make sexuals with. It's also another way to express anger, contempt, or disgust. You know what's funny? When I was a kid in high school, I sat next to this weird kid. I'm sure he wasn't weird, but I thought he was weird. I hope he's doing well.

He's like, that's what it stands for. Like, what do you know? What do you know? I was like, I don't know. I don't know nothing. Anyways, I guess the kid told me that

the king who was in charge at the time, he legally demanded that the people in his kingdom have sex to make sure that people were making enough children. So like his job was literally to like watch people bang for the country, you know? And it wasn't just the kid who believed this. I mean, during research for this story, this story like is repeated millions of times. A lot of people believe it. And honestly, it sounds pretty legit. But once again, it's a made up story.

which is a bummer so i found that kid on facebook and i was like hey remember spanish class when you told me that shit listen you're wrong i'm just kidding i didn't find him i think he died so the so the exact country where the word bug comes from isn't really known that's because different versions of the f word have been around

or have been found in languages like all over the world, each with their own spellings. There's "Fucka" which is F-U-K-K-A, "Focka," "Fock," "Fike," and "Ficken." I like "Fike." That's a few different ways to spell it. But researchers tend to narrow its birthplace down to what is present day Germany,

Sweden or the Netherlands. So yeah, of course, like it makes sense that maybe the Germans perhaps may have invented the word fuck. It's a little aggressive and they perhaps are known for, you know, being a little aggressive, maybe. Anyway, so in the year 1278, I guess there's this guy walking around in England and his name was John Lay Fucker. Legit name, John Lay Fucker.

"Hey, Mr. Fucker," you know? Some historians believe his name might be the earliest recorded instance of the swear word fuck in the English language. Hold for applause.

Great. And we all know this because Le Fucker's name shows up in the administrative records for King Edward I. But he was not part of the royal family. I mean, his name was recorded because I guess he was imprisoned for double murder. Whoops. I know. And this is an assumption on my end, but I was like, maybe this is why the word fuck is linked to being negative. I mean, think about it. Double murder.

pretty bad. And this whole idea of digging into court records must have like inspired others to do it because there was another English researcher who found an interesting name in court records from the year 1310. We don't know what his offense was but there was an outlaw wanted by the court and this outlaw went by the name, get ready for this one, his name was Roger Fuck-by-the-navel

Yeah, fuck by the navel, baby. I don't know what was going on there, okay? My guess is that he was trying to fuck by the navel, but I don't know. Was that his navel? Did he choose that? How'd he get that? You know, I had a lot of questions, but no answers, which, what the hell was that, you know? So what I'm getting at is that the word fuck, it really didn't, it didn't,

It didn't thrive with positivity. It was surrounded by double murder and fucking by the naval. So, you know, but it's a 1500s we can really thank for putting the F word in the history books and associating it with moving back and forth. Motion of the ocean. I'm talking about sex.

And we also see it turning a little bit more aggressive where the F word literally meant to hit, strike, or penetrate. Now things are getting a little violent with the F word. For example, the first time we see the word fuck being used, um,

a little bit like more aggressive was by an anonymous monk. Yeah, which I was not expecting that, okay? But surprise, surprise, I guess this monk was really pissed off, okay? And he was pissed off at whoever was in charge of the monastery. So he opened up his little diary and he wrote in there, quote, fucking Abbott, end quote. Like, man.

If you pissed off a monk, you had to do something really bad and this monk was pissed. So yeah, it also became a direct and some would say like unrefined way to refer to sexual intercourse. And as we've learned many times in dark history, sex and anything even acknowledging that it exists is heavily frowned upon in the olden days, even now shit.

I mean, sex was disgusting, taboo. We never talk about it. Just like the word shit. It was just like, ugh.

No. So the F-word from the very start was considered offensive and throughout the years, I mean for hundreds of years, it's continued to be used like that. The one thing about the F-word is that it never really changed. It was society that changed around it, like in our very own backyard in America. Around the 16 and 1700s, there was a big group of people that moved to North America.

We've talked about them many times before. It's the religious group called the Puritans. I roll because they came over here and just like ruined everything. Did they? Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. But when you think of them, you just think of the word pure. They want to be as pure as possible for their Lord and Savior, Jesus Henry Christ. The Puritans believed that things like live theater and poetry could corrupt the mind. I mean, they're not wrong. Have you seen a movie?

the fuck is going on? Anyways, but the Puritans believed, you know, all that should be outlawed.

So I'm sure maybe in your little noggin, you can imagine how they felt about the F word. Bitch, straight to hell. You know, like their heads are exploding. They can't even comprehend. It's so aggressive, you know? In the 1800s, historians started to see the F word evolve more and like start to be used as we know it today. It turned into a slang, a hard-hitting way to insult or hurt others or just insult.

to talk about sexy time. Those Puritans though, they no likey. No.

Nay nay. So they used their influence on America to push society to be more pure. And as a result, you could not find the F word in books or even dictionaries. And then on top of that, for some weird reason, the federal government gets involved. I know, plot twist. Over a word. The United States decided to go ahead and pass something called the Comstock

Act of 1873. We've talked about this a lot of times. I hope you remember. If you don't, you're fired. But this introduced the country to annoying things called obscenity laws. And like you remember the dildo episode, blah blah blah. Come on, we've talked about it. I know you remember. I believe in you. But not only did this law ban sex toys, it wanted to destroy and ban swear words forever.

Like you couldn't print them anywhere. Even if your doctor wanted to write some, I don't know why your doctor is using the F word, but maybe he's like, "She needs a fucking," you know? Your doctor couldn't do that. He could go to jail. She too. Nah, there's no women doctors back then, sorry. We were stuck at home. So like if you told your doctor something hurts versus something really fucking hurts, I mean, those are two very different things. But if he decided to put it in writing,

straight to jail. You know what I'm saying? Like dangerous. It was even a thing in Hollywood. In the early days, there wasn't a set of standards like filmmakers had to follow. So things were a bit risque. Directors could show a little here and there, some skin, you know? They could make some sex jokes. It was fine. No one died. But once sound was introduced to the movies,

There was a threat that naughty words could be said. But what about the children? So they had a solution. The people. The pure ones. They put something called the Hays Code into place, which said that swearing in movies was a big no-no. Now I know what you're thinking at home. What about the whole First Amendment thing? Freedom of speech? You know, that didn't apply here. Okay? Nothing applied here.

But when you tell humans to not do something, what happens? You want to do it more, right? Like you can't cuss. What are you going to do? So it didn't stop everyday people from talking how they normally talked.

um people were saying fuck some were making fuck simple as that and around world war one and two we start to see people getting very creative with their curse words like they found kind of ways around it so have you ever heard of the phrase fubar fubar no let me tell you it means fucked up beyond all recognition i didn't

I learned that. I was like, what? Maybe you have a friend who's gotten too much plastic surgery. It's very much a thing out here in Los Angeles. It's very unfortunate. But you could be like, yeah, their face is foobar. There's another one, snafu. Maybe you've heard that. It's like an old term, right? It's commonly used when someone makes a mistake or screws up.

Well, it actually stands for situation normal, all fucked up. So what I'm getting at is that people found ways to sneak the F word into their everyday verbiage. And I love it.

I love it. I love it when people get creative. But the F word wouldn't need to live in the shadows much longer. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what.

The 1960s comes around and baby, listen, that was a time of huge social change and it

People doing all sorts of drugs and stuff to expand their minds, of course. You know, it was a time of cultural revolution where people wanted to be free to express themselves sexually and vocally. So the people took to the streets, protested against the man, and guess what? I mean, it worked. Because in 1965, that Comstock law got tossed in the trash. And guess what?

guess what happened? For the first time, 400 years too late, but for the first time, the word fuck shows up in the English dictionary. Congratulations, fuck, you're in. Get in here, fuck. Come on, little fucky. Get your ass in here, you know?

You made it, boy. And then that Hays Code that said movies couldn't swear, well, that too went away in 1968, which allows us to have award-winning lines from movies like, quote, I've had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane, end quote.

Iconic. Now after this, fuck was off to the races. Even the Supreme Court gave it a thumbs up. They're like, yeah, yeah, go ahead. Some guy protesting the war in Vietnam was arrested for wearing a jacket that said, fuck the draft.

And while the court said that arrest was BS because the F word is protected as free speech. Hell yeah. So now we see it starting to go from totally negative to also meaning something positive. Like, man, that guitar solo fucking rips, brah. And when the internet rolled around, oh my God, it was like the wild west. Anything you can't say in real life is now safe to say online. So fuck away in the comment section.

Actually, please don't. So it had me thinking like, is there a reason why we love to say it so much? It just feels good. It's heavy. It's strong, that K. And guess what? There's actually a reason behind that. Now there's a study that says using the F word is a great stress reliever and that some mental health researchers want us to actually use it more. There's also some research that says swearing actually helps you manage pain. And the same study found that cursing could lead to social bonding.

It's so precious. On the count of three, let's all say fuck. One, two, three. If your mom came in to yell at you, tell her that the lady on TV said you were allowed to. So the next time you get in trouble saying a curse word, be like, the doctor told me that it helps with my depression and stuff. You know, of course, use your discretion. Don't go around saying fuck to, I don't know, your grandma. Don't be like, grandma, fuck you, you know? And then blame it on the girl on the internet. But...

You can point back to this study, grandma. I'm just trying to bond with you, okay? It's either this or we take a shit together, grandma. Pick one. Before we get into the next word, we should check in on the curse counter. Where are we at? Don't make this a drinking game because you will die and I am not taking responsibility for you dying, okay? But let me know how that goes, you know?

If you do do it.

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Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

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the worst word you could ever call someone. That's right, baby. I'm talking about seeing you next Tuesday. Here I go. I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say it. Cunt. I said it! Now, this one always kind of baffles me because it's like,

If you ask anybody, it's the worst word you could ever say. And I'm like, why? I don't get it. Because the dictionary defines cunt as, quote, the female genital organs. I guess that's so bad, you guys. So bad.

Or there's another like alternative definition, a term used to refer to a contemptible, contemptible person. I think the best way to use this word in a sentence is to quote the famous movie Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta, that great Scientologist he is, huh? Anyways, in the movie, he says, quote, it's a decision a girl's got to make early in life.

if she's gonna be a nice girl or a cunt, end quote. Yeah, I thought this was a movie about dancing, disco dancing, but I don't know. They actually ended up cutting the cunt line to make it a PG movie, and that way it would be more family-friendly. John Travolta, Scientology, what's going on there? You wanna talk about it? You good, bro? Where you at? The country of origin relating to this word is hotly debated among...

some scholars. Now some say the word is based on the Hindu goddess Kunti. Love it. And others say it's based on the German word, Kanto. But one thing is for sure,

Everyone agrees on this. It's one of the most offensive, if not the most offensive word you can ever call someone. It's been said that cunt is, quote, one of the few remaining words in the English language with genuine power to shock. I've always wondered, like, why? The word describes part of the female anatomy.

Like how is that offensive? Why is it always us? I mean, think about it. If you call someone a tit, it's not bad. Like, hey, Joan, you're a tit.

You're being such a bib. Even though we don't fully know the exact word origin, cunt was seen in writing as early as 1390s. Oh yes. It was even in a red light district in London. A red light district is like part of town where there's strip clubs and brothels and basically like sex for sale. The street name of this London red light district was called Gropecunt Lane.

Yeah, you hear me right. Grope Cunt Lane. I guess during this time in the Middle Ages, it was very normal to have streets named after like the goods that you were selling. Like Bread Alley, Grope Cunt, Sardines Avenue. Honestly, it makes more sense. If you want bread, you're gonna go to Bread Alley. If you want...

Pussy, you're gonna go into a girl cunt, you know? So at this point, cunt was essentially the same thing as vagina. Like it wasn't bad, it was just slang for it. Like tits is slang for boobies. I like boobies better though. There's an early manuscript found around this time. There's like some advice given to young women on the hunt for a husband. Now this is my favorite part. I'm getting this like embroidered in a pillow. This was advice given to young women on the hunt for a husband, okay?

Listen, pass this on to your children because it's great advice. It says, quote, give your cunt wisely and make your demands after the wedding, end quote. And honestly, work, middle ages, work. Like that's stuff that you should really be living by. Give your cunt away wisely, um,

Yeah, yeah. Okay, I can get behind that. And plus before like all this, cunt was actually a very popular name in Great Britain. They were wild out there, which honestly kind of sucks now, but maybe back then it was cute. There was like this one guy, his name was James Cunts. There was this lady Fanny Cunt.

Yeah, that's a bad one, Fanny. Fanny cunt. And then there's something called cunt pepper. I don't know if that was a name or some kind of like seasoning. Either way, it sounds like I'm making this up, but I promise I'm not. I'm not. I'm coming with facts. Protect your cunt wisely. Give it out wisely. Love that cunt. Be that cunt. Own that cunt. You are the cunt. The cunt.

In the Victorian era, the word became shameful because the Victorians are so boring. They hate everything, okay? They're no fun. I hate them. They're just such assholes. But that's not what we're talking about because they're the ones who made everything religious and stale and they made the world just very vanilla. They were obsessed with like church and rules and like fixing society.

And like they were also shaming people about sex and breathing and just being alive. Okay, they shamed everybody. During this time, women's sexuality and body were seen as something that was private, should be hidden, not celebrated. Put your cunt away, Barbara. It's not that kind of party. Don't you fucking dare even look at your titties. But most of all, Victorians loved to people shame.

Once again, people found creative ways to express themselves. So you know how we have see you next Tuesday? And we all know for the most part what that means. If you're at home, like I don't get it. What does that mean? See you next Tuesday? I don't know. Figure it out. Look, listen, it was one of those things that like, if you know, you know, okay? And people were like, ooh.

So cunt has been known as a bad word for a very long time, still today, right? But in the 1900s, when this time rolls around and pornography was introduced,

The turnstables. The word cunt actually took on a whole other meaning with the rise of pornography in the 1900s. And when people were writing scripts for these porn movies in the 1920s, yes, they needed scripts. Don't be rude. They need scripts to follow. They immediately started to lean in on the cursing. I mean, they believed like, hey, if we add cursing and naughty words like cunt in a script,

it would make the film even more forbidden and therefore even more desirable. Like if they're gonna do it, they're gonna do it, you know? Scandalous, sexy, hot, cunts everywhere. And it worked. The downside to the word cunt was that at this time, it was something that existed strictly for a man's pleasure. So thanks porn. But cunt is ever evolving. She's a free spirit, a true Sag. You can't put her in a box.

And something switched. In porn, cunt was used as a way to talk down to women. Feminists saw the rise of this word in movies and in everyday language as dehumanizing. Like it was seen as a huge insult because it reduced a woman to only her pussy. You know what I'm saying? And women were like, we are sick and tired of being disrespected and belittled by these ugly ass men with small dicks. Okay? So they decided to do something about it.

They said, first of all, take a fucking shower, Romeo. And second of all,

This is my cunt. You know? And in the 1970s, there was a huge women's liberation movement that forever changed the way women were seen in America. In more recent history, like the last 20 years, women, they really wanted to take that word back, okay? Or just own it. They don't want it to be an over-sexualized word or an insult. They want it to be something that's empowering. And I mean, I'm sure a lot of us listening right now or whatever, you can agree with that, right? I mean, remember...

That wise old saying, quote, "Give your cunt wisely and make demands after the wedding." Like, yes. Yes. Yes. You know? I mean, the entire reason we're here as human beings on this planet is because of said cunts. So what's so nasty about that, you losers? It's just a fucking word. I don't get it. I'll never get it. I don't get it. Do you get it? I don't get it. I don't get it. Whatever. So these words that we talked about today

You know, when you think about it, they're just symbols arranged to make sounds with our mouths and stuff. Like, when you think about the word "fuck," "bitch," "shit," "cunt," what's so bad about them?

I mean, really, you know, nothing. But then they become taboo or immoral because of us, the people, the earthlings, right? Now, here's the funny part. It's still considered unladylike to curse in public. Yeah, like it used to be unladylike to wear pants or vote or leave the kitchen or just like speak in general. But hey, hey, cunts.

here we are. We made it, you know? Like people just are so bored. We love judging and looking down on one another, huh? What does it mean? What does it mean? Anyways, when I hear that swear words were banned from dictionaries for literally hundreds of years, it makes me question a whole lot of things. Especially when you find out that at this very moment you can find the word noob

Vom and Yolo in the dictionary. If these words just came from ordinary things like cow diarrhea, female dogs,

some murder's last name, also a pussy, why are we so afraid of them? You know, remember when you would get in trouble growing up as a kid and if you said a bad word, you'd get soap in the mouth? "What was that about? I was fucked up." Yeah, I said it. I feel like in conclusion, my thoughts here is that like some of the meanest things ever said to me are things with actually no curse words in them, right? Oh, like yesterday, someone told me to go, quote, "kill myself" in the comments section. You know?

There wasn't a single bad word, right? They just said, quote, go kill yourself. Because, um, hello, context is everything. It's not what you say, it's how you say it. And let's not forget about those scientific studies we heard about earlier, right? Research has literally given us evidence to show that using profane language can have personal health and social benefits.

I mean, it can relieve stress. Again, help you bond with your friends, express yourself, let out some anger in a healthy way. I mean, it's better than punching a wall or a person, right?

Who is it really hurting? And if it's helping you, who cares? I'm not saying you should go around calling everybody cunts because not everybody has the same belief system as like me right now, but I'm just saying, you know? So go ahead, you losers. Call me names. Call me every name in the book because I am rubber and you are glue. And wait till I get to therapy where I will talk about you.

Well, everyone, thank you for learning with me today. What'd you learn? Honk-hunts? Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because you deserve that. Stay curious. Really, it's fun. I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story, so make sure to use the hashtag Dark History over on social media so I can follow along.

Also, join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, don't forget to catch my murder mystery and makeup. I hope you have a great day today. Make good choices. You know, don't go around calling everyone bitches, cunts, sluts, fuck, shit. You know, be careful because you never know who can say it to you. They might beat you up and I'm not going to be liable. To wrap up the episode, let's check in with the swear counter.

Oh my shit tits, mother fuck tits, shitty. I said a lot of curse words. Who would have thought? If you guessed how many I said correctly, you win. Congratulations, you dirty ass cunt. I'll be talking to you next week. Goodbye.

Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast, let me tell you about it. It's executive produced by Bailey Sarian. Hi, that's me. Kimberly Jacobs, Dunya McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Maiden Network. We have our writers, Joey Scavuzzo, Katie Burris, Allison Filobos, and me, Bailey Sarian, shot and edited by Tafadzwa Nemarundwe and Lily Young.

research provided by the Dark History Research Team. And a big special thank you to our expert, Timothy Jay. And I'm your host, just in case you didn't notice, Bailey Sarian. Bye, cunts.