As I may have mentioned, I enjoy watching the HBO TV series Deadwood. I enjoy the acting, the story, and the realism. It’s often criticized for being fake history and for its use of modern swear words. It may look and feel real, but it is pure fiction even though it uses living characters.
I heard David Milch, the creator of the show, say that he chose modern swear words because if he used authentic swear words the dialogue would sound silly, or something to that effect. To my ear, most of the dialogue seems appropriate for the period, and only the swearing has been updated.
My question is what would the swearing have been during that time period in the Old West? How weird would the dialogue be if they kept it as authentic as possible? Are there any movies or TV shows that have stuck with original swear words that I can reference?
I googled “swearing in the old west” and found this article, which specifically mentions Deadwood and also has examples of period-correct swear words and phrases.
Thanks. I never thought of that.
One highlight of our extended RV trip back in 2009 was a stop in Deadwood, with a visit to the cemetery that has the graves of Calamity Jane, Wild Bill, and Seth Bullock.
Yes. I’ve been there three times and even considered moving there earlier this year. If I could go back in time, that’s where I’d want to live.The current town of Deadwood isn’t anything like it was back in the late 1800s.
I can’t find it now but I remember that David Milch said what would have been considered really offensive swearing back then was the blasphemous stuff, references to Christ or God or whatever. The idea was that to modern audiences, this would not sound all that offensive.
I remember him saying that authentic frontier cussing would make all the characters sound like Yosemite Sam.
I would think that shitting outdoors, mud streets and rotting garbage would be a minus, but that’s just me.
It was a mining camp long before it became a proper town, and if that’s how some people behaved, so be it. It might not be pleasant to live back then, but it sure would be interesting.
Yeah, I think he’s said multiple times that things like “Goddamn!” would have been pretty intense at the time.
Hence the curse “May you live in interesting times.” 
Back in the day of Deadwood swearing such as damn, shit, piss, hell spoken in everday conversation, while regular for Deadwood citizens, would have been super offensive in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, etc.
Milch amped up the swearing in the show, to make the average viewer in the early 2000’s find it somewhat offensive to them.
There is no way that the Al Swearengen monologues would have been normal for the period. They are downright classic.
The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man… and give some back.
I disagree. From what I’ve read, long-winded dialogue from important men were not uncommon, although I agree that someone with Al’s past and upbringing would make them unlikely to have come from his mouth. Milch did a wonderful job writing Al’s dialogue, and if not necessarily authentic, I still find it very entertaining.