# Years ago I was told that the British film "Saturday Night - Sunday Morning" (1960) was the first film to use four-letter words. Were any four-letter words used in earlier films? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 4, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/years-ago-i-was-told-that-the-british-film-saturday-night-sunday-morning-1960-was-the-first-film-to-use-four-letter-words-were-any-four-letter-words-used-in-earlier-films/998460 "2024-03-04T21:39:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/years-ago-i-was-told-that-the-british-film-saturday-night-sunday-morning-1960-was-the-first-film-to-use-four-letter-words-were-any-four-letter-words-used-in-earlier-films/998460/21 "2024-03-07T13:41:48Z")
Are there four-letter words in a language whose writing system isn’t alphabetic (like Chinese)? (Yeah, I figured it was only a matter of time before someone made the joke of taking “four-letter words” literally.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/years-ago-i-was-told-that-the-british-film-saturday-night-sunday-morning-1960-was-the-first-film-to-use-four-letter-words-were-any-four-letter-words-used-in-earlier-films/998460/22 "2024-03-07T14:01:30Z")
Yeah. I’ve always slept in my boxers or pajamas, though more pajamas when I was a child. As an adult, it’s almost always been boxers. ---
**Author:** ![philipdalton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85e7bf/32.png) [@philipdalton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/philipdalton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/years-ago-i-was-told-that-the-british-film-saturday-night-sunday-morning-1960-was-the-first-film-to-use-four-letter-words-were-any-four-letter-words-used-in-earlier-films/998460/23 "2024-03-19T14:12:34Z")
Yes, but the four-letter words I’m referring to here are the ones traditionally considered obscene, or at least crude. D.H. Lawrence used them in “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”, which resulted in a court case, in which they tried to prosecute those responsible for publishing the unexpurgated version of it under the Obscene Publications Act in 1960. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/years-ago-i-was-told-that-the-british-film-saturday-night-sunday-morning-1960-was-the-first-film-to-use-four-letter-words-were-any-four-letter-words-used-in-earlier-films/998460/24 "2024-03-19T21:27:49Z")
For what it’s worth, the fist time I heard “shit” uttered on screen was 1968 in “Bullitt:” Chalmers: “Frank, we must all compromise.” Bullitt: “Bullshit!” The first time I heard “fuck” on screen was 1972 in MASH during the football game scene: Waldowski: “All right, bud - your fuckin’ head is coming right off!!” I’ve seen commentary about both films asserting each was the first time the respective words had been used in a non-X Rated film. I’m 72; I saw both films in theaters during their original release. ---
**Author:** ![philipdalton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/85e7bf/32.png) [@philipdalton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/philipdalton)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/years-ago-i-was-told-that-the-british-film-saturday-night-sunday-morning-1960-was-the-first-film-to-use-four-letter-words-were-any-four-letter-words-used-in-earlier-films/998460/25 "2024-03-19T22:11:16Z")
The fellow who drove the van at my old workplace wouldn’t allow swearing in front of women. “You’ve got to have certain standards” was his reason given. I never asked him if he approved of all the language used on TV, maybe he felt that could be excused if it was restricted to a certain time slot. ---
**Author:** ![Drummond\_Bays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@Drummond\_Bays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drummond_Bays)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2024, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/years-ago-i-was-told-that-the-british-film-saturday-night-sunday-morning-1960-was-the-first-film-to-use-four-letter-words-were-any-four-letter-words-used-in-earlier-films/998460/26 "2024-03-20T02:06:56Z")
> [@anny\_m](#): > > Going to be pedantic and point out that you mean general release movies. I’m pretty sure four-letter words were used in porn Back in the P2P days a very thespianic friend sent me a file of a naughty silent film. I cannot attest to it’s vintage, but it had full on nudity and soft… mid-core sex if memory is correct. I strongly believe in the dialogue cards I saw the word(s) cock and/or dick and I very well believe there were some words that may not have been four letter words, but would have been quite risque at the time. Possibly anatomic and in sexual context, “vagina” “breasts” etc. I very well may be wrong, mind you. Though, I am fairly certain. I will ask him next time we correspond. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/years-ago-i-was-told-that-the-british-film-saturday-night-sunday-morning-1960-was-the-first-film-to-use-four-letter-words-were-any-four-letter-words-used-in-earlier-films/998460.md?page=1)