. ..--
i
Tuesday. July 13, 1965
Page 4
The Summer Nebraskan
& ' ? Proves To
1
Be
Kind
of B
t
ft
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By Richard Halbert
One of this year's fads for
$un-bathing collegians is ob
scene words written on their
bikinis or sweat shirts. This
public display of used-to-be un
written words started about
five months ago at the Uni
versity of California at Berke
ley, where hundreds of stu
dents paraded with a four
lettered word on signs. The
demonstration was tagged the
"filthy speech movement."
Perhaps you have wondered
what would happen to you
a University of Nebraska stu
dentif you were to write
"smutties" on little signs or
all over your sweat shirts.
Maybe you wondered, what
would the Lincoln p o 1 ice
do? or how would administra
tion react? These are but two
of the obvious questions that
arise; there are many more,
some which center around the
question just what is swear
ing? First, if you are going to
get involved in a "filthy
speech movement" better
swallow your pride. Not that
you will shock any one by be
ing so avant-garde on the
contrary, everyone will react
to you as being naive. You
will be treated like a disillu
sioned child who, having found
ut the truth, has written
'There is no Santa Claus"
or "The Easter Bunny is a
fake" on his sweat shirt.
An example of this oc
curred as one University stu
dent was checking two books
on swearing from Love Li
brary. The librarian, looking
at the titles, smiled and said,
'Aren't fathers teaching their
sons anv more?"
People are actually justified
In not treating you avant
garde. The "father of o u r
country," George Washington
was a fluent swearer upon oc
casions. But George must
not have approved of swear
ing for he issued at least three
general orders against swear
ing in the ranks.
Swearing goes back much
farther than the Washington
era. God gave to Moses as
one of his Ten Commandments
a rule against swearing.
Swearing began with primi
tive man who swore for two
reasons: he wanted to put a
curse on his enemy or he
wanted to be backed up in his
statements by the gcds. With
an enemy who also believed
in magic, these were as ef
fectivs as clubs and spears.
Today there are primitive
tribes clinging to those o I d
beliefs. A bystander who hap
ens to come between two na
tives fighting it out with
curses ducks lest a curse
might hit him.
Today the supposedly civi
lized man is trying to g e t
the gods to back his state
ments when he says such
things as "by Jove" or "by
God." Many words have
become so common place that
they no longer seem like
swearing, but cliches. Among
these cliches which are no
longer socially swearing are
those based on the attributes
of God "0 Goodness!" "By
Jiminy!" "0 Gracious!" "0
Dear" is invoking Deus Him
self. It would be important for
one in a "filthy speech move
ment" not only to be able to
differentiate between socially
acceptable cliches and swear
ing, but, according to H. L.
drive-in theatre
HELD OVER FOR THOSE WHO COULD NOT
GET IN TO SEE IT!!
Sorry No Passes This Program
No
problems,
DO
messages,
just plain
straightaway
pleasure!
COLOR
fl MICHAEL
ALLAN
1TO S&
m If
1 'tw W
DWAYNE it
UN 1
2ND BIG HIT
grsgckyPECK- axihokyQUINN-cwSHARIF
nrum n a nmc ijadcc Jr Y
Mencken in his book THEi
AMERICAN LANGUAGE, he
must also have a natural gift
for swearing:
"Swearing, of course, is not
the prerogative of all men.
Many lack the natural gift for
it, and others are timorous.
For such teters of inferiority
complexes there is a reper
tory of what may be called
denaturized profanity. For
spoken discourse there are
darn, goldarn, doggone, jimi
ny, gosh, golly, gee-whiz, holy
gee, son-of-a-gun and their
congeners, and for written
discourse, dambfool, famfino,
helluva and s.o.b., by the
Y.W.C.A. out of the tea
shoppe. All-fired for hell-fired,
gee-whiz for Jesus, tarnal for
eternal, tarnation for damna
tion, cuss for curse, holy gee
for holv Jesus, goldarned for
God-damned, by golly for by
God, great Scott for great
God, and what'll for what
the hell are all Americanisms,
but bv gosh and by gum are
English."
You weren't really speaking
in a foreign tongue the last
time after swearing you said,
"Pardon my French." This
phrase probably arose out of
using French terms for un
mentionable English in news
papers at the turn of the cen
tury. Even the English speaking
peoples do not always agree
on what is swearing. While
many words are swearing in
both America and England a
disparity does exist for the
word "bloody." In England it
is indecent with overtures of
blasphemous, while in the
United States there is no im
proper significance connected
to the word.
Mencken says about lan
guages and swearing in t h e
United States as compared to
that of other countries:
"But darn and doggone are
hardly more than proofs that
profanity is not an American
art. The chief catonal reli
ances are still hell and damn,
both of them badly shop-worn.
To support them we have an
other properly describable as
as vocabulary of indecency.
Our maid-of-all-work in t h a t
department is son-of-a-bitch,
which seems as pale and in
effectual to a Slav or a Latin
as fudge does to us. There is
simply no lift in It, no shock,
no sis-boom-ah. The dumbest
policeman in Palermo thinks
of a dozen better ones between
breakfast and the noon whis
tle. "The term, indeed, is so
flat, stale and unprofitable
that, when uttered with a wink
or a dig in the ribs, it is
actually a kind of endearment,
and has been applied with
every evidence of respect by
one United States Senator to
another. Put the second per
son pronoun and the adjective
'old' in front of it, and scarce
ly enough bounce is left in it
to shake up an archdeacon.
Worse, it is frequently toned
down to s.o.b., or transmogri
fied into the childish son-ot-a
gun. The latter is so lacking
in punch that the 1 1 a 1 i a n s
among us have borrowed it as
a satirical name for an Ameri-
'can: la sanemagogna is what
they call him, and by it they
indicate their contempt for his
j backwardness in the art that
. is one of their great glories,
j "In Standard Italian there
! are no less than forty con
j geners of son-of-a-bitch, and
; each and every one of them
j is mofe opprobrious, more
: brilliant, more effective. In
I Neopolitan dialect there are
j thousands."
!
Even though Mencken may
i consider Americans as inade
quate in swearing, society
does not agree, for it has set
down rules against swearing.
It is considered not only
morally but legally wrong to
use the sacred terms of the
Christian religion for swear
ing today. A Nebraska statute
states that anyone 14-years-old
or over who "profanely
swears by the name of God,
Jesus Christ or the Holy
Ghost, shall be fined in a
sum not exceeding one dollai
nor less than twenty five
cents for each offense." The
statute also makes profanely
cursing or damning illegal.
The statute concerning pro
fanity is not rigidly enforced
by the Lincoln Police Depart
ment, according to Captain of
Detectives E. R. Henninger.
It is not uncommon for a po
lice officer to be sworn at
while making an arrest, but
usually, unless it is excessive
or in a public place, it is ig
nored. Capt. Henninger point
ed out that quite often after
the person who has been ar
rested calms down he apolo
gizes. Of course when there
is a complaint or when a per
son swears in a public place
bothering women and children
the police do not ignore it,
and the law is enforced.
Thus you probably will not
get into trouble if you swear
privatelv, while participation
in a "filthy speech move
ment" would no doubt bring
public attention to you, result
ing in your arrest.
Smiling, Capt. Henninger
j explained how some men
swear about every other
word. He recalled, especially
after the war, the returning
i soldiers had a hard time stop
' ping their swearing.
One such soldier is Bill
i Mauldin, who rose to fame as
'a cartoonist during World
IWar II. Mauldin wrote in the
Campus Variety Sheldon Gallery Time Schedule
"Reporter" magazine that he
can turn the atmosphere a
fair shade of purple. "With
out a conscious efiort, tnat is,
it just rolls out conversation
ally, so that the listener
doesn't blink until three or
four harmless words later.
"My wife is understanding
about my affliction and ap
preciates how hard I sit on
my tongue in mixed gather
ings containing female strang
ers, even though I might let
go a little when I've known
them for an hour or so."
Mauldin told his then small
children when he found them
picking up his language that
what he was saying when
they thought they heard bad
words was, "Got down!
Couldn't get up. Son of a bit
my finger; Helena, Montana,
got damaged by fire."
Like many types of move
ments the "filth speech move
ment" could exclaim its
healthful effects. According
to a University of Manchest
er, England psychologist,
John Cohen, swearing acts as
an emotional safety value for
pent-up passions and emo
tions. This "release of steam"
use of swearing seems to be
characteristic of all human
groups, archaic, ancient and
modern alike, according to
Cohen.
Swearing can not only be
claimed healthful but also a
jform of protection against
bothersome people, as the
following story which tells
how Harold Ross, the late edi
tor of the "New Yorker," used
to manage to stay off radio
programs illustrates.
Ross is quoted by Mauldin
in his article in the "Report
er" as saying:
"I'm a profane by na
ture," he said, "and when
ever one of those liter
ary round tables or something
would call up, I'd s a v.
" 'Why, hell yes, I'll be glad
to sit on your
whatever the -
- - - panel or
you call it.
NOW SHOWING
IT CmIff THESE MEN MO WOMEN
TO THE PEAK OFOLOBY...
nmcmrrouTOWEPWDFrnmuBEi
BURT LANCASTER
M JOHN HULHKlNHlmt S
rniiL ovvr wa
woifoang Pfiiiis Richard munch
mt m a rtf ol C"uw
JEANNE MOREAU
Continued from p. 3
Cinema '65 "Suspicion" will
be shown Monday, July 19,
at 7 p.m. in the Nebraska Un
ion Auditorium.
On Tuesday, July 20, the
Elementary Education For
um features Mary Scott, an
i Instruction and C u r r i c u -i
lum specialist from the De
partment of E 1 e m e n -i
tary School Principals, Na
Itional Education Association
j in Washington, D.C. She is a
, visiting professor at the Uni-
i versity this summer. : J:
j The Artist Series presents ; 3
j the Summer Chorus and Or- 3;
I chestra Concert at 8 p.m. in 3:
; the Nebraska Union Ballroom
on Wednesday, July 21. . j
Thursday, July 22 is anoth
er Cinema Internation
al film, "Weekend," which
: may be seen in the Nebraska
i Union Ballroom.
i
' With only two weeks left of
, the summer school session,
! on Monday, July 26. you may
. see "Bachelor In Paradise"
at 7:00 p.m. in the Union
' Auditorium.
: The Teacher's College In
, stitute will have two after
noon sessions. The first ses
! sion. Upper Elementary
School Demonstration, is
Tuesday afternoon, July 27.
i The second session is High
School Demonstration, on
Wednesday afternoon. Both
sessions will be in the Ne
braska Union Ballroom.
Wednesday evening, July
28 will be the Artist Series.
"Selected Short Subjects" in
the Ballroom.
A barbecue at East Cam-
J pus is scheduled for July 29.
In the evening the Classique
II presents "Blue Angel" in
the Ballroom at 7 p.m.
The last week of the sum
mer school session presents a
special attraction, "The Rain
maker," presented by the
University of Nebraska The
atre. This production will be
shown Monday and Tuesday,
August 2nd and 3rd in Howell
Theatre at 8 p.m. For those I
who prefer Cinema '65, j
"Across The Pacific," may
be seen in the Nebraska Un
ion Ballroom at 7 p.m. Mon
day, August 2.
The eight week summer;
school session ends Friday,
August 6. The summer school
commencement will be in
Pershing Audiorium at 7:30
p.m.
Sheldon Memorial Art Gal
lery will be open to visitors
from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tues
days; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Wednesday through Satur
days; 2 p.m Through 5 p.m.
Sunday; and will be closed
Mondays.
"I'd go on like this for a
couple more sentences it
didn't take much and the
never would call back.
The word got around that I
couldnt draw a breath with
out cussing and I haven't
been bothered in years."
Now the only thing that is
left to know about a "filthy
speech movement" at the Uni
versity of Nebraska is what
would administration do?
Vice Chancellor Robert
Ross was asked, "What ac
tion would the administration
take if a student were to stand
in front of the Student Union
with a sign that had on it a
four letter obscene word."
He slumped back in h i s
swivel chair smiling. He then
pointed out that:
Another student seeing
the sign might try to take it
away.
Some one from town
might see the sign and call
the Lincoln police.
A University staff mem
ber seeing the sign might ap
proach the student and ask
him to use better judgement.
The campus police might
be called in by someone.
Ross said that if it were re
ported to him, he would go
find out what was bothering
the student.
He explained that so much
in a situation like this de
pends upon good taste and
whether it would be offensive
to other students passing by.
Now that you know what
would happen in a "filthy
speech movement" here, the
idea seems kind of boring,
doesn't it?
! About as boring as march
!ing behind Terry Carpenter
I to the Capitol.
Sum
mer Recreation
ecia!
Open Bowling
3 games $1.00
Billiards
80 per hour
Vi price with date
Nebraska Union
SPECIAL DISCOUNT
TO-
STUDEXTS FACULTY
KAUOIAN'S Jewelers
1332 O
Games Area
Ext. 2458
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State: Tl.e Train', 1:00, 3.24,
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Stuart: 'Von Ryan's I.xprefc',
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