1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:08,000 Hi there. Erm, thanks for coming. FEEDBACK 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,200 My name's Cora - Cora Bissett. 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:15,700 I'm an actor and theatre director. 4 00:00:15,700 --> 00:00:20,300 So, tonight, we're going to be looking at Scottish swearing. 5 00:00:20,300 --> 00:00:25,580 There's going to be cursing, vulgarity, profanities, 6 00:00:25,580 --> 00:00:27,700 so if you're of a sensitive disposition, 7 00:00:27,700 --> 00:00:32,300 I would...I would possibly just...head off now. 8 00:00:33,580 --> 00:00:35,220 COUGHING 9 00:00:36,300 --> 00:00:41,740 No, I'm serious. Tonight, there will be very strong language. 10 00:00:41,740 --> 00:00:43,900 SPECTATOR: Oh, just get fucking on wi' it! 11 00:00:45,540 --> 00:00:47,300 OK. 12 00:00:47,300 --> 00:00:49,020 SHE EXHALES 13 00:00:56,460 --> 00:00:58,900 # There'll be shit and shite 14 00:00:58,900 --> 00:01:01,500 # And piss and pish and flyting 15 00:01:01,500 --> 00:01:03,460 # Bawbags and wallopers 16 00:01:03,460 --> 00:01:05,420 # Effing and blinding... # 17 00:01:08,460 --> 00:01:11,860 Some say us Scots are the greatest cursers in the world. 18 00:01:13,340 --> 00:01:15,220 # Arses and shitebags 19 00:01:15,220 --> 00:01:17,500 # Bawheids, your hoor 20 00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:19,180 # Nuggets, rockets, dobbers 21 00:01:19,180 --> 00:01:21,300 # Your maw's baws, you roaster 22 00:01:21,300 --> 00:01:23,020 # F-bombs, C-bombs 23 00:01:23,020 --> 00:01:25,060 # Big bombs, wee bombs 24 00:01:25,060 --> 00:01:29,780 # Frisky and risky Sociolinguisty... # 25 00:01:31,700 --> 00:01:35,260 I'm one woman on a four-letter quest. 26 00:01:35,260 --> 00:01:41,620 This is the earliest surviving record of the word "fuck". 27 00:01:41,620 --> 00:01:44,980 It's time to venerate our vulgar vernacular. 28 00:01:44,980 --> 00:01:47,300 Fud and pish, fanny. 29 00:01:47,300 --> 00:01:49,020 But then Scots has that great ability 30 00:01:49,020 --> 00:01:50,500 just to fucking gang nuclear. 31 00:01:50,500 --> 00:01:52,180 What the fuck are you talking aboot? 32 00:01:52,180 --> 00:01:55,060 The words we choose to express joy, anger, 33 00:01:55,060 --> 00:01:58,620 fears and frustration reveals a lot about who we are... 34 00:01:58,620 --> 00:02:02,820 Excuse me, watch. There's a snake. I'm shiteing myself. 35 00:02:02,820 --> 00:02:06,460 And I'm someone who grew up swearing in two languages, so... 36 00:02:06,460 --> 00:02:10,900 ..and we've been standing up for the right to say what we want... 37 00:02:10,900 --> 00:02:12,980 Not only am I not ashamed of the things I've done, 38 00:02:12,980 --> 00:02:14,460 I'm very, very proud of them. 39 00:02:14,460 --> 00:02:17,420 ..despite being scolded and censored. 40 00:02:17,420 --> 00:02:21,980 My culture and my language have the right to exist. 41 00:02:21,980 --> 00:02:24,220 There's a power in the profane. 42 00:02:24,220 --> 00:02:26,860 A wee woman fae the East End with her bingo pen 43 00:02:26,860 --> 00:02:30,860 can bring down a country with a word. Oh, my God! 44 00:02:30,860 --> 00:02:33,100 We're going to break the bleeper... 45 00:02:33,100 --> 00:02:36,140 Am I allowed to say it? You can say it. OK. 46 00:02:36,140 --> 00:02:38,500 ..sign up for swearing school... 47 00:02:38,500 --> 00:02:41,620 Surely had a lot more important things to do than polish it. 48 00:02:41,620 --> 00:02:43,740 LAUGHTER 49 00:02:43,740 --> 00:02:47,420 ..to show that Caledonian cursing is the finest in the world. 50 00:02:47,420 --> 00:02:50,660 Load of fucking rubbish. Why don't you piss off? 51 00:02:50,660 --> 00:02:54,540 # Tonight on your box This is the swear box 52 00:02:54,540 --> 00:03:05,860 # We go there 53 00:03:05,860 --> 00:03:09,900 # We get tae 54 00:03:09,900 --> 00:03:16,620 # Fuck. # 55 00:03:32,940 --> 00:03:35,780 I work in the theatre as a director and actor 56 00:03:35,780 --> 00:03:39,580 on stories that try to capture Scotland's many voices... 57 00:03:39,580 --> 00:03:42,620 And we figure everyone that fights for justice for asylum seekers 58 00:03:42,620 --> 00:03:45,060 is a Glasgow Girl. 59 00:03:45,060 --> 00:03:48,660 ..and I know the dramatic impact of a well-placed swearword. 60 00:03:50,180 --> 00:03:54,500 In fact, I discovered that early in life. 61 00:03:54,500 --> 00:03:56,620 When I was a wee girl in a Fife town, 62 00:03:56,620 --> 00:04:00,700 like most kids, I began to speak my first words. 63 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:02,980 Mum and Dad praised and encouraged me, 64 00:04:02,980 --> 00:04:06,180 and my vocabulary expanded until, one day, 65 00:04:06,180 --> 00:04:09,060 I repeated a funny word which I'd heard a grown-up say, 66 00:04:09,060 --> 00:04:12,980 and...Mum and Dad weren't pleased. 67 00:04:12,980 --> 00:04:16,340 There were words, and there were bad words. 68 00:04:16,340 --> 00:04:21,580 Dick. Stop it. Dick. Stop it. Dick. Don't call me a dick. Dick. 69 00:04:21,580 --> 00:04:23,940 Stop calling me that. Dick. Enough! Dick. 70 00:04:23,940 --> 00:04:26,900 Don't you call me a dick. Dick. No! 71 00:04:26,900 --> 00:04:30,620 Grounded. Give me that juice back. Dick. 72 00:04:39,700 --> 00:04:42,940 My son swore for the first time when he was 20 months old. 73 00:04:42,940 --> 00:04:44,740 His little kind of plastic car thing, 74 00:04:44,740 --> 00:04:47,180 it wasn't closing over properly, and he's going... 75 00:04:47,180 --> 00:04:51,580 He's like, "Fucking car!" And I was just, like, astonished! 76 00:04:53,340 --> 00:04:54,740 At the point where they start 77 00:04:54,740 --> 00:04:56,420 getting told off more and more for it, 78 00:04:56,420 --> 00:04:58,580 they pick up on that it's a way to be naughty, 79 00:04:58,580 --> 00:05:00,820 but they're picking up on that alongside, you know, 80 00:05:00,820 --> 00:05:03,660 it's a way to be expressive, it's a way to identify yourself, 81 00:05:03,660 --> 00:05:05,980 it's distinct from people, it's a way to be cool. 82 00:05:05,980 --> 00:05:07,940 They pick up on all those nuances very early. 83 00:05:09,300 --> 00:05:12,780 Our wee-wean-brains absorb all the language around us. 84 00:05:14,180 --> 00:05:17,060 In the classroom, we learn to read and write, 85 00:05:17,060 --> 00:05:20,180 but in the playground, we learn to swear. 86 00:05:20,180 --> 00:05:23,700 We quickly realise that swearwords get a reaction. 87 00:05:23,700 --> 00:05:26,980 They can be thrilling, effective and funny. 88 00:05:28,220 --> 00:05:29,940 The toughest guy, the hardest guy, 89 00:05:29,940 --> 00:05:32,700 the coolest guy in the school came along and walked up and down 90 00:05:32,700 --> 00:05:35,380 all the kids in the shed, and just went, 91 00:05:35,380 --> 00:05:37,380 "Good guy. Wank. 92 00:05:37,380 --> 00:05:40,860 "Good guy. Good guy. Wank. Wank. Wank." 93 00:05:43,140 --> 00:05:45,180 But childhood is when we also learn 94 00:05:45,180 --> 00:05:47,780 why these words should be treated with caution 95 00:05:47,780 --> 00:05:52,540 because swearwords are often used to insult, to bully, to hurt, 96 00:05:52,540 --> 00:05:54,540 even after we leave school. 97 00:05:54,540 --> 00:05:58,460 Some people never grow up, in real life or online. 98 00:06:00,740 --> 00:06:03,300 Now, at this point, some folk might be uncomfortable 99 00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:06,020 with the graphic language that I'm about to use, 100 00:06:06,020 --> 00:06:09,900 but I struggle to see any joke in being systematically called 101 00:06:09,900 --> 00:06:14,420 a dyke, a rug muncher, a slut, a whore, a scruffy bint. 102 00:06:14,420 --> 00:06:17,380 I've been told that, "You can't put lipstick on a pig. 103 00:06:17,380 --> 00:06:20,300 "Let the dirty bitch eat shit and die." 104 00:06:20,300 --> 00:06:22,420 Whether using swearwords or not, 105 00:06:22,420 --> 00:06:26,100 I think hurtful name-calling is an abusive language. 106 00:06:26,100 --> 00:06:27,340 It's not fucking big... 107 00:06:28,460 --> 00:06:29,980 ..and it's not fucking clever. 108 00:06:31,380 --> 00:06:34,420 So, this programme isn't about justifying abuse. 109 00:06:34,420 --> 00:06:37,980 It's not celebrating hurt, misogyny or name-calling 110 00:06:37,980 --> 00:06:40,660 because swearing is just too interesting 111 00:06:40,660 --> 00:06:43,260 to be left to the bullies and bams. 112 00:06:52,980 --> 00:06:54,700 She says, "How, who are you, anyway?" 113 00:06:54,700 --> 00:06:56,740 I says, "I'm his BLEEP boss." Aye. 114 00:06:56,740 --> 00:06:59,020 I says... HE SPEAKS IN STRONG DIALECT 115 00:06:59,020 --> 00:07:02,180 Aye. I says, "BLEEP, what's the score here?" 116 00:07:03,460 --> 00:07:06,220 Language is a window into human nature, 117 00:07:06,220 --> 00:07:09,820 and studying so-called bad language is like shining a light 118 00:07:09,820 --> 00:07:12,580 into some of the most bizarre and funny corners 119 00:07:12,580 --> 00:07:14,020 of the Scottish psyche. 120 00:07:14,020 --> 00:07:17,180 If you want a linguistic adventure, 121 00:07:17,180 --> 00:07:19,780 go drinking with a Scotsman 122 00:07:19,780 --> 00:07:21,900 cos you can't fucking understand him before. 123 00:07:21,900 --> 00:07:23,340 LAUGHTER 124 00:07:23,340 --> 00:07:25,260 You land in Scotland and they're going... 125 00:07:25,260 --> 00:07:28,300 HE SPEAKS GIBBERISH, LAUGHTER 126 00:07:28,300 --> 00:07:30,540 "Oh, yeah." HE SPEAKS GIBBERISH 127 00:07:30,540 --> 00:07:34,380 Swearing fits into the idea of a distinctively Scottish voice 128 00:07:34,380 --> 00:07:36,740 reacting against a set of imposed rules. 129 00:07:36,740 --> 00:07:39,300 HE SPEAKS GIBBERISH 130 00:07:39,300 --> 00:07:41,100 And there's a kind of boldness about it, 131 00:07:41,100 --> 00:07:43,140 a kind of pleasure and satisfaction in that. 132 00:07:43,140 --> 00:07:45,740 Bawbag. Bawbag? Yeah, I don't know that word. 133 00:07:45,740 --> 00:07:49,540 Scrotum. Scrotum. Oh, scrotum. Oh, ballbag! Yeah, ballbag! 134 00:07:49,540 --> 00:07:52,220 The people are saying, "We are making our own rules 135 00:07:52,220 --> 00:07:54,460 "and we are violating the norms of society, 136 00:07:54,460 --> 00:07:57,740 "and in this setting, among ourselves, 137 00:07:57,740 --> 00:07:59,740 "our rules about language, 138 00:07:59,740 --> 00:08:02,380 "our boundaries will be the ones we observe." 139 00:08:02,380 --> 00:08:03,940 It's too late, Captain! 140 00:08:03,940 --> 00:08:07,180 The pish flaps have blown loose! LAUGHTER 141 00:08:07,180 --> 00:08:08,780 People have always felt, 142 00:08:08,780 --> 00:08:12,620 about the Scots, that we're kind of unpredictable, 143 00:08:12,620 --> 00:08:16,180 angry, slightly dangerous, edgy. 144 00:08:16,180 --> 00:08:17,940 You just stay there and we'll come down 145 00:08:17,940 --> 00:08:20,260 and kick your arse every now and again. 146 00:08:20,260 --> 00:08:23,100 And I think, also, Scots revelled in it because they thought, 147 00:08:23,100 --> 00:08:24,820 "Well, I might be wee and red-haired, 148 00:08:24,820 --> 00:08:26,580 "but I can scare the living daylights 149 00:08:26,580 --> 00:08:28,700 "out of that big guy in the corner just by swearing." 150 00:08:28,700 --> 00:08:32,500 Check out the Willie World News. I reviewed the new tractors. 151 00:08:32,500 --> 00:08:33,900 They're all shite! 152 00:08:33,900 --> 00:08:36,620 APPLAUSE 153 00:08:39,980 --> 00:08:43,540 Now we come to the difficult question of taboo words - 154 00:08:43,540 --> 00:08:45,420 words that live in our language 155 00:08:45,420 --> 00:08:48,340 but which we do not normally discuss in polite company. 156 00:08:48,340 --> 00:08:50,780 I think this is going to create something of a scandal. 157 00:08:50,780 --> 00:08:54,860 These words have never been used like this on television before. 158 00:08:54,860 --> 00:09:00,820 Turning the airwaves blue has a long history of offending viewers. 159 00:09:00,820 --> 00:09:02,900 What you're doing, when you use those words 160 00:09:02,900 --> 00:09:06,980 in their usual phraseology, is to tell somebody to copulate off. 161 00:09:06,980 --> 00:09:09,660 I find the word "copulate" offensive, actually, because... 162 00:09:09,660 --> 00:09:12,300 I was trying to use a scientific word, you see? I was trying to... 163 00:09:12,300 --> 00:09:15,180 Yeah, but that's the problem, you see. What is the OK word? 164 00:09:17,780 --> 00:09:19,700 "I feel so strongly about the disgusting, 165 00:09:19,700 --> 00:09:23,020 "abusive language on television, but last night just topped the lot." 166 00:09:23,020 --> 00:09:25,300 So, how do I make this documentary 167 00:09:25,300 --> 00:09:28,300 without offending Disgusted of Kelvinside? 168 00:09:28,300 --> 00:09:30,700 "Filthy to the very lowest grade of filth." 169 00:09:30,700 --> 00:09:32,180 "Somewhat unsavoury." 170 00:09:33,460 --> 00:09:39,380 I've come to BBC HQ to ask a bigwig for wise words on bad words. 171 00:09:39,380 --> 00:09:42,180 Well, my job is I'm the head of editorial standards 172 00:09:42,180 --> 00:09:43,820 for BBC Scotland, 173 00:09:43,820 --> 00:09:46,500 and that involves advising programme-makers about 174 00:09:46,500 --> 00:09:51,180 the use of strong language in their programmes and what's acceptable. 175 00:09:51,180 --> 00:09:54,620 So, there are some words that, by anybody's judgment, 176 00:09:54,620 --> 00:09:56,260 are very, very strong. 177 00:09:56,260 --> 00:09:58,700 How does the BBC cope with those kind of words? 178 00:09:58,700 --> 00:10:01,900 Any programme-maker who wants to use that language 179 00:10:01,900 --> 00:10:04,340 within their programme 180 00:10:04,340 --> 00:10:07,460 has to refer that to a very senior level. 181 00:10:07,460 --> 00:10:09,180 In the case of BBC Scotland, 182 00:10:09,180 --> 00:10:11,940 it has to be referred to the director of BBC Scotland. 183 00:10:11,940 --> 00:10:15,220 So, I'm about to make this programme about swearing, 184 00:10:15,220 --> 00:10:18,300 and I was just wondering if you could give me a bit of an idea 185 00:10:18,300 --> 00:10:22,460 on what kind of words I might have a problem getting past. 186 00:10:22,460 --> 00:10:23,820 Of course. OK. 187 00:10:23,820 --> 00:10:28,060 Minger? Probably OK. Pish? Erm, that's probably OK. 188 00:10:28,060 --> 00:10:31,500 Baws? Relaxed about that one, as well, yeah. Shite? Probably OK. 189 00:10:31,500 --> 00:10:35,180 Bastard? Bit stronger, but still OK, I think. Cock? 190 00:10:35,180 --> 00:10:38,380 Getting a bit stronger there. Minge? Stronger still. 191 00:10:38,380 --> 00:10:41,540 Fanny? Erm, maybe. Depends on the context. 192 00:10:41,540 --> 00:10:44,540 "Fanny" depends on the context? I'll remember that. 193 00:10:44,540 --> 00:10:47,580 Prick? Same for that. Knob? Yeah. 194 00:10:47,580 --> 00:10:49,980 There's an official list for broadcasters - 195 00:10:49,980 --> 00:10:53,260 47 controversial words from mild to extreme... 196 00:10:53,260 --> 00:10:54,900 Spunk? Yeah. 197 00:10:54,900 --> 00:10:58,260 ..and they have to justify every curse that's uttered. 198 00:10:58,260 --> 00:11:01,020 Pish flaps? Getting a bit stronger there. 199 00:11:01,020 --> 00:11:02,940 But there are sweary words... 200 00:11:02,940 --> 00:11:05,180 Fuck? Only after the watershed. 201 00:11:05,180 --> 00:11:07,700 ..and there are VERY sweary words. 202 00:11:08,860 --> 00:11:11,540 C-c... Can't go there. 203 00:11:11,540 --> 00:11:14,580 There's one word that offends more than any other. 204 00:11:14,580 --> 00:11:18,820 You know it, he knows it, everyone in Scotland knows it... 205 00:11:18,820 --> 00:11:20,780 ALARM BLARES 206 00:11:23,300 --> 00:11:26,700 ..but I'll need special permission to say it. 207 00:11:26,700 --> 00:11:29,620 You're at the top of the list now - the very highest of the scale. 208 00:11:29,620 --> 00:11:31,700 We'd have to refer it to the highest level. 209 00:11:31,700 --> 00:11:33,420 Just have to wait and see on that one. 210 00:11:36,340 --> 00:11:37,940 Nobody likes boundaries, 211 00:11:37,940 --> 00:11:41,020 especially being told what we can and cannot say. 212 00:11:42,820 --> 00:11:46,020 And on the streets, from Kirkwall to Kirkcudbright, 213 00:11:46,020 --> 00:11:49,260 we speak very differently to characters on TV. 214 00:11:49,260 --> 00:11:54,380 THEY SHOUT OUT SWEARWORDS 215 00:11:54,380 --> 00:11:56,420 Some people, of course, don't like swearing 216 00:11:56,420 --> 00:11:58,340 and find it distasteful, 217 00:11:58,340 --> 00:12:02,180 but the conjunction of language that doesn't fit 218 00:12:02,180 --> 00:12:05,180 and that is highly policed and the sense that 219 00:12:05,180 --> 00:12:08,180 you can thumb your nose at those boundaries and go beyond them... 220 00:12:08,180 --> 00:12:09,780 Bastard! 221 00:12:09,780 --> 00:12:13,860 ..stepping outside the norms of respectability... 222 00:12:13,860 --> 00:12:17,540 "I am not governed by the rules of propriety" 223 00:12:17,540 --> 00:12:19,140 that you would learn in school. 224 00:12:19,140 --> 00:12:21,380 THEY SHOUT OUT SWEARWORDS 225 00:12:21,380 --> 00:12:22,700 Shite. 226 00:12:22,700 --> 00:12:23,820 Bollocks. 227 00:12:26,100 --> 00:12:30,940 # Call me dumb Don't call me smarthead... # 228 00:12:30,940 --> 00:12:34,740 My own swearing vocab expanded vastly when, 229 00:12:34,740 --> 00:12:36,980 as a rebellious teenager, I left home, 230 00:12:36,980 --> 00:12:40,500 joined a rock-and-roll band, and played pubs across Scotland. 231 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:42,780 SHE SINGS 232 00:12:47,780 --> 00:12:50,740 Swearing felt cool. 233 00:12:52,860 --> 00:12:56,500 But why do us humans swear at all? 234 00:12:56,500 --> 00:13:00,220 Sociolinguistics is the study of language in society, 235 00:13:00,220 --> 00:13:02,100 culture and history. 236 00:13:02,100 --> 00:13:04,140 Bastard. Bastard. 237 00:13:04,140 --> 00:13:05,700 And in this classroom, 238 00:13:05,700 --> 00:13:08,140 you're encouraged to swear at the teacher... 239 00:13:08,140 --> 00:13:11,300 Shit. STUDENTS: Shit. Prick. 240 00:13:11,300 --> 00:13:13,220 ..and he gives as good as he gets. 241 00:13:13,220 --> 00:13:16,540 Well, shit, wanker, shag and whore and twat and piss off, 242 00:13:16,540 --> 00:13:18,300 and in this case... 243 00:13:18,300 --> 00:13:21,180 Me and my fellow linguistics students are here to try 244 00:13:21,180 --> 00:13:24,540 and understand just why some words pack a punch. 245 00:13:24,540 --> 00:13:26,580 The most important thing about swearing is 246 00:13:26,580 --> 00:13:28,940 they have to be stigmatised or taboo. 247 00:13:28,940 --> 00:13:31,860 You have to have been told, at some point, "Don't say those words." 248 00:13:31,860 --> 00:13:33,540 Otherwise, they don't have power. 249 00:13:33,540 --> 00:13:36,900 There are four uses of swearwords in English. One is the expletive. 250 00:13:36,900 --> 00:13:40,260 These are the ones where you want to use them to express emotions. 251 00:13:40,260 --> 00:13:41,820 "This is a fuckup!" 252 00:13:41,820 --> 00:13:43,300 Second one is intensifiers, 253 00:13:43,300 --> 00:13:45,340 where you're saying, "It's bloody difficult." 254 00:13:45,340 --> 00:13:49,020 "This essay is fucking annoying." 255 00:13:49,020 --> 00:13:52,540 Abusive is the term where you're actually using it against someone. 256 00:13:52,540 --> 00:13:55,100 "That fucker! That wanker!" 257 00:13:55,100 --> 00:13:59,340 And then humorous. Humorous is probably more common than abusive. 258 00:13:59,340 --> 00:14:02,500 Humorous is where you say something which looks like it's an offensive term, 259 00:14:02,500 --> 00:14:04,420 but, actually, it's to your friend, so it's OK. 260 00:14:04,420 --> 00:14:06,260 "Oh, you didn't get me a fucking cup of tea." 261 00:14:06,260 --> 00:14:09,060 And you're not really meaning it in an offensive way. 262 00:14:11,220 --> 00:14:13,940 For these young students from all corners of the world, 263 00:14:13,940 --> 00:14:16,780 there is no such thing as bad language. 264 00:14:18,100 --> 00:14:21,060 I like to have a classroom where swearing is encouraged, 265 00:14:21,060 --> 00:14:23,780 primarily because I want people to talk about anything. 266 00:14:23,780 --> 00:14:26,340 So, as linguists, we're not traffic police 267 00:14:26,340 --> 00:14:28,580 standing on a corner saying, "Go this way. Go that way." 268 00:14:28,580 --> 00:14:31,340 We're like fishermen that put a net into the ocean, come back, 269 00:14:31,340 --> 00:14:33,340 and you want to find the really weird fish, 270 00:14:33,340 --> 00:14:35,700 no matter how taboo or how risky they think they are, 271 00:14:35,700 --> 00:14:37,460 because language is what matters. 272 00:14:37,460 --> 00:14:40,140 And in the rich seas of Scottish speech, 273 00:14:40,140 --> 00:14:43,220 there are plenty of exotic specimens. 274 00:14:43,220 --> 00:14:46,220 Do you think they use swearing any differently here 275 00:14:46,220 --> 00:14:47,860 from anywhere else? 276 00:14:47,860 --> 00:14:51,860 Erm, maybe, yeah. I've heard a lot of people swearing. 277 00:14:51,860 --> 00:14:55,540 I guess people have just got to express their feelings, so... Yeah. 278 00:14:55,540 --> 00:14:59,140 ..a lot of curse words around. What Scottish swearwords do you know? 279 00:14:59,140 --> 00:15:01,940 Erm, just "shite". THEY LAUGH 280 00:15:01,940 --> 00:15:04,580 Good answer. Sorry. That's great! 281 00:15:04,580 --> 00:15:06,940 Swearing may be universal, 282 00:15:06,940 --> 00:15:09,700 but each country has its own nuances. 283 00:15:09,700 --> 00:15:11,660 Would you put "shit" as high as "shite"? 284 00:15:11,660 --> 00:15:14,580 Erm, would we put "shit" higher than "shite"? 285 00:15:14,580 --> 00:15:16,580 What do you think? Yeah. "You wee shite." 286 00:15:16,580 --> 00:15:19,380 LAUGHTER A term of endearment. 287 00:15:19,380 --> 00:15:21,820 We find that things within a community 288 00:15:21,820 --> 00:15:24,260 are more often used as kind of a bonding thing 289 00:15:24,260 --> 00:15:26,740 cos it's part of who we are together, 290 00:15:26,740 --> 00:15:29,260 and it's not something which comes in from outside. 291 00:15:30,980 --> 00:15:35,020 In English, there's more than 800 expressions for copulation, 292 00:15:35,020 --> 00:15:39,660 1,000 for penis and 1,200 for vagina, 293 00:15:39,660 --> 00:15:42,900 but that doesn't include the salty Scottish words 294 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:44,940 that we all heard from the cool kids, 295 00:15:44,940 --> 00:15:47,780 the funny uncle, on a drunken night out, 296 00:15:47,780 --> 00:15:51,460 and they're often used with affection rather than aggression... 297 00:15:51,460 --> 00:15:54,660 SHE LAUGHS Very jaunty. 298 00:15:54,660 --> 00:15:56,940 ..as this Scots journalist explains. 299 00:15:56,940 --> 00:15:58,500 Scots is similar to English, 300 00:15:58,500 --> 00:15:59,980 but it isnae the same language, 301 00:15:59,980 --> 00:16:01,580 and Scots-speaking communities 302 00:16:01,580 --> 00:16:03,220 ken what language you're speaking. 303 00:16:03,220 --> 00:16:05,860 So, if you were saying to somebody, "Och, you're full of shite," 304 00:16:05,860 --> 00:16:07,940 it's quite vernacular, it's colloquial. 305 00:16:07,940 --> 00:16:10,060 That's a language you'd use with your pals, 306 00:16:10,060 --> 00:16:12,580 and it comes with that sense of familiarity 307 00:16:12,580 --> 00:16:15,500 and you ken he's no' really tearing you doon. 308 00:16:15,500 --> 00:16:18,780 Saying it in English is kind of speaking doon tae somebody, like, 309 00:16:18,780 --> 00:16:21,060 "You are a shit professional." 310 00:16:21,060 --> 00:16:22,620 "Oh!" SHE LAUGHS 311 00:16:22,620 --> 00:16:24,140 "Mate, that was a bit shite." 312 00:16:24,140 --> 00:16:26,380 "Oh, sorry, pal. I'll dae better next time." 313 00:16:26,380 --> 00:16:29,820 Massive difference between they twa experiences, you know? Yeah. 314 00:16:29,820 --> 00:16:33,780 Give me a list of some of your favourite Scottish swearwords. Bam. 315 00:16:33,780 --> 00:16:35,780 Ken? You'd call a ned a bam. 316 00:16:35,780 --> 00:16:38,180 And pish and fanny. 317 00:16:38,180 --> 00:16:41,900 Scots vocabulary is formed mostly on an old Germanic dialect, 318 00:16:41,900 --> 00:16:44,180 but had loads of European influence. 319 00:16:44,180 --> 00:16:49,100 So, words like... "Fud", actually, is connected to the Icelandic "fud", 320 00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:51,420 which means a female animal's vagina. 321 00:16:51,420 --> 00:16:54,260 "Doup", which is a great Scots word for your arse, 322 00:16:54,260 --> 00:16:56,820 just came in fae the Dutch in the 1500s, 323 00:16:56,820 --> 00:16:59,580 and it means, like, the wee underside of an egg. 324 00:17:01,780 --> 00:17:04,620 But it shows the kind of playful nature. 325 00:17:04,620 --> 00:17:07,260 NEWSREADER: A red-warning, high-impact wind... 326 00:17:07,260 --> 00:17:09,860 Oh, my God. Trampoline! ..is going to cause some damage, 327 00:17:09,860 --> 00:17:11,660 some disruption, possibly power outages. 328 00:17:13,500 --> 00:17:14,940 So, the winds are that bad up there? 329 00:17:14,940 --> 00:17:16,740 Yeah, it's really bad over there right now. 330 00:17:16,740 --> 00:17:18,100 They're getting blown around. 331 00:17:18,100 --> 00:17:20,820 But they really are calling it Hurricane Bawbag! 332 00:17:20,820 --> 00:17:23,260 They have a scorn and a contempt for nature, 333 00:17:23,260 --> 00:17:24,660 which I find... 334 00:17:24,660 --> 00:17:26,180 LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE Yeah! 335 00:17:27,940 --> 00:17:32,180 And some of these old Scots words are making an unlikely comeback. 336 00:17:32,180 --> 00:17:34,980 You can buy, like, Bawbags pants and stuff now. 337 00:17:34,980 --> 00:17:38,460 And, like, "bawbag" is one of they words that middle-class writers 338 00:17:38,460 --> 00:17:41,180 will slip into a soap to make it seem authentic, 339 00:17:41,180 --> 00:17:43,220 and nothing gies me the boke mair than that. 340 00:17:43,220 --> 00:17:44,980 It's a fucking language! Respect it. 341 00:17:44,980 --> 00:17:46,860 Respect it and use it or fuckin' dinnae. 342 00:17:46,860 --> 00:17:48,500 We're paying for the banter. 343 00:17:48,500 --> 00:17:50,660 LAUGHTER 344 00:17:52,100 --> 00:17:53,700 But then Scots has that great ability 345 00:17:53,700 --> 00:17:55,140 just to fucking gang nuclear. 346 00:17:55,140 --> 00:17:58,580 Like, calling somebody a fuckheid does feel like, "Fucking hell!" 347 00:18:00,820 --> 00:18:04,300 Which brings us to the world's most popular swearword. 348 00:18:04,300 --> 00:18:09,540 It's a noun, an adjective, a verb and an exclamation all in one. 349 00:18:11,180 --> 00:18:14,060 But what swearers from Fiji to Finland don't know 350 00:18:14,060 --> 00:18:19,540 is that the first F in the world is right here in Scotland's capital. 351 00:18:19,540 --> 00:18:22,980 In the 16th century, shouty Scottish poets would indulge 352 00:18:22,980 --> 00:18:26,700 in a ritual exchange of creative insults known as flyting... 353 00:18:26,700 --> 00:18:28,260 Make some noise! 354 00:18:28,260 --> 00:18:31,180 ..like a rap battle long before rap. 355 00:18:31,180 --> 00:18:33,980 Mate, better fucking drop my style 356 00:18:33,980 --> 00:18:37,460 He looks like he spent the last year just coughing bile. 357 00:18:37,460 --> 00:18:40,380 You're aboot Yoda height. LAUGHTER 358 00:18:40,380 --> 00:18:41,860 It's like a cash-and-carry 359 00:18:41,860 --> 00:18:43,780 You're always comin' oot wi' a load of shite. 360 00:18:43,780 --> 00:18:46,340 And these Scottish flyting poems 361 00:18:46,340 --> 00:18:49,060 contain some of the earliest swearwords in history. 362 00:18:50,900 --> 00:18:52,980 Get me a swearing expert. 363 00:18:52,980 --> 00:18:56,020 Hello. Good to meet you. Hi. Very good to meet you, too. Yes. 364 00:18:56,020 --> 00:18:59,740 Today, we're going to look at some really juicy language 365 00:18:59,740 --> 00:19:01,620 from 500 years ago. Wow. 366 00:19:04,020 --> 00:19:06,900 Joanna, as a Polish woman, how on Earth did you find yourself 367 00:19:06,900 --> 00:19:09,180 teaching and studying Scots language? 368 00:19:09,180 --> 00:19:11,780 I fell in love with the landscape the moment I came here. 369 00:19:11,780 --> 00:19:15,820 I wanted to learn more about the language of Scotland 370 00:19:15,820 --> 00:19:17,380 and how it evolved. 371 00:19:18,540 --> 00:19:20,900 Today, the National Library of Scotland 372 00:19:20,900 --> 00:19:24,740 is getting a rare treasure out from the vaults. 373 00:19:24,740 --> 00:19:28,780 So, we're looking at a 500-year-old object. Wow. 374 00:19:28,780 --> 00:19:31,620 It's a very precious manuscript. 375 00:19:31,620 --> 00:19:36,300 You can see the actual handwriting. It's incredibly well preserved. 376 00:19:36,300 --> 00:19:38,540 It's really detailed, isn't it? Yeah. 377 00:19:38,540 --> 00:19:43,620 So, what we're looking at here is The Flyting Of Dunbar And Kennedie. 378 00:19:43,620 --> 00:19:48,500 So, why is this manuscript significant, in terms of swearwords? 379 00:19:48,500 --> 00:19:51,620 Well, Kennedy addresses Dunbar. 380 00:19:51,620 --> 00:19:53,780 As you can see here, in this stanza here, 381 00:19:53,780 --> 00:19:59,780 he's calling him, "Ignorant elf, aip, owll irregular 382 00:19:59,780 --> 00:20:03,940 "Skaldit skaitbird and commoun skamelar 383 00:20:03,940 --> 00:20:08,540 "Wan fukkit funling that Natour maid ane yrle." 384 00:20:08,540 --> 00:20:11,620 CORA LAUGHS "Wan fukkit funling." 385 00:20:11,620 --> 00:20:15,500 This is the first surviving record of "fuck". 386 00:20:15,500 --> 00:20:19,380 What he means is your parents didn't make you quite rightly, 387 00:20:19,380 --> 00:20:21,180 you know, if that's the way to put it. 388 00:20:21,180 --> 00:20:26,140 Is this the earliest example we have in the world? Indeed, yeah. 389 00:20:26,140 --> 00:20:31,620 The earliest surviving record of the word "fuck". 390 00:20:31,620 --> 00:20:35,420 "Fukkit. Fukkit." There you go. 391 00:20:35,420 --> 00:20:37,460 THEY LAUGH 392 00:20:37,460 --> 00:20:40,140 Was he going like that when he did it? He probably was! 393 00:20:40,140 --> 00:20:42,740 THEY LAUGH 394 00:20:44,900 --> 00:20:47,540 So, it might never quite make the tourist trail, 395 00:20:47,540 --> 00:20:49,460 but here, in our National Library, 396 00:20:49,460 --> 00:20:54,340 we have the first written "fuck" in the world. 397 00:20:54,340 --> 00:20:56,220 I think that's something to be proud of. 398 00:21:04,180 --> 00:21:08,020 The freedom enjoyed by the early poets wasn't to last. 399 00:21:08,020 --> 00:21:11,100 For most of Scotland's recently recorded history, 400 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:14,860 colourful language is conspicuously absent. 401 00:21:14,860 --> 00:21:19,100 I've looked in our literature, I've scoured through old newspapers 402 00:21:19,100 --> 00:21:23,180 and searched the BBC archives, and I can't find any. 403 00:21:23,180 --> 00:21:25,740 If you believe these grey, official, 404 00:21:25,740 --> 00:21:28,020 sanctioned accounts of everyday life, 405 00:21:28,020 --> 00:21:29,900 Scotland's mouth was clean. 406 00:21:31,820 --> 00:21:34,940 I think we Scots like to think that we've always been gallus, 407 00:21:34,940 --> 00:21:39,980 swaggering, effing and blinding, but no, at one point, we were... 408 00:21:39,980 --> 00:21:42,820 And I'm going to have to use the C-word here. 409 00:21:45,140 --> 00:21:48,580 ..conservative - small C. 410 00:21:50,780 --> 00:21:55,460 So, what happened to all that carefree, bawdy ribaldry? 411 00:21:55,460 --> 00:21:57,220 Well, button up your cardie 412 00:21:57,220 --> 00:22:00,620 because it's time to take a deep dive into the Scots psyche. 413 00:22:02,540 --> 00:22:04,340 First up, the Calvinists. 414 00:22:06,820 --> 00:22:10,180 It was a country where the Church held enormous sway. 415 00:22:10,180 --> 00:22:13,940 Hellfire and damnation sermon by the minister 416 00:22:13,940 --> 00:22:18,380 warning you against all kinds of sins - scary stuff. 417 00:22:18,380 --> 00:22:20,700 Bad language was one of those sins. 418 00:22:23,380 --> 00:22:28,340 For centuries, Scotland wasn't laid-back about, well, anything... 419 00:22:28,340 --> 00:22:31,140 If you did swear, you would be severely ticked off 420 00:22:31,140 --> 00:22:32,940 by figures of authority. 421 00:22:32,940 --> 00:22:35,060 They would have given you a clipped ear. 422 00:22:35,060 --> 00:22:37,660 Please welcome the founder of the Church of Scotland, 423 00:22:37,660 --> 00:22:39,780 Mr John Knox! 424 00:22:39,780 --> 00:22:42,100 ..and a lot of it was down to this guy. 425 00:22:42,100 --> 00:22:46,180 Thou shalt bathe in molten lava with only bombs for soap. 426 00:22:46,180 --> 00:22:48,020 LAUGHTER 427 00:22:48,020 --> 00:22:52,220 Thou shalt live in a skip with only a stamp to keep thou warm. 428 00:22:52,220 --> 00:22:53,980 LAUGHTER 429 00:22:53,980 --> 00:22:58,380 And we pray for a return to the old gospel of the Reformation, 430 00:22:58,380 --> 00:23:00,700 the old gospel of free grace. 431 00:23:01,820 --> 00:23:05,300 There's nothing like the old, old story... 432 00:23:08,340 --> 00:23:10,860 Number two on our hang-up list... 433 00:23:13,100 --> 00:23:15,700 ..comes courtesy of the flowering of reason, 434 00:23:15,700 --> 00:23:18,140 which was the Scottish Enlightenment. 435 00:23:18,140 --> 00:23:21,660 On the plus side came reason, logic and philosophy, 436 00:23:21,660 --> 00:23:25,300 but on the downside, out went more Caledonian curses. 437 00:23:25,300 --> 00:23:28,660 The great model that they had was English gentility. 438 00:23:28,660 --> 00:23:31,540 They start getting rid of Scotticisms from their language. 439 00:23:31,540 --> 00:23:34,380 And, of course, that then sort of deprives you of all your best ways 440 00:23:34,380 --> 00:23:36,020 of insulting each other. 441 00:23:36,020 --> 00:23:39,900 Even Enlightenment-era editions of William Dunbar's poetry 442 00:23:39,900 --> 00:23:43,140 emitted the forbidden "fukkit". 443 00:23:43,140 --> 00:23:45,620 Surely, you are losing a bit of the expressiveness 444 00:23:45,620 --> 00:23:48,780 of the way that you speak. Maybe we lost some of the joy. 445 00:23:48,780 --> 00:23:51,460 Yeah, yeah. In some ways, you're losing the passion for life. 446 00:23:51,460 --> 00:23:53,420 I would agree! Cos it becomes a bit cold. 447 00:23:53,420 --> 00:23:56,260 It becomes a bit more controlled, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. 448 00:23:58,540 --> 00:24:02,340 The legacy of religion and the craving for respectability 449 00:24:02,340 --> 00:24:04,380 meant that generations of Scots 450 00:24:04,380 --> 00:24:06,820 buttoned their lip and minded their manners. 451 00:24:06,820 --> 00:24:11,540 HE SINGS 452 00:24:11,540 --> 00:24:14,340 This was the Scotland of The Sunday Post, 453 00:24:14,340 --> 00:24:17,300 of rectitude and propriety, 454 00:24:17,300 --> 00:24:19,460 and if swearing was discussed at all, 455 00:24:19,460 --> 00:24:21,300 it was only there to be condemned. 456 00:24:23,020 --> 00:24:27,940 Right, stand by, all in studio. Stand by... Cue action, please. 457 00:24:27,940 --> 00:24:30,220 Good evening. We're bringing into service 458 00:24:30,220 --> 00:24:33,460 the first television studio in Scotland. 459 00:24:33,460 --> 00:24:35,740 SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCE MUSIC PLAYS 460 00:24:35,740 --> 00:24:38,340 But the biggest influence on Scots' vocabulary 461 00:24:38,340 --> 00:24:41,820 and the way we spoke was when the BBC began broadcasting 462 00:24:41,820 --> 00:24:43,420 north of the border. 463 00:24:43,420 --> 00:24:45,460 I don't believe it! It's true. 464 00:24:45,460 --> 00:24:49,460 At last, the miners of Midlothian, the welders of the Clyde, 465 00:24:49,460 --> 00:24:53,180 the landladies of Largs would hear a Scottish voice on TV. 466 00:24:53,180 --> 00:24:56,700 Oh, I say! I'm getting on like a house on fire. 467 00:24:56,700 --> 00:25:01,460 But no, the vowels were clipped, the accents were unrecognisable. 468 00:25:01,460 --> 00:25:03,540 You have to keep the microphone as near as possible 469 00:25:03,540 --> 00:25:05,020 to the speaker. Yes, yes. 470 00:25:05,020 --> 00:25:08,780 Oh, leave those to me, darling. Look, Linda... 471 00:25:08,780 --> 00:25:13,300 And, of course, the very idea that you would swear on the BBC 472 00:25:13,300 --> 00:25:15,700 was utterly frightful. 473 00:25:15,700 --> 00:25:18,180 I'm afraid I wasn't listening. Oh, of course you were. 474 00:25:18,180 --> 00:25:21,020 You're just being ruddy tactful. Colin, please! No please about it! 475 00:25:21,020 --> 00:25:23,780 Come into camera one. Cue music. 476 00:25:23,780 --> 00:25:27,100 Camera two. Camera three. Camera four. 477 00:25:34,580 --> 00:25:36,500 What was your first language? 478 00:25:36,500 --> 00:25:39,100 Bad language. LAUGHTER 479 00:25:40,220 --> 00:25:41,860 When I started out in the BBC, 480 00:25:41,860 --> 00:25:46,100 there was a very, very strict no swearing policy. 481 00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:51,460 Words like "bloody" and "bugger" and "damn" 482 00:25:51,460 --> 00:25:53,740 would be questionable, if you would ever hear them. 483 00:25:53,740 --> 00:25:55,820 If you were broadcasting on radio, television, 484 00:25:55,820 --> 00:25:57,140 going into people's homes, 485 00:25:57,140 --> 00:25:59,580 then you wouldn't want to use these words. 486 00:25:59,580 --> 00:26:01,220 ANNOUNCER: This is BBC Television. 487 00:26:01,220 --> 00:26:04,660 In 1964, the BBC introduced the nine o'clock watershed. 488 00:26:04,660 --> 00:26:06,460 It is not suitable for children 489 00:26:06,460 --> 00:26:10,180 or for those of you who may have a nervous disposition. 490 00:26:10,180 --> 00:26:13,700 Even when the weans were in bed, the air never turned blue. 491 00:26:14,700 --> 00:26:17,900 These rules and regulations were summed up to newcomers, 492 00:26:17,900 --> 00:26:20,660 as I knew they were, by senior producers, 493 00:26:20,660 --> 00:26:22,180 "Oh, it just means that all BLEEP 494 00:26:22,180 --> 00:26:23,740 "have to be referred to the controller." 495 00:26:23,740 --> 00:26:24,860 And that was the case. 496 00:26:28,220 --> 00:26:29,620 I must confess, however, 497 00:26:29,620 --> 00:26:30,940 that the other languages 498 00:26:30,940 --> 00:26:32,660 were much more harder. 499 00:26:32,660 --> 00:26:34,820 For instance, learning Hindustani 500 00:26:34,820 --> 00:26:36,540 was a whopper of a job. 501 00:26:36,540 --> 00:26:38,540 But it was a whopper mastered. 502 00:26:38,540 --> 00:26:40,460 I beg your pardon? Can you get away with that? 503 00:26:40,460 --> 00:26:42,500 LAUGHTER Oh, I see what you mean. Yes. 504 00:26:42,500 --> 00:26:45,700 And so began a golden age for innuendo. 505 00:26:45,700 --> 00:26:49,020 He kept bees in the old town of Effen. 506 00:26:51,780 --> 00:26:54,020 An Effen beekeeper was he. 507 00:26:54,020 --> 00:26:55,620 LAUGHTER 508 00:26:55,620 --> 00:26:57,420 With a nudge-nudge, wink-wink, 509 00:26:57,420 --> 00:27:00,340 the audience learned to read between the lines. 510 00:27:00,340 --> 00:27:03,180 And one day, this Effen beekeeper... 511 00:27:04,540 --> 00:27:08,140 ..was stung by a big Effen bee. 512 00:27:08,140 --> 00:27:10,100 LAUGHTER 513 00:27:12,100 --> 00:27:15,100 Fuck's sake! 514 00:27:15,100 --> 00:27:17,300 Fud. 515 00:27:17,300 --> 00:27:18,780 Dobber! 516 00:27:18,780 --> 00:27:21,780 Come here, ya bastard! 517 00:27:21,780 --> 00:27:24,700 Ya fuckin' dancer! 518 00:27:38,140 --> 00:27:40,780 The Bible, the broadcasters and the belt 519 00:27:40,780 --> 00:27:43,220 all combined to police swearing 520 00:27:43,220 --> 00:27:47,460 and protect the genteel ears of Scottish society, 521 00:27:47,460 --> 00:27:50,420 but the Scots tongue was not easily governed. 522 00:27:50,420 --> 00:27:53,780 In the factories, the men spoke industrial language, 523 00:27:53,780 --> 00:27:58,500 in the North East, the women had "a mouth like a fishwife", 524 00:27:58,500 --> 00:28:02,180 and travelling folk sang out their songs as they toiled. 525 00:28:04,060 --> 00:28:08,780 # Wi' a haben, a boo and a banna A haben, a boo and a bay... # 526 00:28:08,780 --> 00:28:12,620 And these folk songs were rarely written down, nor ever censored. 527 00:28:12,620 --> 00:28:15,700 They were passed on orally from one generation to another... 528 00:28:15,700 --> 00:28:19,340 # Oh, my father was hanged for sheep stealin' 529 00:28:19,340 --> 00:28:22,420 # My sister was burned as a witch... # 530 00:28:22,420 --> 00:28:24,860 ..and there's a manny fae Aberdeen who kens them all. 531 00:28:24,860 --> 00:28:27,220 # And I am the son of a bitch 532 00:28:27,220 --> 00:28:30,420 # Oh, when I was a hedger and ditcher 533 00:28:30,420 --> 00:28:32,980 # And up to my oxers in snaw 534 00:28:32,980 --> 00:28:35,300 # The deil took a haud of my bollocks 535 00:28:35,300 --> 00:28:37,820 # And he fucking near rugged them awa' 536 00:28:37,820 --> 00:28:40,940 # Wi' a haben, a boo and a banna 537 00:28:40,940 --> 00:28:43,180 # A haben, a boo and a bay 538 00:28:43,180 --> 00:28:46,140 # Wi' a haben, a boo and a banna 539 00:28:46,140 --> 00:28:49,460 # Come toodle-ay, oodle-ay-ah. # 540 00:28:49,460 --> 00:28:51,340 SHE LAUGHS 541 00:28:51,340 --> 00:28:54,220 So, where would these normally be sung? 542 00:28:54,220 --> 00:28:58,460 One of the main carriers of songs and tunes were travellers. 543 00:29:00,300 --> 00:29:03,740 These traditional people who came from that way of life 544 00:29:03,740 --> 00:29:05,620 sang a song like they spoke. 545 00:29:08,500 --> 00:29:12,340 Travelling agricultural workers moved from job to job, 546 00:29:12,340 --> 00:29:15,940 sleeping in barns and singing sweary songs into the night, 547 00:29:15,940 --> 00:29:18,140 and these bawdy ballads were passed on, 548 00:29:18,140 --> 00:29:20,900 brightening up generations of working lives. 549 00:29:25,380 --> 00:29:28,220 I mean, I come from a background of fishing. 550 00:29:28,220 --> 00:29:32,100 Fish traders, the girls, and they all swore. 551 00:29:32,100 --> 00:29:34,540 It was like, "Fucking God bless you," you know? 552 00:29:34,540 --> 00:29:37,100 SHE LAUGHS You know? It was. 553 00:29:37,100 --> 00:29:39,980 And that was just conversation. 554 00:29:39,980 --> 00:29:42,220 # What'll her mammy say? # 555 00:29:42,220 --> 00:29:43,980 It's the same with the song. 556 00:29:43,980 --> 00:29:47,380 # Get oot the bottle and hae a dram That warms... # 557 00:29:47,380 --> 00:29:51,540 It is part of the history... Yeah. ..of the music and the song. 558 00:29:51,540 --> 00:29:54,260 And if you took that out, you'd be taking out the passion of it. 559 00:29:54,260 --> 00:30:00,540 # Wi' muckle grief and sorrow... # 560 00:30:00,540 --> 00:30:05,420 This oral tradition inspired young folk singers like Ewan MacColl. 561 00:30:05,420 --> 00:30:07,740 He recorded the workers and travellers, 562 00:30:07,740 --> 00:30:11,980 then used swearing sparingly in his folk songs for emphatic effect. 563 00:30:11,980 --> 00:30:14,940 # There's no ogres, wicked witches 564 00:30:14,940 --> 00:30:17,860 # Only greedy sons of bitches 565 00:30:17,860 --> 00:30:22,820 # Who are waiting to exploit your life away... # 566 00:30:24,900 --> 00:30:26,780 Scottish folk clubs were the beginning 567 00:30:26,780 --> 00:30:28,540 of a four-letter fightback. 568 00:30:28,540 --> 00:30:33,180 The lyrics were uncompromising and the language was unsanitised. 569 00:30:33,180 --> 00:30:36,020 # For he is outward bound... # 570 00:30:36,020 --> 00:30:39,260 That's what our job is as artists and singers, 571 00:30:39,260 --> 00:30:41,900 is to keep that stuff alive. 572 00:30:41,900 --> 00:30:44,580 And if there's fucking swearing in it, so be it. 573 00:30:44,580 --> 00:30:47,340 # Noo, I once knew a tailor in Dublin 574 00:30:47,340 --> 00:30:49,940 # A lassie went into his shop 575 00:30:49,940 --> 00:30:52,740 # She asked for two yards of his linen 576 00:30:52,740 --> 00:30:55,420 # But he gave her two yards of his cock 577 00:30:55,420 --> 00:30:58,460 # Wi' a haben, a boo and a banna 578 00:30:58,460 --> 00:31:02,260 # Come toodle-ay, oodle-ay-ah. # 579 00:31:03,860 --> 00:31:06,780 It's a beautiful love song. 580 00:31:06,780 --> 00:31:09,180 SHE LAUGHS It is. 581 00:31:09,180 --> 00:31:11,260 You get all the sentiments in it. 582 00:31:17,060 --> 00:31:19,300 The world was changing. 583 00:31:20,380 --> 00:31:24,180 Why don't you shut up, you goddamn mafia? 584 00:31:24,180 --> 00:31:25,580 HE WHISTLES 585 00:31:25,580 --> 00:31:28,260 In 1960s America, comedian Lenny Bruce 586 00:31:28,260 --> 00:31:31,940 was arrested on stage for swearing and charged with obscenity. 587 00:31:31,940 --> 00:31:34,700 He goes, "Hey, you motherfucker, why don't you try on glasses?" 588 00:31:34,700 --> 00:31:38,220 In England, theatre critic Kenneth Tynan rocked the BBC 589 00:31:38,220 --> 00:31:41,460 when he said "fuck" during a live broadcast. 590 00:31:41,460 --> 00:31:43,300 But in 1970s Scotland, 591 00:31:43,300 --> 00:31:46,180 jings, crivens, help ma boab, we kept it clean. 592 00:31:48,500 --> 00:31:52,580 Not one bad word was uttered in TV, radio or the papers 593 00:31:52,580 --> 00:31:56,340 until one man laughed in the face of the censors. 594 00:31:59,140 --> 00:32:01,540 He was brought up in a grey Glasgow tenement 595 00:32:01,540 --> 00:32:04,340 in the district of Partick, a place he calls 596 00:32:04,340 --> 00:32:06,820 a little fishing village by the banks of the Clyde. 597 00:32:08,380 --> 00:32:12,580 Billy Connolly served his swearing apprenticeship in the shipyards. 598 00:32:12,580 --> 00:32:16,100 Glasgow swearing sounds like... HE GRUNTS 599 00:32:16,100 --> 00:32:17,700 And, you know, there's no mistake 600 00:32:17,700 --> 00:32:19,860 what the guy is trying to get across. 601 00:32:19,860 --> 00:32:23,740 Connolly took the industrial language he'd heard as a welder 602 00:32:23,740 --> 00:32:26,660 and forged it into comedy in the folk clubs. 603 00:32:26,660 --> 00:32:29,260 But it was only when it was pressed into vinyl 604 00:32:29,260 --> 00:32:33,260 that he could get past the censors at 33 revolutions per minute. 605 00:32:33,260 --> 00:32:35,940 ON RECORDING: There's nothing worse than going into a toilet, 606 00:32:35,940 --> 00:32:38,300 locking the door, turning round 607 00:32:38,300 --> 00:32:40,580 and finding that there's a wee jobbie. 608 00:32:40,580 --> 00:32:42,420 LAUGHTER 609 00:32:42,420 --> 00:32:44,980 Somebody else's. LAUGHTER 610 00:32:44,980 --> 00:32:47,900 Listening again and again to LPs 611 00:32:47,900 --> 00:32:51,260 filled with jobbie jokes and sweary stories was thrilling... 612 00:32:51,260 --> 00:32:54,620 The Big Yin. The Big Yin. Look at some of these. 613 00:32:54,620 --> 00:32:56,940 ..but it also inspired kids to think, 614 00:32:56,940 --> 00:33:01,140 "Hey, people who speak like me can be funny and famous." 615 00:33:01,140 --> 00:33:04,580 The local record shop had that. That was in the shop window. 616 00:33:04,580 --> 00:33:07,180 It was a gatefold and that was sitting in the shop window. 617 00:33:07,180 --> 00:33:10,860 We used to go and look because it was bad... Yeah. ..you know, 618 00:33:10,860 --> 00:33:13,660 hearing a guy saying "jobbie" on an LP! 619 00:33:13,660 --> 00:33:15,340 THEY LAUGH 620 00:33:15,340 --> 00:33:20,140 Billy Connolly represented the end of civilisation as we knew it. 621 00:33:20,140 --> 00:33:22,820 ON RECORDING: And you can't leave 622 00:33:22,820 --> 00:33:26,220 because if you go to leave and there's a guy outside, 623 00:33:26,220 --> 00:33:28,700 you can hardly say, "Honest, Jimmy, it's no' mine." 624 00:33:28,700 --> 00:33:30,380 LAUGHTER 625 00:33:30,380 --> 00:33:32,780 I always remember my mother talking to her sister, saying, 626 00:33:32,780 --> 00:33:34,420 "Have you heard that Billy Connolly?" 627 00:33:34,420 --> 00:33:38,180 I knew they were talking about it and I was, like, heid doon, kidding on I'm no' hearing it. 628 00:33:38,180 --> 00:33:40,500 WHISPERS: "Have you heard the language of Billy Connolly? 629 00:33:40,500 --> 00:33:41,940 "Have you heard the language?" 630 00:33:41,940 --> 00:33:43,980 The Big Yin was hitting the big time... 631 00:33:43,980 --> 00:33:46,180 # She shouted, "Get him, Rover!" 632 00:33:46,180 --> 00:33:49,580 # And he jumped over and bit my... # 633 00:33:49,580 --> 00:33:52,380 ..but television appearances were often censored... 634 00:33:52,380 --> 00:33:56,180 # She sank her teeth in my B-U-M 635 00:33:56,180 --> 00:33:59,900 # And called me BLEEP... # 636 00:33:59,900 --> 00:34:02,860 ..making his records even more desirable. 637 00:34:02,860 --> 00:34:05,900 Suddenly, it was cool to have Billy Connolly LPs. 638 00:34:05,900 --> 00:34:08,060 If you were walking about with a Billy Connolly LP, 639 00:34:08,060 --> 00:34:10,460 everybody was like, "Can I get a loan of that?" You loaned. 640 00:34:10,460 --> 00:34:13,420 And that sense of, "Oh, we shouldnae be listening to this," 641 00:34:13,420 --> 00:34:15,580 that was always, always there sort of thing. 642 00:34:15,580 --> 00:34:18,060 Spots a bush on fire. He says, "Oh, wait a minute. 643 00:34:18,060 --> 00:34:20,140 "Bush is on fire and the leaves aren't." 644 00:34:20,140 --> 00:34:22,620 So, he goes up for a closer look. The bush starts talking to him. 645 00:34:22,620 --> 00:34:23,980 He says, "Oh, haud on." 646 00:34:23,980 --> 00:34:26,780 By making fun of religion, by swearing with pride, 647 00:34:26,780 --> 00:34:29,300 and doing it all in his own accent, 648 00:34:29,300 --> 00:34:32,060 the Big Yin became public enemy number one... 649 00:34:32,060 --> 00:34:34,180 Attack the system! 650 00:34:34,180 --> 00:34:38,780 ..but there were many who felt that Scotland's very soul was at risk. 651 00:34:40,180 --> 00:34:42,220 Scottish comedian Billy Connolly 652 00:34:42,220 --> 00:34:44,780 attracts two kinds of extreme followers - 653 00:34:44,780 --> 00:34:48,180 those who love his humour and those who condemn it. 654 00:34:48,180 --> 00:34:51,940 It's about Billy Connolly's blasphemy of Jesus Christ. 655 00:34:51,940 --> 00:34:53,660 There were protests. 656 00:34:53,660 --> 00:34:56,340 Pastor Jack Glass famously, 657 00:34:56,340 --> 00:34:59,100 you know, with the banner, "Connolly is a blasphemer." 658 00:34:59,100 --> 00:35:02,340 Well, that's the tragedy of today - we feel it's such a permissive age 659 00:35:02,340 --> 00:35:05,180 that people are completely godless and Christ-less, 660 00:35:05,180 --> 00:35:08,020 and they prefer to listen to toilet talk like Connolly's, 661 00:35:08,020 --> 00:35:10,660 who we call "manure mouth". 662 00:35:10,660 --> 00:35:12,620 There's one where there's a joke. 663 00:35:14,100 --> 00:35:16,820 Aye, it's called They'll Never Put This On A Record, 664 00:35:16,820 --> 00:35:20,540 and it's because it's a guy in a church who's found dead, 665 00:35:20,540 --> 00:35:23,060 and he's in the church and the policeman comes in and says, 666 00:35:23,060 --> 00:35:24,500 "What the fuck are you daeing?" 667 00:35:24,500 --> 00:35:27,340 And the guy drops dead, and the policeman's explanation is, 668 00:35:27,340 --> 00:35:30,780 "I think he thought it was the Lord speaking to him, you know? 669 00:35:30,780 --> 00:35:33,180 "A Scottish version of God who would swear." 670 00:35:33,180 --> 00:35:37,180 ON RECORDING: Oh! What the fuck are you daeing there? 671 00:35:37,180 --> 00:35:40,980 Billy Connolly released ten comedy albums in the 1970s. 672 00:35:40,980 --> 00:35:44,220 He was uncensored and he was unrepentant. 673 00:35:44,220 --> 00:35:46,420 Not only am I not ashamed of the things I've done, 674 00:35:46,420 --> 00:35:47,980 I'm very, very proud of them. 675 00:35:47,980 --> 00:35:50,700 Any more of his lip, I'll start doing it again! 676 00:35:50,700 --> 00:35:53,100 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Billy Connolly! 677 00:35:55,380 --> 00:35:59,340 Funny swearing was now a Scottish speciality. 678 00:35:59,340 --> 00:36:03,180 We saw a great thing last week, you know - a nurse up at the hostel. 679 00:36:03,180 --> 00:36:05,700 Tits, bum, fanny, the lot. 680 00:36:05,700 --> 00:36:07,220 It was sanctioned, 681 00:36:07,220 --> 00:36:10,220 part of Scotland's cheeky, rough-diamond charm. 682 00:36:10,220 --> 00:36:13,220 But what wasn't sanctioned were the harsh realities 683 00:36:13,220 --> 00:36:16,660 of working-class life told in working-class language. 684 00:36:18,980 --> 00:36:20,260 He kept going. 685 00:36:21,260 --> 00:36:23,460 A battler, man, that's what he was. 686 00:36:24,460 --> 00:36:26,900 One thing about the Sammy fellow - 687 00:36:26,900 --> 00:36:29,220 a fucking battler. 688 00:36:29,220 --> 00:36:32,380 If you would have asked him, he would have telt you - 689 00:36:32,380 --> 00:36:35,300 nae brains, but he would aye battle like fuck. 690 00:36:35,300 --> 00:36:37,060 It's true, though, he would have a go. 691 00:36:41,020 --> 00:36:43,660 When I first read Jim Kelman, I thought, "What is this? 692 00:36:43,660 --> 00:36:45,300 "I've never seen anything like it." 693 00:36:47,300 --> 00:36:49,780 Fuck ye! Fuck ye! 694 00:36:51,220 --> 00:36:54,460 Where the hell was he? He'd stopped walking. 695 00:36:55,500 --> 00:36:57,260 Nae wonder he'd stopped walking - 696 00:36:57,260 --> 00:37:00,380 cos he didnae fucking know where he was. 697 00:37:00,380 --> 00:37:03,420 I realised, "God, this guy's the real deal. 698 00:37:03,420 --> 00:37:06,900 "You know, he really is a fantastic writer." 699 00:37:06,900 --> 00:37:11,100 James Kelman's 1994 novel, How Late It Was, How Late, 700 00:37:11,100 --> 00:37:12,820 tells the story of Sammy, 701 00:37:12,820 --> 00:37:15,820 a Glaswegian who's gone blind overnight, 702 00:37:15,820 --> 00:37:17,860 and it made swearing political again. 703 00:37:17,860 --> 00:37:22,740 How is it possible to write about people 704 00:37:22,740 --> 00:37:26,100 if you cannot use the language that they use? 705 00:37:26,100 --> 00:37:28,500 I mean, there is a really serious point 706 00:37:28,500 --> 00:37:30,420 about suppression that goes on, 707 00:37:30,420 --> 00:37:34,460 and this kind of whole myth about so-called bad language. 708 00:37:36,300 --> 00:37:39,820 But the very fact that you don't allow people into literature 709 00:37:39,820 --> 00:37:42,660 because they use language in a certain way, 710 00:37:42,660 --> 00:37:47,060 it means that you have succeeded in suppressing their existence. 711 00:37:48,140 --> 00:37:52,740 In 1994, Jim Kelman was shortlisted for the Booker Prize - 712 00:37:52,740 --> 00:37:55,540 Britain's biggest fiction prize. 713 00:37:55,540 --> 00:37:58,700 Eventually, after much tortuous discussion, 714 00:37:58,700 --> 00:38:00,900 the judges, of which I was one, 715 00:38:00,900 --> 00:38:04,860 decided that Jim Kelman should win the prize. 716 00:38:04,860 --> 00:38:06,980 Mr James Kelman. 717 00:38:06,980 --> 00:38:08,740 APPLAUSE 718 00:38:08,740 --> 00:38:12,780 Scotland had its first, and so far only, winner. 719 00:38:12,780 --> 00:38:15,820 Britain's most prestigious literary award, the Booker Prize, 720 00:38:15,820 --> 00:38:18,660 has been won by the Scottish author James Kelman. 721 00:38:18,660 --> 00:38:21,420 His books describe the lives of Glaswegian men 722 00:38:21,420 --> 00:38:25,060 who frequent the pub, the betting shop and the dole queue. 723 00:38:25,060 --> 00:38:28,140 His victory brought Scottish voices and swearing 724 00:38:28,140 --> 00:38:30,340 to the very heart of the establishment, 725 00:38:30,340 --> 00:38:32,940 and they didn't like what they heard. 726 00:38:32,940 --> 00:38:37,100 Judges don't normally emerge calling the winning choice "a disgrace, 727 00:38:37,100 --> 00:38:39,780 "a monologue liberally laced with four-letter words 728 00:38:39,780 --> 00:38:41,660 "by a drunken Glaswegian". 729 00:38:43,620 --> 00:38:47,140 They attacked Jim and they attacked his novel. 730 00:38:48,460 --> 00:38:50,700 "How on Earth can you write a literary book 731 00:38:50,700 --> 00:38:54,460 "in which the word fuck features 4,000 times?" 732 00:38:54,460 --> 00:38:56,180 The so-called sophisticates 733 00:38:56,180 --> 00:38:59,500 felt that a savage had been thrust upon them. 734 00:39:04,060 --> 00:39:08,580 My culture and my language have the right to exist, 735 00:39:08,580 --> 00:39:13,420 and no-one has the authority to dismiss that right. 736 00:39:13,420 --> 00:39:17,660 I felt very sorry for Jim Kelman because he didn't deserve that. 737 00:39:17,660 --> 00:39:20,940 He deserved to win the Booker Prize because he was a great author - 738 00:39:20,940 --> 00:39:24,180 he IS a great author - and he is our greatest author. 739 00:39:24,180 --> 00:39:27,740 It was a terrible moment, actually, in British culture. 740 00:39:27,740 --> 00:39:30,580 Sales suffered after the four-letter furore, 741 00:39:30,580 --> 00:39:33,660 but Kelman's innovative literary use of language 742 00:39:33,660 --> 00:39:37,500 ensures the novel is still studied at universities around the world. 743 00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:40,620 There are some audiences and readerships that you can't fool. 744 00:39:40,620 --> 00:39:43,500 This is a brilliant novel, so rich in observation, 745 00:39:43,500 --> 00:39:46,060 so rich in human life, 746 00:39:46,060 --> 00:39:49,060 and I think to actually focus on swearing 747 00:39:49,060 --> 00:39:52,420 is to pander to the censors and the snobs. 748 00:39:52,420 --> 00:39:54,940 TYRES SCREECH Oh! Fuck! 749 00:39:54,940 --> 00:39:56,340 It was pointed out that, 750 00:39:56,340 --> 00:39:59,300 in the very same year as Kelman won the Booker Prize, 751 00:39:59,300 --> 00:40:01,740 Hugh Grant "fucked" and "buggered" his way through 752 00:40:01,740 --> 00:40:03,660 Four Weddings And A Funeral. 753 00:40:03,660 --> 00:40:07,700 Oh, fuck! Fuck! Fuckity-fuck! 754 00:40:08,820 --> 00:40:10,860 There was no controversy. 755 00:40:10,860 --> 00:40:13,060 This is where class enters the frame. 756 00:40:13,060 --> 00:40:14,980 Bugger! 757 00:40:14,980 --> 00:40:20,460 This language of the dispossessed, the language of the oppressed, 758 00:40:20,460 --> 00:40:24,740 I think that does chime with an idea of Scottishness 759 00:40:24,740 --> 00:40:28,140 that is rebellious, that is marginalised. 760 00:40:28,140 --> 00:40:32,580 There is a class politics just submerged beneath the surface. 761 00:40:32,580 --> 00:40:37,020 See? There are good reasons for our bad words. 762 00:40:37,020 --> 00:40:40,260 It's fascinating that the frequency with which we swear, 763 00:40:40,260 --> 00:40:44,820 the words we choose and who swears reveals much about society. 764 00:40:45,940 --> 00:40:48,180 A lot of the discourse about swearing 765 00:40:48,180 --> 00:40:51,340 is secretly a class discourse. 766 00:40:51,340 --> 00:40:55,980 Back in swearing class, time to discuss class swearing. 767 00:40:55,980 --> 00:40:57,580 So, in somewhere like Scotland, 768 00:40:57,580 --> 00:41:00,300 which identifies itself heavily as a working-class nation 769 00:41:00,300 --> 00:41:02,020 full of working-class people, 770 00:41:02,020 --> 00:41:05,860 you then have a situation where a national identity 771 00:41:05,860 --> 00:41:09,100 is somehow related to that class distinction. 772 00:41:09,100 --> 00:41:12,740 And since that class distinction has a national component to it, 773 00:41:12,740 --> 00:41:15,900 fundamentally, a lot of Scots will swear much more heavily 774 00:41:15,900 --> 00:41:17,740 than English people will 775 00:41:17,740 --> 00:41:20,940 because it's a way of identifying yourself with that class. 776 00:41:20,940 --> 00:41:23,620 That's something which then marks out people who say, 777 00:41:23,620 --> 00:41:25,780 "Well, we are this type of person 778 00:41:25,780 --> 00:41:27,700 "and we are proud to be this type of person, 779 00:41:27,700 --> 00:41:29,900 "and so we don't have as much of a problem with swearing 780 00:41:29,900 --> 00:41:31,380 "as you lot do." 781 00:41:31,380 --> 00:41:33,140 Doesn't it make you proud to be Scottish? 782 00:41:33,140 --> 00:41:36,060 It's shite being Scottish! 783 00:41:36,060 --> 00:41:40,340 We're the lowest of the low, the scum of the fucking Earth, 784 00:41:40,340 --> 00:41:43,940 the most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash 785 00:41:43,940 --> 00:41:46,460 that was ever shat into civilisation! 786 00:41:46,460 --> 00:41:50,060 Some people hate the English. I don't. They're just wankers! 787 00:41:50,060 --> 00:41:53,620 We, on the other hand, are colonised by wankers. 788 00:41:53,620 --> 00:41:57,300 Cannae even find a decent culture to be colonised by. 789 00:41:57,300 --> 00:42:00,140 We're ruled by effete arseholes! 790 00:42:00,140 --> 00:42:02,420 It's a shite state of affairs to be in, Tommy, 791 00:42:02,420 --> 00:42:06,100 and all the fresh air in the world won't make any fucking difference! 792 00:42:06,100 --> 00:42:07,900 I think, fundamentally, 793 00:42:07,900 --> 00:42:10,340 this sort of issue of swearing in language 794 00:42:10,340 --> 00:42:12,020 is an issue about power, 795 00:42:12,020 --> 00:42:15,620 particularly when they are people who are kind of out of power, 796 00:42:15,620 --> 00:42:17,780 have power withheld from them 797 00:42:17,780 --> 00:42:20,900 and who use language as a way of expressing their anger 798 00:42:20,900 --> 00:42:22,500 and their protest. 799 00:42:22,500 --> 00:42:24,580 In an upmarket Edinburgh tearoom, 800 00:42:24,580 --> 00:42:27,180 where everyone minds their Ps and Qs, 801 00:42:27,180 --> 00:42:29,380 we discuss the perils of being a nation 802 00:42:29,380 --> 00:42:32,260 that takes too much pride in its profanities. 803 00:42:33,380 --> 00:42:35,340 It risks becoming a trap, 804 00:42:35,340 --> 00:42:38,100 and you end up stereotyping yourself 805 00:42:38,100 --> 00:42:41,740 as a culture that's only fit for sort of swearing and cursing 806 00:42:41,740 --> 00:42:43,900 and sort of drunken brawling. 807 00:42:43,900 --> 00:42:45,940 I don't think that's the fault of the work itself. 808 00:42:45,940 --> 00:42:47,700 It's the fault of a kind of incompleteness 809 00:42:47,700 --> 00:42:49,540 in the way that Scotland is seen. Yeah. 810 00:42:49,540 --> 00:42:54,860 Do you think we're prone to using swearing just to fucking show off? 811 00:42:54,860 --> 00:42:56,860 Yeah, I think there's an element of that. 812 00:42:56,860 --> 00:42:59,060 In sort of larger social groups, 813 00:42:59,060 --> 00:43:02,980 swearing can be a very, very theatrical thing to do. 814 00:43:02,980 --> 00:43:05,420 Lots of F-words sort of start to creep in 815 00:43:05,420 --> 00:43:08,460 as a way of getting a laugh, and then, of course, 816 00:43:08,460 --> 00:43:11,260 that itself then creeps into comedy itself, 817 00:43:11,260 --> 00:43:13,740 so you'll see a lot of stand-up comics getting laughs 818 00:43:13,740 --> 00:43:16,940 by using obscenities in their acts. 819 00:43:16,940 --> 00:43:19,500 I live in a nice part of Glasgow these days, though. 820 00:43:19,500 --> 00:43:22,820 So, I live in a leafy suburb, so if I have children, 821 00:43:22,820 --> 00:43:24,300 they'll be pricks. 822 00:43:24,300 --> 00:43:26,100 So, I've come to terms... LAUGHTER 823 00:43:27,540 --> 00:43:29,820 If you ask someone to caricature a Scottish person, 824 00:43:29,820 --> 00:43:31,500 it would probably start with swearing. 825 00:43:31,500 --> 00:43:34,860 You would say that that's something that Scottish comics are particularly good at - 826 00:43:34,860 --> 00:43:38,100 tapping into cliches out there and emphasising them 827 00:43:38,100 --> 00:43:40,260 and dragging out what's absurd about them. 828 00:43:40,260 --> 00:43:41,780 What happened to you? 829 00:43:41,780 --> 00:43:44,420 Erm, I work for a company that makes a lot of hot shit and... 830 00:43:44,420 --> 00:43:46,820 You work for a company that makes a lot of hot shit? 831 00:43:46,820 --> 00:43:48,420 LAUGHTER 832 00:43:48,420 --> 00:43:50,300 Oh, I can see this starting to come together. 833 00:43:50,300 --> 00:43:52,660 Like the start of an episode of Casualty, isn't it? 834 00:43:52,660 --> 00:43:54,380 LAUGHTER 835 00:43:54,380 --> 00:43:56,420 How did you put your elbow on something hot? 836 00:43:56,420 --> 00:43:58,940 I just kind of brushed against it and I was fucked. 837 00:43:58,940 --> 00:44:00,900 "I just brushed against it and I was fucked." 838 00:44:00,900 --> 00:44:02,740 LAUGHTER There you go. 839 00:44:02,740 --> 00:44:06,060 There's a lovely understatement to Scottish people, isn't there? 840 00:44:06,060 --> 00:44:10,740 On stages across Scotland, our comedians curse with confidence. 841 00:44:10,740 --> 00:44:13,900 I'm meeting with a veteran stand-up and a new comedy writer 842 00:44:13,900 --> 00:44:17,540 to blether about bad language making good material. 843 00:44:17,540 --> 00:44:20,740 I once saw somebody at a football match getting really angry, 844 00:44:20,740 --> 00:44:23,180 and he stood up and he pointed at the pitch and he shouted, 845 00:44:23,180 --> 00:44:26,060 "Fucking...boo!" 846 00:44:26,060 --> 00:44:28,700 THEY LAUGH 847 00:44:28,700 --> 00:44:31,300 Cos, you know, sometimes, "boo" just isn't enough. 848 00:44:33,220 --> 00:44:35,260 Oh, I think that's my new... 849 00:44:35,260 --> 00:44:38,020 That's my new mantra. Brilliant! "Fucking boo." 850 00:44:39,260 --> 00:44:41,540 I'm someone who grew up swearing in two languages, 851 00:44:41,540 --> 00:44:43,940 so I know how much trouble I'm in 852 00:44:43,940 --> 00:44:47,100 depending if my mum and dad are swearing in English or Punjabi. 853 00:44:47,100 --> 00:44:49,500 I'm in, like, serious trouble if it's in Punjabi. 854 00:44:49,500 --> 00:44:51,500 I'm in casual trouble if it's in English. 855 00:44:51,500 --> 00:44:54,460 So, it's a good warning system. 856 00:44:54,460 --> 00:44:59,060 Fred, do you think Scots use swearwords more humourously 857 00:44:59,060 --> 00:45:01,100 than anybody else? I think we do. 858 00:45:01,100 --> 00:45:04,300 It suits the rhythm of our speech pattern, as well, 859 00:45:04,300 --> 00:45:06,340 and, you know, the tone of our voice. 860 00:45:06,340 --> 00:45:09,540 "Motherfucker", right? For me, as somebody from Perthshire, 861 00:45:09,540 --> 00:45:11,940 it sounds more like an agricultural process. 862 00:45:11,940 --> 00:45:14,020 THEY LAUGH 863 00:45:14,020 --> 00:45:16,220 I didn't want to point that out, so I'm glad you did. 864 00:45:16,220 --> 00:45:19,060 "Just went over the 17-acre field with the motherfucker." 865 00:45:20,700 --> 00:45:23,100 Do you use Punjabi swearing in your writing? 866 00:45:23,100 --> 00:45:25,180 Yes, cos there's one that's, like, panh chod, 867 00:45:25,180 --> 00:45:28,420 which means sisterfucker, and it's just a really... 868 00:45:28,420 --> 00:45:30,980 Like, why is my mum calling me that? 869 00:45:30,980 --> 00:45:33,660 SHE LAUGHS It's such a strange swearword, 870 00:45:33,660 --> 00:45:35,300 but no-one thinks about what it means. 871 00:45:35,300 --> 00:45:37,660 It's just a swearword. Does that make sense? Wow. 872 00:45:37,660 --> 00:45:40,460 Like, no-one's actually saying that. That's just what the word is. 873 00:45:40,460 --> 00:45:42,700 Yeah, there's no logic to a lot of swearing, is there? 874 00:45:42,700 --> 00:45:45,260 Yeah, like, why would you say "motherfucker", you know? Yeah. 875 00:45:45,260 --> 00:45:47,300 But, for some reason, we have "sisterfucker", 876 00:45:47,300 --> 00:45:50,060 and it's like, "Cool..." Yeah, as simple as that. 877 00:45:50,060 --> 00:45:53,780 Comedy, theatre and literature had pushed the boundaries, 878 00:45:53,780 --> 00:45:58,260 but TV was a mass medium, and there were still restrictions. 879 00:45:58,260 --> 00:46:03,500 By the Millennium, some were finding ways around the expletive embargo. 880 00:46:03,500 --> 00:46:07,500 Oh, that's sweet. "I love Boaby." 881 00:46:07,500 --> 00:46:09,260 I still love boaby. 882 00:46:11,020 --> 00:46:13,100 Who's Boaby? 883 00:46:13,100 --> 00:46:16,740 Och, just anybody's boaby. LAUGHTER 884 00:46:16,740 --> 00:46:19,860 There is a list of words that will cause offence, 885 00:46:19,860 --> 00:46:22,260 and the great thing was, by using Scottish words, 886 00:46:22,260 --> 00:46:25,100 you could kind of circumnavigate that a wee bit 887 00:46:25,100 --> 00:46:29,140 because they were words that weren't so offensive in a UK context, 888 00:46:29,140 --> 00:46:32,500 like "dobber" or "boaby", you know? 889 00:46:32,500 --> 00:46:34,940 So, you know, people would phone you up from London, 890 00:46:34,940 --> 00:46:37,860 "What is a boaby?" HE LAUGHS 891 00:46:37,860 --> 00:46:40,300 "It's a penis." "Really?" "Yeah." 892 00:46:40,300 --> 00:46:44,820 No-one complained. Gradually, attitudes were changing. 893 00:46:44,820 --> 00:46:48,660 The big thing about it is...the way we started the game was diabolical. 894 00:46:48,660 --> 00:46:52,060 Documentaries also began to reflect the way we spoke. 895 00:46:52,060 --> 00:46:55,100 It fucking sets you up for the rest of the game. 896 00:46:55,100 --> 00:46:57,620 My back three started fucking slack as fuck. 897 00:46:57,620 --> 00:46:59,780 Kenny, you've had fucking three balls. 898 00:46:59,780 --> 00:47:03,260 You fucking punch three balls when it's there. For fuck's sake! 899 00:47:03,260 --> 00:47:07,460 We're lost! Up front, we're fucking lost. We've got fuck all! 900 00:47:10,020 --> 00:47:13,140 But it was only when we could all announce our thoughts to the world 901 00:47:13,140 --> 00:47:15,820 that Scotland really let rip. 902 00:47:18,100 --> 00:47:20,580 PEOPLE SHOUT OUT SWEARWORDS 903 00:47:33,140 --> 00:47:36,060 Social media has become our stage, 904 00:47:36,060 --> 00:47:37,580 and for the first time, 905 00:47:37,580 --> 00:47:39,620 linguists can accurately quantify 906 00:47:39,620 --> 00:47:42,580 how and when we swear. 907 00:47:42,580 --> 00:47:45,540 Looking at what people can post online 908 00:47:45,540 --> 00:47:49,060 is a really good indicator of how they'd naturally use language. 909 00:47:54,580 --> 00:47:57,900 A recent study of more than 20,000 Scottish tweets 910 00:47:57,900 --> 00:48:01,900 found that our swearing is more often friendly than foul. 911 00:48:01,900 --> 00:48:04,740 A lot of people do assume that swearing is always used 912 00:48:04,740 --> 00:48:07,060 abusively or to insult people, 913 00:48:07,060 --> 00:48:09,020 but if you actually look at the context 914 00:48:09,020 --> 00:48:12,060 that people use swearwords in, 915 00:48:12,060 --> 00:48:15,900 in the data that I had, about 70% of those contexts 916 00:48:15,900 --> 00:48:18,660 were just normal, everyday, polite conversations, 917 00:48:18,660 --> 00:48:20,060 a kind of punctuation. 918 00:48:20,060 --> 00:48:23,380 It just sort of came at the end of sentences to emphasise things 919 00:48:23,380 --> 00:48:27,340 and to sort of highlight people's emotions and things like that. 920 00:48:27,340 --> 00:48:31,100 So, it wasn't used, like, throwing insults at people. 921 00:48:33,460 --> 00:48:35,860 Right, don't put too much weight on it, right? 922 00:48:35,860 --> 00:48:37,940 Where the fuck am I meant to put my weight?! 923 00:48:37,940 --> 00:48:39,980 I cannae put my weight on the roof. It's dead thin. 924 00:48:39,980 --> 00:48:42,380 I cannae hold on to the gutter. What am I meant tae dae wi' it? 925 00:48:42,380 --> 00:48:45,580 "Oh, here, Andrew, hold it for five minutes." You fucking wank stain! 926 00:48:45,580 --> 00:48:47,980 "Don't put... Don't shift your weight." 927 00:48:47,980 --> 00:48:49,620 What the fuck are you talking aboot? 928 00:48:49,620 --> 00:48:51,580 I cannae put my weight on the fucking roof. 929 00:48:51,580 --> 00:48:53,980 I cannae put my weight on the gutter. Where's it meant to go? 930 00:48:53,980 --> 00:48:56,300 Know what I mean? I cannae just fucking move it. 931 00:48:56,300 --> 00:48:58,420 LAUGHTER 932 00:49:00,300 --> 00:49:02,300 Just like other nationalities, 933 00:49:02,300 --> 00:49:06,540 Scots swear when we stub our toe or when we're stuck on a roof... 934 00:49:06,540 --> 00:49:08,780 LAUGHTER 935 00:49:08,780 --> 00:49:12,460 It was you... It was you that wanted to go up, dick. 936 00:49:12,460 --> 00:49:15,260 ..but we also swear when we're enjoying ourselves, 937 00:49:15,260 --> 00:49:18,980 to add salt and sauce to a sentence, cos we feel like it, 938 00:49:18,980 --> 00:49:21,980 and to test the boundaries to see what's permitted. 939 00:49:21,980 --> 00:49:23,220 SHE MOUTHS 940 00:49:35,420 --> 00:49:39,820 There is one word that truly upsets people, 941 00:49:39,820 --> 00:49:46,940 that really offends, in the past and to this day. 942 00:49:49,020 --> 00:49:50,340 "Cutn"? 943 00:49:52,700 --> 00:49:54,780 Don't like swearing at all... 944 00:49:55,940 --> 00:49:58,540 ..and especially that C-word. 945 00:50:00,380 --> 00:50:03,220 The C-word. The C-word. C-bomb. 946 00:50:03,220 --> 00:50:06,260 The C-word. Am I allowed to say it? 947 00:50:06,260 --> 00:50:08,340 That's a very good question. 948 00:50:08,340 --> 00:50:10,940 ALASDAIR MACLEOD: That's pretty much as strong as it gets, 949 00:50:10,940 --> 00:50:14,180 but for your programme, I think you'd probably get away with it. 950 00:50:14,180 --> 00:50:15,620 Yes! 951 00:50:17,940 --> 00:50:21,740 C-U-N-T - cunt. 952 00:50:21,740 --> 00:50:23,940 Now, what's all the fuss about? 953 00:50:27,020 --> 00:50:30,060 What's delicately referred to as the C-word 954 00:50:30,060 --> 00:50:33,060 is consistently rated as the most offensive utterance 955 00:50:33,060 --> 00:50:34,980 in the English language, 956 00:50:34,980 --> 00:50:39,420 the strongest of the strong, number one in the profanity parade. 957 00:50:39,420 --> 00:50:43,340 But, historically speaking, this wasn't always the case. 958 00:50:43,340 --> 00:50:46,500 Here's a 1400 medical text. 959 00:50:46,500 --> 00:50:49,180 So, you have there "cunt" used entirely naturally 960 00:50:49,180 --> 00:50:51,660 as a medical term for the female genitals 961 00:50:51,660 --> 00:50:53,660 because that was the standard term. 962 00:50:53,660 --> 00:50:56,060 You find people who are gynaecologists being called 963 00:50:56,060 --> 00:50:58,740 "cunt polishers" because that is the standard term 964 00:50:58,740 --> 00:51:00,060 for that kind of work 965 00:51:00,060 --> 00:51:02,140 at a particular time and a particular place. 966 00:51:02,140 --> 00:51:04,100 These are entirely acceptable terms. 967 00:51:04,100 --> 00:51:08,700 There is no reason not to use these words in that period. 968 00:51:08,700 --> 00:51:10,860 It is the word for the thing. 969 00:51:10,860 --> 00:51:12,940 HE LAUGHS Sorry, it's mostly you going, 970 00:51:12,940 --> 00:51:16,060 "Cunt polisher?" in the corner of my eye that's distracting. 971 00:51:16,060 --> 00:51:19,620 Do you know, it's the "polisher" bit that I'm having problems with! 972 00:51:19,620 --> 00:51:22,060 Well... LAUGHTER 973 00:51:22,060 --> 00:51:25,620 Yeah! I'm sure they had a lot more important things to do 974 00:51:25,620 --> 00:51:28,700 than polish it. LAUGHTER 975 00:51:28,700 --> 00:51:31,620 It depends on where your priorities lie. 976 00:51:31,620 --> 00:51:35,820 The word somehow went from anatomical to unspeakable. 977 00:51:35,820 --> 00:51:38,100 You have to make a... 978 00:51:40,940 --> 00:51:43,380 ..of yourself. LAUGHTER 979 00:51:43,380 --> 00:51:45,780 I know you're censored here. Not at all, we're not. 980 00:51:45,780 --> 00:51:49,020 You go for it, Sean. There's no problem at all here. All right. 981 00:51:49,020 --> 00:51:50,660 Well, being a BLEEP. 982 00:51:50,660 --> 00:51:54,180 LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE 983 00:51:54,180 --> 00:51:56,420 The one word... The one word... 984 00:51:59,220 --> 00:52:04,260 Some of the earliest dictionaries refused to even define the word. 985 00:52:04,260 --> 00:52:07,540 "A nasty name for a nasty thing." 986 00:52:07,540 --> 00:52:08,740 God! 987 00:52:09,780 --> 00:52:11,420 For hundreds of years, 988 00:52:11,420 --> 00:52:16,340 men identified female sexual energy as a dangerous force, 989 00:52:16,340 --> 00:52:19,340 and unlike other words for women's genitals, 990 00:52:19,340 --> 00:52:25,060 this one sounds powerful, it demands to be taken seriously. 991 00:52:25,060 --> 00:52:28,140 It's gone from being sort of just a very, like, descriptive term 992 00:52:28,140 --> 00:52:30,060 hundreds of years ago to, you know, 993 00:52:30,060 --> 00:52:32,100 becoming really, really quite offensive. 994 00:52:32,100 --> 00:52:36,820 And I think that the reclamation kind of movement 995 00:52:36,820 --> 00:52:40,940 is definitely more attached to the sort of anatomical meaning of "cunt" 996 00:52:40,940 --> 00:52:42,500 and of, you know, people saying, 997 00:52:42,500 --> 00:52:45,580 "Right, that's how I'm going to refer to this part of my body." 998 00:52:45,580 --> 00:52:49,860 I am a very confident swearer, generally... 999 00:52:49,860 --> 00:52:51,420 THEY LAUGH 1000 00:52:51,420 --> 00:52:53,020 ..but the C-word is still a word 1001 00:52:53,020 --> 00:52:57,260 that I don't personally use unless in extreme circumstances. 1002 00:52:57,260 --> 00:53:00,580 It's not something that is in sort of my Scots. 1003 00:53:00,580 --> 00:53:03,860 I mean, I could use it in the same sort of way, as you said, 1004 00:53:03,860 --> 00:53:06,780 if I was like, you know, "He was a total cunt last night." 1005 00:53:06,780 --> 00:53:09,140 But he'd really have to have done something pretty bad 1006 00:53:09,140 --> 00:53:10,940 to get that treatment. 1007 00:53:10,940 --> 00:53:13,380 But in certain areas of Scotland, 1008 00:53:13,380 --> 00:53:15,820 it really doesn't have that connotation any more 1009 00:53:15,820 --> 00:53:18,020 cos it can also be just used a lot generally 1010 00:53:18,020 --> 00:53:19,460 to just mean, like, a person. 1011 00:53:19,460 --> 00:53:21,580 Just like, "Oh, that cunt over there." Yeah. 1012 00:53:21,580 --> 00:53:24,180 This time, it's going to be a good game of football 1013 00:53:24,180 --> 00:53:27,500 where every cunt's going to hopefully get along with each other. 1014 00:53:27,500 --> 00:53:29,420 Here's where it gets complicated. 1015 00:53:29,420 --> 00:53:32,020 The most insulting word in the Queen's English 1016 00:53:32,020 --> 00:53:35,460 is frequently used with affection in Scots. 1017 00:53:35,460 --> 00:53:38,300 Certainly, in certain subcultures, people would swear a lot. 1018 00:53:38,300 --> 00:53:43,380 If you hear someone in, say, Glasgow say, "That cunt there," 1019 00:53:43,380 --> 00:53:47,340 it doesn't seem to have a gendered aspect, right? 1020 00:53:47,340 --> 00:53:49,740 It can be used to refer to a man or a woman. 1021 00:53:49,740 --> 00:53:51,580 Oh, he's a good cunt, so he is. 1022 00:53:51,580 --> 00:53:54,180 It's used in a camaraderie sort of way, 1023 00:53:54,180 --> 00:53:56,180 and so it's lost its derogatory element. 1024 00:53:59,580 --> 00:54:02,540 So, I was speaking to a linguist fae a university recently. 1025 00:54:02,540 --> 00:54:04,340 Her twa favourite new Scots words - 1026 00:54:04,340 --> 00:54:06,980 neologisms, words that have just come into the language - 1027 00:54:06,980 --> 00:54:09,740 are "naecunt" and "awcunt". 1028 00:54:09,740 --> 00:54:12,300 And, now, they aren't sweary words, she was saying. 1029 00:54:12,300 --> 00:54:14,700 Like, "naecunt" is just "naebody". 1030 00:54:14,700 --> 00:54:17,380 "I went down the hoose perty. There was naecunt there." 1031 00:54:17,380 --> 00:54:20,940 Or, "Man, you hae one fuckin' spew on a night oot 1032 00:54:20,940 --> 00:54:24,020 "and awcunt calls you a jessie." SHE LAUGHS 1033 00:54:25,660 --> 00:54:27,780 As our C-bomb has evolved 1034 00:54:27,780 --> 00:54:31,140 into a word used by your lovely old granny... 1035 00:54:31,140 --> 00:54:33,460 Are you taping me, you cunt? 1036 00:54:33,460 --> 00:54:36,700 ..other parts of the world see it very differently. 1037 00:54:36,700 --> 00:54:38,500 I work at New York University 1038 00:54:38,500 --> 00:54:40,940 and I have a bunch of American colleagues out there, 1039 00:54:40,940 --> 00:54:42,540 and American students, 1040 00:54:42,540 --> 00:54:47,260 and these are all people for whom the C-word is just appalling. 1041 00:54:47,260 --> 00:54:49,100 It can silence a room. 1042 00:54:50,780 --> 00:54:54,140 Our swearing prowess astonished a global audience 1043 00:54:54,140 --> 00:54:56,700 when one of the world's most powerful men 1044 00:54:56,700 --> 00:54:59,060 was given a uniquely Scottish welcome. 1045 00:55:00,260 --> 00:55:03,540 So, just give me your name again, please. Janey Godley. 1046 00:55:03,540 --> 00:55:06,940 Janey, why are you down here today? Sorry, just one more time. 1047 00:55:06,940 --> 00:55:08,860 Hi. My name is Janey Godley. 1048 00:55:11,380 --> 00:55:13,620 When Donald Trump arrived in Scotland, 1049 00:55:13,620 --> 00:55:16,220 the paparazzi took thousands of pics, 1050 00:55:16,220 --> 00:55:18,540 but Janey just took one. 1051 00:55:18,540 --> 00:55:21,420 I went straight across and I said to my friend, "There's my phone. 1052 00:55:21,420 --> 00:55:23,140 "There's the sign." Click, click. 1053 00:55:23,140 --> 00:55:26,500 And that became the iconic image that it is today. 1054 00:55:30,300 --> 00:55:33,900 What was the reaction to it? Within minutes, it was viral. 1055 00:55:36,980 --> 00:55:40,740 Retweets, interview requests and acclaim flooded in. 1056 00:55:40,740 --> 00:55:42,220 It wasn't just the words. 1057 00:55:42,220 --> 00:55:45,540 It was the fact that I had the audacity to say it. 1058 00:55:45,540 --> 00:55:48,300 Bob Geldof called me his hero. 1059 00:55:48,300 --> 00:55:50,140 If what I do didn't affect him, 1060 00:55:50,140 --> 00:55:52,620 why does he keep sending the cops after us? 1061 00:55:52,620 --> 00:55:56,820 In four words, Janey had spoken out for millions around the world. 1062 00:55:58,660 --> 00:56:01,740 I'm barred fae America. I'm an enemy of the people. 1063 00:56:01,740 --> 00:56:03,620 Seriously? Yeah, I know. 1064 00:56:03,620 --> 00:56:06,020 A wee woman fae the East End with a bingo pen 1065 00:56:06,020 --> 00:56:11,940 and a bit of lino can bring down a country wi' a word. Oh, my God! 1066 00:56:23,020 --> 00:56:25,540 SHE MOUTHS 1067 00:56:27,020 --> 00:56:31,380 THEY SHOUT OUT SWEARWORDS 1068 00:56:31,380 --> 00:56:34,620 I'm from Calgary, which is in the western part of Canada. 1069 00:56:34,620 --> 00:56:38,340 It is undoubtedly the case that swearing is one of the reasons 1070 00:56:38,340 --> 00:56:40,300 I ended up moving to Scotland. 1071 00:56:40,300 --> 00:56:42,980 You fucking dick! This is all down to you, you know? 1072 00:56:42,980 --> 00:56:46,020 Oh, don't be so fucking stupid. You're a fucking nutter. 1073 00:56:46,020 --> 00:56:50,580 I was completely entranced by the pleasure and freedom 1074 00:56:50,580 --> 00:56:52,220 of swearing that I found. 1075 00:56:52,220 --> 00:56:56,500 Fuck that thinking or logic, reason, talking. 1076 00:56:56,500 --> 00:57:01,100 Words matter, and swearwords seem to matter more than most. 1077 00:57:01,100 --> 00:57:05,100 I think there's no such thing as bad language or a foul mouth. 1078 00:57:05,100 --> 00:57:07,140 There's just the effect the words have. 1079 00:57:07,140 --> 00:57:08,740 You can't just say, "Change channels." 1080 00:57:08,740 --> 00:57:11,700 If I'm going to be inconvenienced by changing channels... Yeah, sure. 1081 00:57:11,700 --> 00:57:14,900 ..and it's being shown on the BBC, I want a reduction in my television licence. 1082 00:57:14,900 --> 00:57:17,500 Inconvenienced by changing channels? Why not? I mean, it's... 1083 00:57:17,500 --> 00:57:20,060 If you have been offended by the words in this programme, 1084 00:57:20,060 --> 00:57:23,180 then, believe it or not, you're part of the reason they persist... 1085 00:57:24,100 --> 00:57:26,060 What a fanny! 1086 00:57:26,060 --> 00:57:28,500 ..because if these words didn't offend anyone, 1087 00:57:28,500 --> 00:57:30,100 then they'd lose all their power... 1088 00:57:30,100 --> 00:57:31,540 Total pish. 1089 00:57:31,540 --> 00:57:33,820 ..and we'd have to think up some new ones. 1090 00:57:33,820 --> 00:57:36,380 I'd like to look into the future and see 1091 00:57:36,380 --> 00:57:40,140 what are people going to use in Scotland in, like, 50 years' time 1092 00:57:40,140 --> 00:57:43,660 to appal someone, as a properly offensive word? 1093 00:57:43,660 --> 00:57:47,180 So, what's going to be next? Cos something has to be offensive. 1094 00:57:47,180 --> 00:57:49,820 Every generation needs something they can say 1095 00:57:49,820 --> 00:57:51,660 that will shock the previous generation. 1096 00:57:51,660 --> 00:57:54,260 So, there'll be something else. You'll start looking out for it. 1097 00:57:54,260 --> 00:57:57,340 Whenever you're offended or hurt or have that visceral reaction of, 1098 00:57:57,340 --> 00:58:01,060 "Ooh, bad language," you know that's a swearword that's coming along. 1099 00:58:08,220 --> 00:58:12,300 From way back, we have always expressed ourselves 1100 00:58:12,300 --> 00:58:15,020 passionately and uniquely. 1101 00:58:15,020 --> 00:58:18,820 Sometimes, when we're being told what to say, who can say it, 1102 00:58:18,820 --> 00:58:23,420 how we should say it, the only response can be, 1103 00:58:23,420 --> 00:58:24,980 "Get tae fuck!" 1104 00:58:28,900 --> 00:58:30,740 # Fuck it, I love you 1105 00:58:30,740 --> 00:58:32,900 # There you go 1106 00:58:32,900 --> 00:58:36,740 # Three little words on a mobile phone 1107 00:58:38,420 --> 00:58:40,860 # When are you coming home? 1108 00:58:42,620 --> 00:58:45,540 # When are you coming home? 1109 00:58:46,660 --> 00:58:48,940 # Don't wanna be alone. #