Slog - Comments on More Obscene Baseball News http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news The story about the recently discovered baseball memo from 1898, warning players in the National League to lay off the fucking filthy language (which I slogged about the other day) has hit the online MSM, with a story in today's Salon. Salon writer King Kaufman is a bit more skeptical about the provenance of the memo than either the auctioneers or I am. A linguistics prof at Berkeley insists that this couldn't be legit, since no one would use such language in the formal setting of an office or business memo. And it would put the earliest printed uses of... Copyright 2008 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:36:00 -0800 Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:24:44 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by JasonC I'm inclined to believe it's legit, too. There's just no real motive to counterfeit something like that.

So, what are the linguists saying about the origins of "cunt-lapping dog"? Or does that go a ways back?

]]> JasonC http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866121 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866121 Sports Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:58:21 -0800 Comment by switzerblog Cunt is a pre-Shakespearean word, as is fuck (as is cock as a euphemism for penis, for that matter), so it's well within the bounds of reality that these phrases were in embarrassingly common use at the time by ballplayers. Just because we picture the past in black and white with everyone wearing a suit and speaking Oxford english doesn't mean our great-grandpappys (and mammys) weren't telling each other to get fucked. It meant the same thing then as it does now, they just wrote it down for posterity less than we do.

]]> switzerblog http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866177 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866177 Sports Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:36:15 -0800 Comment by Hal Yah! "Cunt lapping dogs" has a very 19th century ring to it. Got to remember that one!

]]> Hal http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866192 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866192 Sports Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:42:37 -0800 Comment by Fnarf Remember who played baseball in 1898. It wasn't today's tightly-groomed college boys. It wasn't the false image of the hayseed farmer boy, either; baseball has always been an urban game. It was Irishmen, Germans, Bohunks, and other fairly recent immigrants of the lower classes. The Berkeley prof may not have ever encountered people like that in his studies.

Or it could be a hoax. I'd like to see some forensics on the paper, ink, typewriter, etc. All of these features you mention could be faked by someone well-steeped in the era.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866202 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866202 Sports Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:48:22 -0800 Comment by bigyaz "...has hit the online the online MSM"? Hate to burst your bubble, but The Stranger is part of the MSM.

]]> bigyaz http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866542 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866542 Sports Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:48:49 -0800 Comment by Greg Anybody got an image of the document?

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866678 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c866678 Sports Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:58:58 -0800 Comment by Jason Greg - Click on the first link of the post for the images.

]]> Jason http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c867616 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/12/more_obscene_baseball_news#c867616 Sports Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:24:44 -0800