# Wild/Old West Questions; LANGUAGE Warning



## FleshEater

I'm working on a story set in the wild/old west and was looking for some specifics.

Language: what foul language was commonly used by outlaws?

Dress: was there a specific name for pants, shirts, chaps, etc. that were unique?

I assume words like "ass", son-of-a-bitch", "bastard" and "whore" would have been "normal" for an outlaws vocabulary but want to make sure.

The only piece of dress I know about is a "duster"...I got that much squared away.

Any help is greatly appreciated!


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## Cornelius Crowe

Have you seen the HBO series, _Deadwood_?  If not, you should really check it out for no other reason than it being one of the best television shows in recent years.  I'm not an historian, but I do know they put a lot of effort into making the show as historically accurate as possible, and the dialogue is authentic, as far as I know.  "Cocksucker" gets used at least once per sentence by some of the characters.  It will also be a good source of inspiration for supporting characters.


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## FleshEater

I suppose I'll have to order up the first season off Amazon. 

I've got a good variety of Western films, but it seems that Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone were really the only ones to really cross boundaries (that I know of anyways). 

Thanks for the suggestion!


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## Cornelius Crowe

FleshEater said:


> I suppose I'll have to order up the first season off Amazon.



You won't regret it.  _Deadwood_ is one of the best-written shows that I've seen in a long time; Al Swearengen, owner of the Gem Saloon, brilliantly played by Ian McShane, is one of my all-time favourite television characters.


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## FleshEater

I looked up scenes of Deadwood on You Tube (looks promising) and decided to do some more research. According to one historian, he said that more than likely the vulgarity portrayed in Deadwood is not authentic. 

So...I'm going to play it safe and keep the profanity at a minimum!


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## patskywriter

Here's a website that has oodles and oodles of cowboy terms:

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-slang-b.html

Even though most of the terms on this site are unfamiliar to me, after a quick glance, I'm not sure if it's really all that good. I'll leave that up to you to decide. I looked up two words, "victuals" and "vittles"—both derived from the Spanish word "victuales" (meaning food)—and they're not mentioned. You can probably find some useful terms here, but I suggest that you study as many sites as you can find. I'd take a site more seriously if it has lots of words that are derived from Spanish.

Here's another one:

http://cowboyfrank.net/CowboyTermDictionary.htm


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## Nickleby

Thanks for the slang links, patskywriter, there may be a few nuggets in there.

FleshEater, it's worth noting that many settlers in the West were Confederate veterans or Irishmen, both of them fleeing from poor economic conditions. They account for a goodly portion of the idioms.


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## Dave Watson

Nickleby said:


> Thanks for the slang links, patskywriter, there may be a few nuggets in there.
> 
> FleshEater, it's worth noting that many settlers in the West were Confederate veterans or *Irishmen*, both of them fleeing from poor economic conditions. They account for a goodly portion of the idioms.



I know it's childish but this gave me a mental picture of a red haired cowboy with an arrow through his ten gallon hat, proclaiming in outrage,

"JAY-sais, Mary and Joseph! The Pawnee are on the warpath begorah!" 

To the OP was also going to suggest _Deadwood_.


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## FleshEater

patskywriter; thank you for the links! The first one provides many more terms...I wish it offered up a printer friendly version ha-ha!

As for the confederate veterans and Irishmen...I'll have to keep this some what readable for modern day readers as well. I could only imagine full blooded southern and Irish terms being thrown in there; no one would get it ha-ha! I just started working with a gentleman from Louisiana (born n' raised!) and half of the stuff that comes out of his mouth has me saying "what?". So, I'm going to have to weigh what to use and what not to use; which I assume Deadwood did to appeal to everyone. 

Thank you all for the help and suggestions; I greatly appreciate it!


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## Ryanne

This website has lots of Old West slang: OLD WEST Writer's Guide - Slang, Phrases and More

It has a few phrases that could be considered foul language as well as a bevy of slang in general. Here're some you might use:

*Bear signs *were donuts. According to the site, cooks who could make donuts were treasured and respected.*

Beef *means to kill.*

Bender*, *full as a tick*, *half seas over*,* roostered*,* and soaked* mean drunk. Full as a tick means _very_ drunk. Watch out, guys.

A* b**one orchard *is a graveyard / cemetery.
A* curly wolf *is a dangerous man, someone not to mess with.*
Crowbait *is a derogatory phrase for a poor-quality horse. Kinda cheesy.

*Don't care a continental *means don't give a damn. You're better off just saying don't give a damn.*

Doxology works *means church.*

Fight like Kilkenny *cats means fight like hell.*

Simon pure* means the real thing.

*To the manner born* means a natural (he's a horseman to the manner born). 

Hope this helps!


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## John_O

You probably have your story done by now but LOL... I don't believe the word "whore" was used then. Painted ladies. Soiled Doves,( the most used term) Women of the night, Red light ladies, Public women were more the terms of the time. foul language was never used in the presence of ladies and children. The rowdy "cowboys" no doubt used colorful language having to deal with stubborn cattle LOL. But even then it was limited, compaired to today and they also were careful around women.


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