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From: Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz>
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: First performance of Shaw's "Pygmalion" (11-4-1914)
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2024 13:06:25 +1200
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Ah. Memories of perennial points of discussion with PTD on a.u.e.
Which actual phonetician was the character of Prof. Higgins based on?
What were Shaw's actual views on English accents and dialects?
Was "My Fair Lady" meant to have a sly reference to "Mayfair"?
and probably more.

But Crystal is interested in one word. This was apparently the talk of 
the town when the play opened. Eliza Doolittle (played by Mrs Patrick 
Campbell) was to speak the line: "Not bloody likely!" The second word 
there was, at the time, not considered printable, nor speakable on the 
stage. She did speak it. Nothing happened. She wasn't arrested, the play 
was not shut down, but people continued to talk about it for years.

"Bloody" developed its intensifying force in the late 17th century. 
Sometime in the 18th century respectable opinion turned against it, and 
Johnson (1755) labels it "very vulgar".

I used the word as a youth (in Canada); it was certainly colloquial, but 
not indecent, and in fact seemed to me like an avoidance term, less 
offensive than its alternatives in something like:
		Shut the bloody (*damn) (**fucking) window!

When I arrived in New Zealand, I was surprised to find that many people 
still considered it "strong language", not suitable for a respectable 
academic. I don't know if it's ever been banned from stage or print 
here. But by now things have changed....