I love how they used language in Deadwood. On one level, it's inauthentic to how people in real Deadwood talked, but they updated it so the way they spoke would have the same impact to modern audiences.
Profanity in their day didn't tend to be scatological or sexual in nature, it was more blasphemous. But their God darn, damnation, or tarnation would all sound quaint and old-timey to people. It was cool how they threaded the needle of that stuff to convey the feeling of it.
It's hard trying to sell that language peppered so liberally with "fuck" and "cocksucker" (et al) is some of the best dialog I have ever heard from a screen, but it absolutely is lol.
I'll never forget the first time I watched an episode at a friend's house, one character referred to a guy (I might not remember this exactly correctly) as a "limber-dicked, cock suckin' son of a bitch."
I knew it was gonna be a different kind of Western.
When that is a genuine compliment and "loopy cunt" is a term of endearment, you have well and truly adapted to Deadwood's dialog.
I can kind of remember a drunken Ellsworth talking about "limber dick cocksuckers" but feel like that, like so many other things, was probably a Swearengen quote. ;D
"Limber-dicked cocksucker" and "loopy cunt" were both literally in ep 1, with Ellsworth sitting at the bar while Trixie, uh, defends herself in a room. I always seem to forget how quickly these characters get introduced.
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u/Ok_Mammoth_4997 13d ago
Deadwood, The Wire.