You Can Bet on Trump Tweeting Any of George Carlin’s 7 Dirty Words – Odds Heavily Favor No
By Daniel Coyle in Politics News
Updated: March 30, 2020 at 9:49 am EDTPublished:
- Donald Trump used a profanity of a bovine-scatological variety to attack Democrats in a recent tweet
- Trump has extensively used crude language on Twitter in the past
- The odds have been set at +550 that Trump will tweet one of George Carlin’s Seven Dirty Words before the end of 2019
US President Donald Trump has heated up the rhetoric in response to the bid by Democratic members of the House of Representatives to move forward with impeachment proceedings. Trump resorted to some rather coarse language of a bovine-scatological variety in response to the Democrats’ moves against him earlier this month.
But despite his recent use of profanity, the president remains a -1000 bet to refrain from any further tweets this year that use the seven dirty words made famous by the late, great George Carlin.
Odds Trump Tweets Any of George Carlin’s 7 Dirty Words Before Jan. 1, 2020
| Outcome | Odds |
|---|---|
| Yes | +550 |
| No | -1000 |
Odds collected Oct. 30.
Carlin’s Comedy Launched Debate on Obscenity
A New York-born stand-up comic who rose to fame in the 1970s while tackling taboo subjects with a groundbreaking brand of dark comedy, Carlin is widely remembered for his “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” monologue that pushed the boundaries of what was considered obscene at the time.
A radio broadcast of Carlin’s routine raised the ire of the Federal Communications Commission, leading to a legal battle that was eventually settled by the US Supreme Court.
The highest court in the land ultimately ruled that the FCC’s initial ruling against the offending radio station did not violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech, and essentially maintained the power of government to regulate content broadcast on public airwaves.
Seven Dirty Words Now Commonplace
Of course, lots has changed since the Supreme Court’s 1978 ruling. Many of the words on Carlin’s list are now commonly heard on TV, radio, social media, and streaming services.
Indeed, offending words that describe certain body parts, and natural but unpleasant bodily functions, have become a staple of TV shows like South Park.
The hit satire made the first uncensored use of one of Carlin’s seven words the focus of a 2001 episode entitled “It Hits the Fan”, which features over 160 utterances of the word in question in the course of the 30-minute episode.
In addition, the most hotly debated word on the list when Carlin first introduced it has become closely associated with American actor Samuel L. Jackson, who has uttered the word in dozens of films over the course of the past three decades, giving the word new meaning in the American lexicon.
Profane Politicians Nothing New
Of course, the use of profanity by politicians is nothing new. Richard Nixon’s secret tapes were filled with expletives uttered by the disgraced Commander-in-Chief.
In 2010, Vice-President Joe Biden was heard telling President Barack Obama, “This is a big f—ing deal” in connection to a 2010 health care bill, while back in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson reportedly had heated words for Greek Ambassador Alexandros Matsas, telling the diplomat, “F—your parliament, and your constitution”.
The Do Nothing Democrats should be focused on building up our Country, not wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLSHIT, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016, 223-306. Get a better candidate this time, you’ll need it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2019
More recently, there has been no shortage of politicians swearing when it suits them, including Democrat presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Beto O’Rourke. And profanity is nothing new for Trump, who regularly made use of several of Carlin’s words in tweets prior to his election.
Research by GovPredict "shows a stark uptick in the overall usage of curse words by legislators on Twitter." pic.twitter.com/cl5Bd3Jv4S
— Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) August 20, 2019
According to a recent study by software developer GovPredict, there has been a massive uptick in the use of profanity on Twitter by lawmakers since Trump’s election. And with the 2020 US presidential election just over 12 months away, and the stakes steadily increasing in the battle for the White House, there is plenty of value to be found in a +550 wager of Trump drawing on Carlin’s list in a tweet one at least one occasion before the end of 2019.
Pick: Yes (+550)
Sports Writer
Daniel has been writing about sports and sports betting for over 23 years. The seasoned pro has contributed to the likes of Sports Illustrated, Sportsnet, NESN, Bleacher Report, OddsShark, the Globe and Mail, and The Nation magazine.
