Given the topic of this book, a formal dedication might be misconstrued. But I wouldn’t have been able to finish it without the loving support of my wife, Kathleen Miller. For that and many other things, I owe her more than I can say.
A Note on the Figures
The figures used in this book were drawn from the ngrams tool developed by Google Labs (http://books.google.com/ngrams/), which plots yearly changes in the relative frequency of terms in a set of about five million books drawn from the Google Books corpus, the English-language portion of which contains about 360 billion words in all. For each term and each publication year, the tool computes what proportion the term represents of the words in all the books published in that year, up to the year 2000. As presented here, the graphs show, not the absolute frequencies of these words, but the rates of increasing or decreasing frequency over time. The important thing is the slope of the curve, not its height. Figure 4-1, for example, does not indicate that lifestyle and trendy are equal in frequency—in fact lifestyle is far more common—but rather that they entered everyday usage at about the same time and increased in frequency at the same rate.
There are several limits to this tool. First, a considerable number of books in the Google Books are misdated or contain other inaccurate metadata, though the problems are somewhat less serious in the ngrams corpus than in the Google Books corpus as a whole, and don’t substantially alter the results of these searches. Second, it should be borne in mind that the frequency of terms in published books doesn’t necessarily correlate with their frequency in the spoken language, particularly when it comes to vulgar words like asshole. There’s no question that a part of the increase in frequency of that word in the Google Books corpus reflects only the increasing willingness of publishers to print it, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s.
Asshole presents a further problem, moreover, in having both anatomical and figurative uses. But, we can sort these uses out by comparing the results of searches on phrases like your asshole, which return almost exclusively anatomical uses, with searches on phrases like you asshole, which return almost exclusively uses of the word as an insult.47 (The plural assholes and the phrase an asshole are similar to you asshole; any of these can be taken as a good proxy for the overall frequency of the figurative use of the word.) That in turn enables us to factor out the effects of the relaxation of taboos on printing the word. As the following figure shows, between 1950 and 1975 the frequencies of the two uses increased more or less in tandem. But from then on the anatomical use leveled off, while the figurative use continued to climb. By the mid-1990s it had become several times more frequent than the anatomical use, which could only reflect the increasing popularity of this particular use of the word, not the increasing acceptability of printing it. (Note that unlike the other figures in the book, this one presents the absolute frequency of both expressions, since that is what matters here.)
FIGURE A-1. You Asshole v. Your Asshole, 1950–2000
Index
Adams, James Truslow
Ailes, Roger
All in the Family (television series)
Allen, Woody/movies
American Heritage Dictionary
Amis, Martin
Animal House (movie)
Annie Hall (movie)
Anti-asshole
Dirty Harry character
Lethal Weapon movies
rise of
television characters
Apprentice, The (television)
“Asshole”
“authenticity” use and(fig.)
concept before twentieth century
condemning rudeness using
familiarity and
“jerk” V.
“lifestyle”/“trendy”/ “upscale”/“yuppies” and (fig.)
literary debut
“long seventies” naturalization of
meaning/traits of
middle-class adoption of
movie/television examples (overview)
origins of term
right of response and
secondhand vulgarities and
solidarity and
term substitutions and
term use today (summary)
vulgarity of term and use
“Asshole buddy,”
“Asshole” songs
Assholes/anti-assholes
oppositions See also Conservative assholism; Liberal assholism; Politics and assholism
Assholism
Nazi comparisons
“phoniness” and (fig.)
self-delusion on
Atlantic Monthly
Austen, Jane
“Authenticity/inauthenticity” term use
“asshole” and (fig.)
change in meanings
politicians
“sense of entitlement” and
Axelrod, David
Bachmann, Michele
Barker, Sir Ernest
Bayley, John
Beatles
Beats
Beck, Glenn
Belushi, John
Biden, Joe
Bin Laden, Osama
Birther issue
“Bitch,”
Blitzer, Wolf
Bono
Brooks, David
Bruce, Lenny
“Bullshit”
Bullying
Burke, Edmund
Burney, Fanny
Burroughs, William S.
Bush, George W
criticism of
use of “asshole,”
“Cad” (fig.)
Caddyshack (movie)
Cain, Herman
Caine Mutiny, The (Wouk)
Caldwell, Melissa
Calhoun, Cheshire
Caliban principle
Campbell, August
Card, Andrew
Carlin, George and “seven dirty words,”
Carlson, Tucker
Carrie (King)
Carter, Stephen
Catcher in the Rye, The (Salinger)
Cavuto, Neil
Charen, Mona
Chaucer/age of
Chavin, Nick “Chinga,”
Cheever, Abigail
Cheney Dick
Chernow, Ron
Children and vulgar terms
Churchill, Ward
Civility, decline of
opinion surveys on
perception of
in politics
technology and
Civility/incivility
history and
manners and
rediscovery of civility
vagueness of meaning
Class
cafeteria conception of
changes in concept
terminology
vulgarities and
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, Hillary
Clymer, Adam
Cobb, Jonathon
Colbert, Stephen
Collins, Gail
Conservative assholism
“conservative rhetoric factory,”
examples
success/organization
talkers/commentators style
See also Politics and assholism; specific examples/individuals
“Cool,”
Coulter, Ann
Cruise, Tom/movie roles
Culture of Narcissism, The (Lasch)
Cummings, E.E.
Cursing. See Vulgarities
Curtiss, Philip
Curtiz, Michael
Cuss Control: The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing (O’Connor)
Daley, Mayor
Dangerfield, Rodney
Daniels, Charlie
De Quincey, Thomas
Deadwood
Deb’s Dictionary, The
Deconstructing Harry (movie)
Democratic Convention, Chicago (1968)
Demott, Benjamin
Denby David
“Derivative obscenity,”
Deutschman, Alan
/>
DeVoto, Bernard
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
Dickens, Charles/era of
Dickson, Paul
Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (Grose)
Dietz, Mary G.
Dionne, E. J.
Dirty Harry character
Dobbs, Lou
Doing Battle (Fussell)
Donner, Richard
Dos Passos, John
Dowd, Maureen
Dr. Phil
Drezner, Daniel
Dunleavy, Steve
Dworkin, Ronald
Dylan, Bob
Eastwood, Clint, and Dirty Harry character
Economist
Edwards, John
Eisenhower, Dwight
Eliot, T.S.
Ellis, Albert
“Empathetic” v. “asshole,” (fig.)
Erhard, Werner
Est/est training
role of “asshole” in
satirists and movies/television
Facebook/users
Farewell to Arms, A (Hemingway)
FCC and indecency
Feinberg, Joel
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (movie)
Filthy Speech Movement
Fincher, David
Fiori, Pamela
Fiorina, Morris
Firth, Colin
Fluke, Sandra
Fowler, Carol
Fox News
Frank, Thomas
Frankfurt, Harry G.
Fraser, Sir James
Free Speech Movement
Freud/Freudians
Fussell, Paul
Gephardt, Dick
Gibbs, Robert
Gibson, Mel
Gibson,William
Gingrich, Newt
Ginsberg, Allen
Gitlin,Todd
Goffman, Erving
Goldberg, Jonah
Golden Bough, The (Fraser)
Golden Globe Awards (2003)
Gone with the Wind (movie)
Gore, Al
Gottfried, Martin
Grammar, criticisms of
Greeley, Horace
Grose, Captain
Growing (Up) at (Rubin)
Guillen, Ozzie
Gurstein, Rachel
Haggard, Merle
Haidt, Jonathan
Hamilton, Mary Agnes
Hannity, Sean
Harper’s
Hays Code
“Heel” label/examples (fig.)
Helms, Jesse
Hemingway Ernest
Herbst, Susan
Historical Dictionary of American Slang (Lighter)
How We Got Here (Frum)
Hud (movie)
Huffington Post
Humphrey, Hubert
Hussein, Saddam
Indecency legal definition
Isaacson, Walter
James, Henry
Jespersen, Otto
Jobs, Steve
Johnson, Burges
Johnson, Samuel
Jones, James
Jones, LeRoi
Joyce, James
Kerry Bob
Kerry, John
King, Stephen
King’s Speech, The (movie)
Kinsey Alfred
Kinsley, Michael
Kirk, Grayson
Krauthammer, Charles
Krugman, Paul
Language
concept names and
“deficiencies” in
English borrowing from Wrench
Victorian taboos
See also Words
Larry King show
Lasch, Christopher
Law enforcement and “asshole” category
Lawrence, D.H.
Leahy, Pat
Leary, Denis
Lee, Susan
Lethal Weapon movies
Letterman, David
Levin, Mark
Liberal assholism
examples
varieties/fragmentaton of
See also specific examples/ individuals
Liddy, G. Gordon
Limbaugh, Rush
Lincoln, Abraham
Little Dorrit (Dickens)
“Long-Haired Country Boy,”
Mad Men era
Madoff, Bernard
Maher, Bill
Mailer, Norman/writings
Mamet, David
Martin, Martin
Martin, Trayvon
MASH (television series)
Matthews, Chris
McCain, John
McDonald, Country Joe
McFadden, Cyra
McLuhan, Marshall
McNichol, Tom
Meade, Margaret
Media
“asshole” and
See also specific media
Men and “asshole” label
backlash against feminism
as badge of pride
examples/overview (fig.)
previous terms for
second-wave feminism and
women and “asshole” label v.
Mencken, H.L.
Metaphysics of Morals, The
Mildred Pierce (Curtiz)
Military and vulgarities
Mill, John Stuart
Miller, Dennis
Miller, Henry
Miss Manners
Moore, Michael
Morris, Dick
Mork and Mindy (television series)
MSNBC
“Mucker pose,”
Musil, Robert
Naked and the Dead, The (Mailer) and character Dove
Narcissism
1970s and
accusations on
asshole v. narcissist (fig.)
cultural examples
est/est training and
vocabulary of psychology and
National Journal
National Review
Nazaryan, Alexander
New Age Language
New Republic
New York Post
New York Review of Books
New York Times
New Yorker
Newman, Paul
Newsweek
Nicholson, Sir Harold
1970s
country boys and
culture/vulgarities
defined
long hair on men
naturalization of “asshole,”n
Nixon, Richard
Nkrumah, Kwame
No Asshole Rule, The: Building
a Civilized Workplace and
Surviving One That Isn’t
(Sutton)
Novak, Robert
NPR
Nyhan, David
Obama, Barack
Occupy movement
O’Connor, James V.
O’Connor, Sandra Day
O’Hara, John
“Okie from Muskogee”
Olbermann, Keith
On Bullshit (Frankfurt)
On Rude Democracy (Herbst)
Oprah/culture
O’Reilly, Bill
Orwell, George
O’Toole, Finian
Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
Pal Joey (O’Hara)
Palin, Bristol
Palin, Sarah
“Party of exposure,”
Patrick, G.T.W.
“Patriotism,”
Patton, George S.
Paul, Ron
Pegler, Westbrook
Perry, Rick
Phonies(fig.)
Pinker, Steven
Political broadcasters
Political incorrectness
Politics and assholism
anti-assholism and
dishonesty and
happiness and
incivility increase/examples
Internet use/effects
nickname use
polarization and
public opinion on
Republican primary campaign
<
br /> response and
snark and
t-shirt ideologies
upsetting other side and
See also specific individuals
Porter, Cole
Pound, Ezra
Powers, William
Prager, Dennis
Prescott, Orville
“Prick,”
Pride and Prejudice (Austen)
Psychology Today
Ramsay, Gordon
Rather, Dan
Real Phonies (Cheever)
Reality television
Reno, Janet
Repplier, Agnes
Republican primary/debates
political assholism and
See also specific individuals
Revolutionary Road
Richards, Michael
Richardson, Samuel
Rieff, Phillip
Romney, Mitt
Roosevelt, Eleanor
Roosevelt, Franklin
Roosevelt, Teddy
Rosenblatt, Roger
Rosenman, Ellen Bayuk
Rough Riders
Rove, Karl
Rubin, Jerry
Rudd, Mark
Salinger, J.D.
Sanger, Margaret
Santorum, Rick
“Sap,”
Sapir, Edward
Savage, Michael
Savio, Mario
Scarborough, Joe
Scott, Zachary
Sedgwick, Kyra
Selznick, David
Sennett, Richard
“Sense of entitlement”
“assholes” and(fig.)
See also Narcissism
Serenading Louie (Wilson)
Serial, The (McFadden)
Sex and the City
Shaw, Irwin
Sheen, Charlie
Shield, The (FX series)
Shils, Edward
Siegel, Al
Sincerity and Authenticity
Simic, Charles
Simon, David
Sixties, The (Gitlin)
Skocpol, Theda
Smith, Zadie
Smut
Snark
Social Network, The (movie)
Sorkin, Aaron
Spears, Arthur
Spiegelman, Ian
Spy magazine
Stamper, Norm
Stearns, Peter N.
Steele, Michael
Stewart, Jon
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Ascent of the A-Word Page 21
