In movies and TV from the 50's kids are always saying things like "golly" "geeze" "gee wiz" and "gosh." Did kids actually talk like that or was that just a movie thing?

by amishbreakfast
3fox

Evidence from other media of the period, particularly written fiction, indicates that this was a form of language censorship specific to TV and film. Here you can find a MAD comic from 1954 (before it was MAD Magazine) which parodies the language issue, as well as other aesthetic changes made in film adaptations.

For another example of how the originals differed, Catcher in the Rye (published 1951) is focused on young characters and uses casual swearing throughout, even depicting graffiti saying "fuck you".

Tsukamori

Yes and no. I actually did a report on this in college. The type of language you are reffering to are minced oaths, mispellings of swear words to reduce the original term's severity.

These were used in English as early as the 14th century, although even then using them was still looked down upon. Swear words have always been incredibly taboo, up until very recently.

The 50's were no different. It wasn't even debatable for swear words to be said on TV, especially kids shows.

Reality was very different though. Kids wouldn't dare to swear in front of their parents or higher-ups such as teachers, but swearing was as much a part of their vocabulary as kids today, if not more.

Minced oaths were not taken very seriously, and weren't actively used, with some exceptions. TV shows just used them to please the movie studio and not get fined. I reccomend you read Damn! by Rob Chirico if you'd like to know more.

Searocksandtrees

hi all. Just a reminder that in /r/AskHistorians, anecdotes are not permitted. Please review the subreddit rules for answers before commenting. thx!