George Carlin Loved to Play With Words

George Carlin (May 12, 1937- June 22, 2008) loved words and played with them wonderfully. As a recovering stand-up comedian and humorist I loved George Carlin. I was lucky enough to see him perform live in the 1970's and very much appreciated how he transformed himself. He went from a comedian similar to Bob Hope, none connected one liners. He wore a suit and tie and had short hair. Influenced with the death of Lenny Bruce in the 1960's he took a break from comedy and found his voice. When he came back to comedy he had a beard and long hair and was very hip.

Below are examples of George Carlin and his love of words:

"I love words," it begins. "They're my work, they're my play, they're my passion. Words are all we have, really."


“We have more words to describe dirty words than we actually have dirty words. They call them bad words, dirty, filthy, foul, vile, vulgar, course, in poor taste, unseemly, street talk, gutter talk, locker room language, barracks talk, bawdy, naughty, saucy, raunchy, rude, crude, lewd, lascivious, indecent, profane, obscene, blue, off-color, risqué, suggestive, cursin’, cussin’, swearin’ …”

"TV is full of sex humor. Television shows are constantly referring to it, he said. Entire plots and games shows are based on sex, and yet the word F*** can’t be said on television."

“Sometime during my life toilet paper became bathroom tissue ...” He observed. “Poor people used to live in slums, now the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner cities."

“They’re broke! They don’t have a negative cash flow position. They’re f***** broke! Because some of them were fired. You know, fired? Management wanted to curtail redundancies in the HR area so many people are no longer viable members of the work force."

“Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal its sins.”

“Thou shall always be honest and faithful to the provider of thy nooky; and I shall try real hard not to kill anyone, unless of course they pray to a different invisible man than you pray to.”

“The one I do resist is when they look at an old guy and they say, ‘Look at him, he’s 90-years-young. Imagine the fear of aging that reveals to not even be able to use the word ‘old’ to describe someone, to have to use the antonym."

“And fear of aging is natural. It’s universal. We all have that. No one wants to get old, no one wants to die, but we do—so we bullshit ourselves. I started bullshitting myself when I got to my 40s. As soon as I was in my 40s I would look in the mirror and say, ‘Well, I guess I’m getting … older.’ Older sounds a little better than old, doesn’t it? Sounds like it might even last a little bit longer. Bullshit! I’m getting old. And it’s OK, because thanks to our fear of death in this country I won’t have to die … I’ll pass away.”

So George Carlin has passed away, no as he prefers it George Carlin has died and he will no longer be able to play with the words he loves. And I already miss him and his play with words.

Jana Ruth
Author of Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.onewomanslaughter.com