Cullen, talking about his wife insisting he free his slaves:
Pissed me off, tell you true.
This is actually my favorite line of the episode. It sketches his character beautifully, it expresses his honesty, his self-deprecation, his ease with himself even while he is, yes, tortured. And it is utterly anachronistic.
Pissed off “angry, fed up” is 1946, U.S. slang.
There’s more detail here:
We can be sure that the angry meaning of pissed off became popular among the Armed Forces in World War II, and entered into mainstream use during the post-war years. In 1946 it was defined as a new word in American Speech XXI: “This means roughly, fed-up, irritated, depressed.” Some linguists and historians think the expression must have been well known during the war years, citing a story about General Eisenhower’s dog. The story goes that the dog (Felix) urinated on a map and the officers joked that the enemy was “pissed off.”
Cullen ends this monologue with “Yeah, I wouldn’t give a shit if I was you, either.”
“Give a shit” is also an anachronism, coined in 1922
I don’t know anything about slang from the 1860s We generally think of people speaking more formally then, but the casual slang of “pissed off” and “give a shit” work beautifully here. These phrases felt right while being wrong, and feeling right is obviously the goal.
I agree about the language. I know some people who get totally fired up about inauthentic hairstyles in period movies. Some about fashion. While I can forgive some things, language should matter and stay true for the period. It is not that hard to get it right.
But that said I loved that first line by Cullen.
I have noticed others that don’t sit right. It can be distracting. If you don’t mind, I will link this article.
http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2011/12/hell-on-wheels-how-west-was-won.html
We discussed anachronisms in previous weeks as well, EBL, and you’re welcome to link.
Thanks. I will look for that earlier post too.
[...] is a much worse mistake than “give a shit,” because it’s the writers finding a slang word to use, and such a word naturally [...]