Thanks, Lawson, some good came out of Mike's reading this comic.

Of course, remembering such the first time one hears a controversial word like "fuck", which for most of us was likely to be quite the event when we asked our parents about it, is not quite the same as remembering when we first heard the word "skank". For me, the first time I heard "fuck" was in fall of 1974 (when I was six) and the first time I heard "skank" was likely when I overheard my older sister commenting on a classmate in the early 1980's.

The first time I heard 'epidermis' was in 4th grade ... no, 5th ... or maybe 3rd. Chagrined is the only word that comes to mind. I've forgotten more than my callow self ever knew, surely.

Epidermis, fifth grade. An educational video featuring a guy in a leotard illustrating various layers of the body, called Slim Goodbody (who I later saw on Captain Kangaroo doing much the same schtick).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_Goodbody

I don't remember exactly when I heard any of these fun words, but I imagine it was before I could speak. I have very vivid memories of my father swearing up a storm while on the phone with friends and I can't imagine he'd have censored himself just because his infant son was crawling around.

Remember Ralphie's father in "A Christmas Story"?

"In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan."

Then, when Ralphie drops an F-bomb, his parents are baffled as to where he learned it, and they blame the neighbor kid.

I don't remember the first time that I heard the word "fuck", but I did see "The Exorcist" (1973) at the drive-in when I was 6 years old. That had the word "fuck" plus a lot of disturbing imagery for a 6 year-old!

HEY QUIN: Are you a Grateful Dead fan? I am. Bob Weir and Phil Lesh of the GD are touring as Furthur, and I saw them in concert in Alpharetta, GA, on July 10. They played Quinn the Eskimo / The Mighty Quinn for the encore. It rained buckets all night at that show, but it was awesome!

Furthur - Alpharetta, GA, July 10, 2012 - "The Mighty Quinn"

Ha! Thanks for that H.O.M.iE.! Alpharetta is just down the road and across the state line from me. I didn't know they were playing there and I'm not especially a Dead fan. It must have been a fantastic concert though, just hearing a bit of that old school slightly rockabilly guitar considerably improved the day. I mean 'fuck' yeah! Uh, don't threads with this verbiage get flushed? Or are we protected by the almighty double and single quotes?

Haha, I was going to say that the show was "fucking awesome", but I don't talk that way.

There's hours of awesome live Dead, Furthur, and lots of other bands in the Live Music Archive at http://www.archive.org .

Here's a cool Furthur show:

Furthur Live at Radio City Music Hall on March 26, 2011 (Setlist)
Playlist (NOTE: The first track has around 3m20s of crowd noise before the music starts)

If we make an exception for COMEDIAN #2, we'll have to make an exception for everything.