RIP George Carlin
One of my favorite comedians, George Carlin, passed away today at the age of 71. What made Carlin unique among comedians was his use of the English language for material, most notably in his legendary "Seven Words You Can't Say on Television" routine that lampooned prudish American censorship laws. Carlin objected to the dumbing-down of the English language, once asking aloud why the term "shellshock" became sanitized into "post-traumatic stress disorder". He also railed against modern words like "networking" or "state-of-the-art", preferring more literal, traditional usage.
In his later years, Carlin went from being irreverently raunchy to boorishly crude, to the detriment of his comedy. Nevertheless, all comedians post 1970 owe him an enormous debt of gratitude, and he will be missed.
Some Carlin lines:
-Why is prostitution illegal? If selling is legal, and fucking is legal, why isn't selling fucking legal?
-Do you want to know what a stupid word "lifestyle" is? Just think, in a technical sense, Attila the Hun lived an active, outdoors lifestyle.
-What does legally drunk mean? If it's legal, what's the fucking problem? "Hey officer, leave my friend alone, he's legally drunk!"
-I stopped voting around the same time I stopped taking drugs, when I realized both were examples of delusional behavior.
Rest in peace.
