Is (or was) the exclamation "Nuts!" crude?

Question

During the Battle of the Bulge, when asked to surrender, US General McAuliffe answered with the single word "Nuts!"

I know that "nuts" can be a crude way to refer to testicles ("He got hit in the nuts by the baseball") but I've always thought of the exclamation ("Aw, nuts!") as anodyne. Would a kid saying it in the 1940s have had his mouth washed out with soap?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-19T18:20:24.027

3

According to EtymOnline, by the 1950s "nuts" was taboo (or on its way):

Connection with the slang "testicle" sense has tended to nudge it toward taboo. "On the N.B.C. network, it is forbidden to call any character a nut; you have to call him a screwball." ["New Yorker," Dec. 23, 1950] "Please eliminate the expression 'nuts to you' from Egbert's speech." [Request from the Hays Office regarding the script of "The Bank Dick," 1940] This desire for avoidance accounts for the euphemism nerts (c.1925).

By the 1940s, "nuts" was on its way out. In its place, the euphemism nerts was apparently created.

edited Oct 19 '11 at 18:20

answered Aug 19 '11 at 21:16

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So, it's bad to call someone a nut but calling him a dick is just fine? – Michael Lorton Aug 19 '11 at 21:40
@Malvolio: It was slang for detective – Aug 19 '11 at 21:42
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I knew that, I was just pointing out the irony. – Michael Lorton Aug 19 '11 at 21:46
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@Malvolio: Sorry, sarcasm doesn't translate well via text. But you're right--EtymOnline says the word "dick" was pejorative in the late 1800s even. – Aug 19 '11 at 21:48
Pejorative, and even in 1940, slang for "penis". – Michael Lorton Aug 19 '11 at 21:56
@malvolio But a word can have multiple meanings. Pejorative, but note solely so. – Aug 19 '11 at 21:57
Censors, in general, are not exactly known for their consistency... – Karl Knechtel Aug 21 '11 at 01:12

Is (or was) the exclamation "Nuts!" crude?

1 Answers1