When "Deadwood" first premiered in 2004, I remember that it sent critics and reporters flocking to experts on late 19th Century frontier life, trying to prove that the show's expletive-laden dialogue was inaccurate and anachronistic. The pursuit, while endearing and intellectually driven, could only get part of the story. No, the residences of the actual historical community of Deadwood probably didn't swear in quite the same way David Milch's HBO characters were swearing (i.e. with impunity, but also a modern flair), but so what? Nobody in the history of the world, regardless of their time or their location, has ever talked the way the characters on "Deadwood" talked, so why quibble over a few stray "cocksuckers"?
