obscene words from "Deadwood"

[Geoffrey Nunberg]

I had a call from David Bianculli, the TV reviewer from "Fresh Air,"
who's doing a piece on the new HBO show "Deadwood," a western set in
the 1860's which prides itself on the authenticity of both the
setting and the obscenity-laced language (it's HBO, after all). Among
the phrases that the program uses are "cocksucker," "piss off" (in
the sense "irritate") and "shitface." David wanted to know if those
words would in fact have been current in the language of the period.

I note that both the OED and HDAS give a Farmer and Henley entry in
1891 for the earliest use of "cocksucker," and that the OED's first
cite of "piss off" is from 1968 and for "shitface" is from 1937. In
the light of those cites (but bearing in mind how long such terms can
live in speech without being recorded), does the use of the words in
"Deadwood" seem authentic?

I'd appreciate it if you could copy David Bianculli
<davidbianculli at comcast.net> on any response.

Geoff Nunberg