From its beginnings during the time of the Roman occupation, the Billingsgate fish market in London has been notorious for the crude language that has resounded through its stalls. In fact, the fish merchants of Billingsgate were so famous for their swearing centuries ago that their feats of vulgar language were recorded in Raphael Holinshed’s 1577 account of King Leir (which was probably William Shakespeare’s source for King Lear). In Holinshed’s volume, a messenger’s language is said to be “as bad a tongue … as any oyster-wife at Billingsgate hath.” By the middle of the 17th century, billingsgate had become a byword for foul language.
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It’s been a while since there was a Word of the Day sufficiently salty to hold my interest. But today’s offering, “billingsgate,” fits the bill.
Now, about that “oyster-wife”…
You make the call!