Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler Recalls Reason He Stopped Swearing
Curse words are part of most languages, but of course, that doesn't mean they everybody uses them. Among the swear-less is Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler, who recalled the reason he stopped using expletives during an episode of his wife Gloria Butler's podcast On the Rags.
"I had very, very strict Irish Catholic parents. There were seven kids in the house. None of us were ever allowed to swear," the Butler explained. "And so when I went out the house, I used to have the worst mouth in the street on me."
One day when the bassist was using excessive foul language toward other people, someone complained to the police, and they showed up at his house.
"My dad belted the hell out of me with his leather belt. That's what stopped me swearing," he admitted. "And he said to me, 'It makes you sound really, really ignorant, 'cause only thick people swear because they can't think of a proper English word to say.' That stuck in my mind. And when I went to swear, I'd think of a different word. And it expanded my vocabulary."
Throughout the discussion, Gloria and her co-hosts refer to Butler as "Terry" — which is the musician's real name. He said that "geezer" is basically the London-version of calling someone "dude" in the U.S., and because his older brother often used the word, he started referring to everyone as a "geezer" himself.
"And so because I had looked up to my brother when I was about 7-years-old, I'd go to school calling everybody a geezer. And so that's how I got cursed with it," he shared.
Watch the full chat below.