Wicked
Here’s a word you don’t hear very often – ‘wicked’*. I realised this when I was watching the excellent film Tiger Bay (from 1959) last week and Hayley Mills said something like ‘But he’s such a terribly wicked man’.
The thought occurred to me again the next day as I spent a pleasant morning at the Charles Dickens Museum. Dickens’ characters regularly accused others or berated themselves for being wicked. Even trees could have wicked thoughts – you probably wouldn’t get an author writing this these days:
‘As the elms bent to one another, like giants who were whispering secrets, and after a few seconds of such repose, fell into a violent flurry, tossing their wild arms about, as if their late confidences were really too wicked for their peace of mind . . . ‘ (from David Copperfield)
A quick search of IMDB reveals that although there have been a number of movies with wicked in the title in recent decades, there was a glut of them in the early years of cinema – A Wicked Bounder (1906), His Wicked Eyes (1919), The Wicked City (1916, 1926), The Wicked Cat (1922), Wild and Wicked (1923), Wicked Kashmir (1928), and my favourite Winky Waggles the Wicked Widow (1914), to name but a few. Again, blockbuster musicals not withstanding, you’re not getting many films about wicked bounders at the moment.
Based on this spurious research, it seems that the use of the word ‘wicked’ to describe the evil and the morally suspect has fallen into decline. Perhaps this is due to the decreasing influence of religion. Or perhaps people just aren’t wicked anymore. They’re just b*stards.
*Obviously, that’s wicked meaning ‘bad’ rather than wicked meaning ‘good’, although even that’s pretty passé now.
January 7th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
There are definitely a lot of wicked people out there today. I guess we just call them something else. lol It would be cool to hear the word “wicked” come back again.
January 7th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Only if it’s used properly Keith – I don’t want any of that positive ‘It was totally wick-ed man’ stuff going on round here!
By the way, I left a comment on your website earlier but I don’t know if you ever got it – I got an error message on your page. I don’t know what went wrong.
January 8th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
“I don’t want any of that positive ‘It was totally wick-ed man’ stuff going on round here!”
Quite right. I think Tim Westwood might be the only adult in Britain that still uses the term in that manner.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Oh, I love Tim Westwood Ill Man. He has clearly found the secret of eternal youth and I’m jealous… Wicked!
January 8th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
I agree. I think Westwood should get special dispensation as the only person in the UK to be allowed to use “wicked” in a good way, if you know what I mean. We need more of Westwood on our TVs and radios. Maybe reading the news? If you share my enthusiasm, this will cheer you up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/westwood/soundboard.shtml
January 9th, 2009 at 4:10 am
Hey there. When I signed on tonight, I had a comment from you. Thanks. I appreciate it. It’s always good to hear from you. Stop by anytime. Cheers!
January 9th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I’m all in favour of restoring the original meaning of ‘wicked’. Now and again a judge will use it before passing sentence, and because of the ‘Westwood’ usage, it has come to sound quite odd and archaic. It’s a fine word, in its original context.
And, as for movies, have you checked out ‘The Wicked Lady’ with Margaret Lockwood? She WAS wicked. And yet, a Lady.
January 9th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
That’s hilarious Hoops. At least he’s not ashamed of himself in anyway whatsoever. And I’m not going to ask how you found that link…
And ISBW, I haven’t seen ‘The Wicked Lady’. I think I’ve just missed it being on at the BFI too – I’m sure they’ve had a Margaret Lockwood season on recently. I will see it one of these days. It can only be good with a title like that.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Another reason to love B&S (is it wicked not to care)