Apparently, Sam had long been an artist at ornamental blasphemy and cursing before the incident with Livy.  There are many stories from his days as a reporter in Virginia City of the compositors and other newspaper staff deliberately hiding his lamp shade just to hear him swear.



-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kevin. Mac
Donnell
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 11:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Twain's temper tantrums



Yes, Livy did confront him about his temper, and once when he nicked
himself
shaving (I think) he began cursing, unaware that she was standing in the
bedroom just outside the bathroom door. When he came out she repeated
back
to him everything he'd said in an effort to show him how awful he
sounded.
This did not work as she intended. Twain was hugely amused because, as
he
said, she got the words right, but completely muffed the inflection,
making
the point that good cursing should be left in the hands of an expert
like
himself.