In the stone age, when the savage tried his best to carve with a dull stone knife, he doubtless swore mentally; his barbaric trait of mental swearing is still with us, and will probably remain with us until the end of time, or until our servants realize that the carving-knife was not a tool originally intended by the head of the family for dissecting kindling-wood or peeling potatoes.

Thomas J. Murrey, Practical Carving,1887