In cartoons, profanity is often depicted by substituting symbols ("grawlixes") for words, as a form of non-specific censorship.

Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, foul speech, strong language, dirty words, cussing, bad words, bad language, adult language, or simply language, is pejorative language that shows disrespect, desecration or debasement. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures (such as flipping the middle finger), or other social behaviors that are construed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, obnoxious, foul, desecrating or other forms.^[1]

The original meaning of the adjective profane (from Latin pro fano, "in front of" or "before, outside" the fanum, a sanctuary) referred to items not belonging to the church, e.g., "The fort is the oldest profane building in the town, but the local monastery is older, and is the oldest building," or "besides designing churches, he also designed many profane buildings". The meaning has changed over time.

Statistics[link]

Analyses of recorded conversations reveal that roughly 80–90 spoken words each day – 0.5% to 0.7% of all words – are swear words, with usage varying from between 0% to 3.4%. In comparison, first-person plural pronouns (we, us, our) make up 1% of spoken words.^[2]

A three-country poll conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion in July 2010 found that Canadians swear more often than Americans and Britons when talking to friends, while Britons are more likely than Canadians and Americans to hear strangers swear during a conversation.^[3]

As blasphemy[link]

The term "profane" originates from classical Latin "profanus", literally "before (outside) the temple". It carried the meaning of either "desecrating what is holy" or "with a secular purpose" as early as the 1450s CE^[4]. Profanity represented secular indifference to religion or religious figures, while blasphemy was a more offensive attack on religion and religious figures, considered sinful, and a direct violation of The Ten Commandments.

Profanities in the original meaning of blasphemous profanity are part of the ancient tradition of the comic cults, which laughed and scoffed at the deity or deities.^[5][6] An example from Gargantua and Pantagruel is "Christ, look ye, its Mere de ... merde ... shit, Mother of God."^{[7][not in citation given]}

Research into swearing[link]

Swearing and cursing are modes of speech existing in all human languages. They perform certain social and psychological functions, and utilize particular linguistic and neurological mechanisms; all these are avenues of research. Functionally similar behavior can be observed in chimpanzees, and may contribute to our understanding, notes New York Times author Natalie Angier.^[8]

Angier also notes that swearing is a widespread but perhaps underappreciated anger management technique; that "men generally curse more than women, unless said women are in a sorority, and that university provosts swear more than librarians or the staff members of the university day care center"; and that linguistic research has shown that the physiological reactions of individuals who are proud of their education are similar between exposure to obscene words and exposure to bad grammar.^[8]

Profane language is by no means a recent phenomenon. The Bible sometimes uses strong language, such as mention of men who "eat their own dung, and drink their own piss" in the Authorized King James Version of 1611's close translation of Hebrew text of 2 Kings 18:27. Shakespeare is replete with vulgarisms, though many are no longer readily recognized. Even the oldest traces of human writing include swear words.^{[citation needed]}

Keele University researchers Stephens, Atkins, and Kingston found that swearing relieves the effects of physical pain.^[9] Stephens said "I would advise people, if they hurt themselves, to swear".^[10] However, the overuse of swear words tends to diminish this effect.^[10] The team earned themselves the Ig Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 for the research.

In English, swears tend to be more often Germanic or Anglo-Saxon in origin than Latin. "Shit" has a Germanic lineage, as does "fuck"^[11]. The more technical alternatives are Latin in origin, such as "defecate" or "fornicate".

Swearing in the workplace[link]

The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United Kingdom and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (January 2012)

In the United Kingdom, swearing in the workplace can be an act of gross misconduct under certain circumstances. In particular, this is the case when swearing accompanies insubordination against a superior or humiliation of a subordinate employee. However, in other cases it may not be grounds for instant dismissal.^[12] According to a UK site on work etiquette, the "fact that swearing is a part of everyday life means that we need to navigate a way through a day in the office without offending anyone, while still appreciating that people do swear. Of course, there are different types of swearing and, without spelling it out, you really ought to avoid the 'worst words' regardless of who you’re talking to".^[13] With respect to swearing between colleagues, the site explains that "[a]lthough it may sound strange, the appropriateness [of] swearing [...] is influenced largely by the industry you are in and the individuals you work with". The site continues to explain that, even in a workplace in which swearing is the norm, there is no need to participate in it.^[13] The site stresses that swearing is, in general, more problematic in asymmetric situations, such as in the presence of senior management or clients, but it also mentions that a "holier than thou" attitude towards clients may be problematic.^[13]

The Guardian reported that "36% of the 308 UK senior managers and directors having responded to a survey accepted swearing as part of workplace culture", but warned about specific inappropriate uses of swearing such as when it is discriminatory or part of bullying behaviour. The article ends with a quotation from Ben Wilmott (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development): "Employers can ensure professional language in the workplace by having a well drafted policy on bullying and harassment that emphasises how bad language has potential to amount to harassment or bullying."^[14]

Severity[link]

The relative severity of various British profanities, as perceived by the public, was studied on behalf of the British Broadcasting Standards Commission, Independent Television Commission, BBC and Advertising Standards Authority; the results of this jointly commissioned research were published in December 2000 in a paper called "Delete expletives?". It listed the profanities in order of decreasing severity.

A similar survey was carried out in 2009 by New Zealand's Broadcasting Standards Authority. The results were published in March 2010, in a report called "What Not to Swear". According to the Authority, the findings "measured how acceptable the public finds the use of swear words, blasphemies, and other expletives in broadcasting".

Broadcasting[link]

In countries where it is illegal to broadcast profanity on radio or television, a profanity delay device can be used to delete profanity or other undesirable material and prevent it from being broadcast.

Notable instances in popular culture[link]

• Ulysses by James Joyce^[15]
• The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger ^[16][17]
• Pygmalion (play) by George Bernard Shaw (for the use of bloody)^[18]
• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell and the film – "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", said in 1939, was among the first uses of profanity in a major American film.^[19]
• Winnebago Man documentary starring Jack Rebney ^[20]

• Seven Dirty Words - a comedy routine by George Carlin, from 1972, in which he explained the seven words that must never be used in a television broadcast.

See also[link]

References[link]

Notes

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)

Bibliography

• Bakhtin, Mikhail; Iswolski, Hélène (translator) (1993) [1941]. Rabelais and His World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 
• Bulcke, Camille (2001) [1968]. An English-Hindi Dictionary (3rd ed.). Ramnagar, New Delhi: Chand. ISBN 81-219-0559-1. 
• Almond, Ian (2003). "Derrida and the Secret of the Non-Secret: On Respiritualising the Profane". Literature and Theology 17 (4): 457–471. DOI:10.1093/litthe/17.4.457. ISSN 0269-1205. http://litthe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/17/4/457. 

Further reading

• Jim O'Connor. Cuss Control. 2000.
• Edward Sagarin. The Anatomy of Dirty Words. 1962.
• Bill Bryson. The Mother Tongue. 1990.
• Richard A Spears. Forbidden American English. 1990.
• Sterling Johnson. Watch Your F*cking Language. 2004.
• Geoffrey Hughes. Swearing. 2004.
• Ruth Wajnryb. Expletive Deleted: A Good Look at Bad Language. 2005.
• Jesse Sheidlower. The F-Word. 2009. (3rd ed.)
• Croom, Adam M. "Slurs." Language Sciences, Volume 33, Number 3, May 2011, pp. 343-358. Published by Elsevier.
• Swearing is bad? by Karen Stollznow

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Profanity

Look up profanity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Most vulgar words in The Online Slang Dictionary (as voted by visitors)
• Steven Pinker, "The Stuff of Thought: Language as a window into human nature"
• Francis Grose (1811). Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue at Project Gutenberg
• "Delete expletives?"
• "What Not to Swear"

Harvey Dahl

Dahl with the Falcons in 2009
No. 62     St. Louis Rams
Guard
Personal information
Date of birth: (1981-06-24) June 24, 1981 (age 31)
Place of birth: Fallon, Nevada
Height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Weight: 313 lb (142 kg)
Career information
College: Nevada-Reno
Undrafted in 2005
Debuted in 2006 for the San Francisco 49ers
Career history
Dallas Cowboys (2005)* San Francisco 49ers (2005–2007) Atlanta Falcons (2007–2010) St. Louis Rams (2011–present) *Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
First Team All-WAC (2003, 2004)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 13, 2011
Games played 60 Games started 55 Fumble recoveries 1 Stats at NFL.com

Harvey Dahl (born June 24, 1981) is an American football guard for the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. He was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at Nevada-Reno.

Dahl has also played for the San Francisco 49ers, Rhein Fire and Atlanta Falcons.

Early years[link]

Dahl was an all-state selection at Churchill County High School; he was named all-league and All-Northern Nevada. Dahl also was a three-time zone wrestling champion and state champion at 215 lbs. in 1999.^[1] His #59 number was retired by Churchill County in January 2009.^[2]

College career[link]

Dahl attended the University of Nevada where he earned First Team ALL-WAC accolades in Junior and senior seasons ith the Wolf Pack. He was named to Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award watch lists in July 2004 prior to the start of the 2004 campaign at Nevada.^[3] At the end of 2004 season he was invited to play in the 2005 East-West Shrine Game.

Professional career[link]

Dallas Cowboys[link]

Dahl signed with Dallas on April 28 after he went undrafted in the 2005 NFL Draft. He was waived on June 3.

San Francisco 49ers[link]

He was claimed by San Francisco off waivers from Dallas on June 8, 2005. Dahl was waived on August 30 but signed to the practice squad on September 5. Dahl signed to the 53-man roster from the practice squad on December 20 and was allocated by San Francisco to NFL Europe Rhein Fire on January 11, 2006. He played in his first professional game against the St. Louis Rams.^[3]

Atlanta Falcons[link]

Dahl was signed by the Falcons off the San Francisco practice squad to the active roster on October 9, 2007^[4] after the Falcons placed Wayne Gandy on injured reserve.

In 2008 he became a full time starter for the Falcons at right guard. He established a name for himself as one of the league's toughest, nastiest players. He also helped paved the way for the Falcon's Pro Bowl running back Michael Turner and the Falcon's run game which was second in the league in rushing. Dahl excelled in pass blocking as well, as he and the rest of the Falcons offensive line only allowed 17 sacks (a franchise record) of 2008 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year quarterback Matt Ryan.

During the Falcons-49ers match-up on October 11, 2009, Dahl and San Francisco head coach Mike Singletary got into a spat on the field where Singletary told Dahl, "You better be happy you didn't play back in my day! If I could see you on the field!..." to which Dahl replied, "Suit up, then!".^[5]

St. Louis Rams[link]

Dahl was signed to a contract by the St. Louis Rams on July 29, 2011. Details of the contract were undisclosed. Dahl will step in straight away at right guard for the Rams organization.

In a game against the Cincinnati Bengals on 18 December 2011, Dahl yelled "That's not fucking holding!" into referee Jerome Boger's open microphone as Boger was announcing the holding penalty to the crowd. As a result, the expletive was heard throughout the stadium and on television. Boger further assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Dahl. Dahl later apologized for the incident.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Atlanta Falcons bio
• San Francisco 49ers bio

Penn & Teller (Penn Jillette and Teller) are American illusionists and entertainers who have performed together since the late 1970s, and are known for their numerous stage and television shows. Their current Las Vegas show is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is a raconteur; Teller generally does not speak while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard during their performance. They specialize in gory tricks, exposing frauds, and performing clever pranks. More recently they have become associated with atheism, scientific skepticism, and libertarianism, particularly through their television show Penn & Teller: Bullshit!.

Career[link]

Penn Jillette and Teller were introduced to one another by Weir Chrisimer, and they performed their first show together at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival on 19 August 1975.^[1] From the late 1970s through 1981, Penn, Teller, and Chrisimer performed as a trio called "The Asparagus Valley Cultural Society" which played in San Francisco at the Phoenix Theater. This act was sillier and less "edgy" than today's Penn & Teller act.^{[citation needed]} Chrisimer helped to develop some bits that continued, most notably Teller's "Shadows" trick, which involves a single red rose.

By 1985, Penn & Teller were receiving rave reviews for their Off Broadway show and Emmy award-winning PBS special, Penn & Teller Go Public.^[2] In 1987, they began the first of two successful Broadway runs. Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, the duo made numerous television appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live, as well as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Today, and many others.

Penn & Teller had national tours throughout the 1990s, gaining critical praise. They have also made television guest appearances on Babylon 5^[3] (as the comedy team Rebo and Zooty), The Drew Carey Show, a few episodes of Hollywood Squares from 1998 until 2004, ABC's Muppets Tonight, FOX's The Bernie Mac Show, an episode of the game show Fear Factor on NBC, NBC's The West Wing, in a two-part episode of the final season of ABC's Home Improvement in 1998, four episodes during season 1 of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch in 1996, NBC's Las Vegas, and Fox's The Simpsons episodes "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" and "The Great Simpsina" and the Futurama film Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder in 2009. They also appeared as three-card Monte scam artists in the music video for "It's Tricky" by Run-DMC in 1987, and were thrown out of a Las Vegas hotel room in the music video for "Waking Up in Vegas" by Katy Perry in 2009.

Their Showtime network television show Bullshit! took a skeptical look at psychics, religion, the pseudoscientific, conspiracy theories, and the paranormal. It has featured critical segments on gun control, astrology, Feng Shui, environmental issues, PETA, weight loss, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the war on drugs.

On Bullshit!, the duo described their social and political views as libertarian.

They have also described themselves as teetotalers. Their book, Penn & Teller's How to Play in Traffic, explains that they avoid absolutely all alcohol and other drugs, including caffeine, though they do appear to smoke cigarettes in some videos. Penn has said that he has never even tasted alcohol, and that his tolerance for certain drugs is so low that his doctor only had to administer a minute amount of anesthetic relative to what one would expect necessary for a man of his size to undergo surgery.

The pair have written several books about magic, including Penn & Teller's Cruel Tricks For Dear Friends, Penn & Teller's How to Play with Your Food, and Penn & Teller's How to Play in Traffic. Since 2001, Penn & Teller have performed six nights a week (or as Penn put it on Bullshit!: "Every night of the week ... except Fridays!") in Las Vegas at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino.

Penn Jillette hosted a weekday one-hour talk show on Infinity Broadcasting's Free FM radio network from January 3, 2006 to March 2, 2007 with cohost Michael Goudeau.^[4][5] He also hosted the game show Identity, which debuted on December 18, 2006 on NBC.

Their new television series Penn & Teller Tell a Lie premiered on the Discovery Channel on October 5, 2011.

Penn & Teller have also shown support for the Brights movement^[6] and are now listed on the movement's homepage under the Enthusiastic Brights section.^[7] According to an article in Wired magazine, their license plates are customized so they read, "Atheist" and "Godless", and when Penn signs autographs, he often writes "there is no God" with his signature.^[8]

Off-stage relationship[link]

Penn Jillette has told interviewer Larry King that a big part of the duo's success and longevity is due to them never having been close friends. They enjoy working together immensely, but have little in common besides magic. As a result of their drastically different lifestyles and interests, they rarely socialize or interact when not working. Jillette believes that their partnership succeeds precisely because they give each other a great deal of space off-stage.

Tricks[link]

Their tricks include Teller hanging upside-down over a cushion of spikes in a straitjacket, Teller submerged in a huge container of water, Teller being run over by an 18-wheel tractor-trailer, Teller swinging going through Penn's hands. Many of their effects rely heavily on shock appeal and violence, although presented in a humorous manner.

Sometimes, the pair will claim to reveal a secret of how a magic trick is done, but those tricks are usually invented by the duo for the sole purpose of exposing them, and therefore designed with more spectacular and weird methods than would have been necessary had it just been a "proper" magic trick. For example, in the "reveal" of one trick, while Teller waits for his cue, he reads magazines and eats a snack.^{[clarification needed]} Another example is their rendition of the cups and balls, using transparent cups.

Penn and Teller perform their own adaptation of the famous bullet catch illusion. Each simultaneously fires a gun at the other through small panes of glass and then "catches" the other's bullet in his mouth. They also have an assortment of card tricks in their repertoire, virtually all of them involving the force of the Three of Clubs on an unsuspecting audience member as this card is easy for viewers to identify on television cameras.^[9]

The duo will sometimes perform tricks that discuss the intellectual underpinnings of magic. One of their acts, titled "Magician vs. Juggler", features Teller performing card tricks while Penn juggles and delivers a monologue on the difference between the two: jugglers start as socially aware children who go outside and learn juggling with other children; magicians are misfits who stay in the house and teach themselves magic tricks out of spite.

In one of their most politically charged tricks, they make a U.S. flag seem to disappear by wrapping it in a copy of the United States Bill of Rights, and apparently setting the flag on fire, so that "the flag is gone but the Bill of Rights remains." The act may also feature the "Chinese bill of rights", presented as a transparent piece of acetate. They normally end the routine by restoring the unscathed flag to its starting place on the flagpole; however, on a TV guest appearance on The West Wing this final part was omitted.^[10]

One of their more recent tricks^[when?] involves a powered nail gun with a quantity of missing nails from the series of nails in its magazine. Penn begins by firing several apparently real nails into a board in front of him. He then proceeds to fire the nailgun into the palm of his hand several times, while suffering no injuries. His pattern builds as he oscillates between firing blanks into his hand and firing nails into the board. While performing he states that the trick is merely memorization, and explains that the fact that he does not flinch when he could be firing a nail into his hand should be a sign that the trick is not actually dangerous. A later revision to the trick replaced the false claims of memorization with a more open explanation, allowing the audience to enjoy the rhythm of the nail gun without fear of a serious mishap.^[11]

A trick introduced in 2010 is a modern version of the bag escape, replacing the traditional sack with a black trash bag apparently filled with helium. Teller is placed in the bag which is then pumped full of helium and sealed by an audience member. For the escape, the audience are blinded by a bright light for a second and when they are able to see again, Teller has escaped from the bag and Penn is holding it, still full of helium, above his head, before releasing it to float to the ceiling. The duo had hoped to put the trick in their mini-tour in London; however, it was first shown to the public in their Las Vegas show on 18 August 2010. In June 2011, Penn and Teller performed this trick for the first time in the United Kingdom on their ITV show Fool Us.^[12]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Books[link]

• Penn & Teller's How to Play in Traffic (1997, ISBN 1-57297-293-9)
• Penn & Teller's How to Play with Your Food (1992, ISBN 0-679-74311-1)
• Penn & Teller's Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends (1989, ISBN 0-394-75351-8)
• Sock 2004, ISBN 0-312-32805-2 (Penn Jillette sole author)
• How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The Wisdom of Dickie Richard 2006, ISBN 0-312-34905-X (Penn Jillette and Mickey D. Lynn)
• When I'm Dead All This Will Be Yours: Joe Teller—A Portrait By His Kid 2000, ISBN 0-922233-22-5 (Teller sole author)

Other Media[link]

Music[link]

• "The Horse You Rode In On" by Pigface (Penn Jillette only)
• "Spookshow" by Adil Omar (Penn Jillette only)
• "Penn & Teller Present: Music to Look at Boxes By" (With Mike "Jonesy" Jones)
• "Never Mind the Sex Pistols" by Bongos, Bass, & Bob (Penn Jillette with Dean J Seal and Bob "Running" Elk)
• "Tattoo of Blood" by the Captain Howdy (Penn Jillette with Mark Kramer)
• "Money Feeds My Music Machine" by the Captain Howdy (Penn Jillette with Mark Kramer)
• "It's Tricky" by Run–D.M.C. (Penn & Teller shown throughout the video and at the end appear to take over the persona of Run–D.M.C.)
• "Waking up in Vegas" by Katy Perry (Penn & Teller are kicked out of their hotel room by Perry and her boyfriend. They later kick Perry out again.)

Jillette also toured with the Residents during the Mole Show, and hosted Ralph Records' 10th Anniversary Radio Special (1982). There is some mild controversy and confusion surrounding this. While the premise of 10th Anniversary Radio Special revolved around Jillette having never heard of the label or any of the bands on it (the Residents included), he was credited as a collaborator on the 1981 album Mark of the Mole,^[16] and he can be heard giving news bulletins in the first track. This has led some to speculate that Jillette may have been a Resident at one point.

Theater[link]

In 2008 Teller co-directed a production of Macbeth in Red Bank, New Jersey and Washington, DC.^[17]

Video games[link]

• Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors 1995 – Absolute Entertainment for Sega CD & 3DO, Unreleased.
• Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: Spellbound 1998 – Simon & Schuster for PC – Voices for Drell & Skippy
• Desert Bus 2011 – Amateur Pixels.

The 1995 video game Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors featured an unusual mini-game called Desert Bus in which the player drove a realistic bus route between Tucson and Las Vegas. This mini-game became popular due to the fact that it imitated a real 8 hour bus ride. Once reaching the destination, the player gets 1 point and, if desired, can then drive the return route. The game was long and boring, but found a cult audience due to the dark humor and weirdness behind the idea.

The game has since been used in an annual charity called "Desert Bus for Hope" run by website desertbus.org. The site invites celebrities play the game streamed live online, with all proceeds being donated to Child's Play (charity). on November 14, 2011 an iOS port of Desert Bus was created and released in the Apple Inc iTunes store. The game was developed in conjunction with the Desert Bus for hope event and all profits from the game are donated to charity.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Penn & Teller

• Official website
• Penn's "Hydro-therapeutic stimulator" (aka Jill-jet) patent
• A man, a ball, a hoop, a bench (and an alleged thread)… TELLER!

Paula Hiers Deen

Paula Hiers (left) in a public service announcement for Civitan International.
Born	(1947-01-19) January 19, 1947 (age 65) Albany, Georgia, U.S.
Cooking style	Southern
Current restaurant(s) The Lady & Sons Restaurant, Uncle Bubba's Oyster House, Owens Shepard's Finest
Television show(s) Paula's Home Cooking (2002–present) Paula's Party (2006–present) Paula's Best Dishes (2008–present)
Award(s) won 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Lifestyle Host
Official website
http://www.pauladeen.com/

Paula Hiers Deen (born January 19, 1947) is an American cook, cooking show host, restaurateur, author, actress and Emmy Award-winning television personality. Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates The Lady & Sons restaurant with her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen. She has published five cookbooks. Though married in 2004 to Michael Groover,^[1] she uses the surname Deen from her first marriage.^[2]

Early life[link]

Deen was born in Albany, Georgia.^[3] Her parents died before she was 23, and an early marriage ended in divorce. In her 20s, Deen suffered from panic attacks and agoraphobia. She then focused on cooking for her family as something she could do without leaving her house.^[4] In 1986, she took a job as a bank teller, and later moved to Savannah, Georgia, with her sons. In 1989, she divorced her husband, Jimmy Deen, to whom she had been married since 1965.^[1] She was left with only $200.^[3] She then started a catering service,^[5] making sandwiches and meals, which her sons Jamie and Bobby delivered. She was recently revealed as a sufferer of type-2 diabetes.^[6]

Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, Georgia.

Restaurants[link]

Deen's home business, The Bag Lady, soon outgrew her kitchen. In January 1996 Deen opened her own restaurant, The Lady & Sons, in downtown Savannah, on West Congress Street. Within a few years, the restaurant moved to a larger building in Savannah's historic district. USA Today named The Lady & Sons the "International Meal of the Year," in 1999. The specialty is a buffet, which typically includes sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, deep-fried Twinkies, fried chicken, cheesy meatloaf, greens, beans, and creamed corn. Every meal is served with a garlic cheese biscuit and a hoecake. Her sons are also involved in managing the restaurant, which is popular with tourists to Savannah.^[7]

In 2008, Deen parlayed her fame into another restaurant, the "Paula Deen Buffet" at Harrah's Tunica Casino in Tunica, Mississippi.^[8] Its entrance facade is modeled on Deen's home in Savannah and features Southern cooking.^[9]

In September 2009, Deen announced a new dessert line to be sold at Walmart including signature pies Apple Crunch Top, Dark Rum Pecan, Old Fashioned Fudge and Gooey Butter Cake bars.^[10]

Books and magazines[link]

In 1997, Deen self-published The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking and The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking 2. Both cookbooks featured traditional Southern recipes.^[11] She has since published two more, written with Martha Nesbit. Deen has appeared on QVC and on The Oprah Winfrey Show (first in 2002, twice in 2007 and once in 2010). Her life story is featured in Extraordinary Comebacks: 201 Inspiring Stories of Courage, Triumph, and Success (2007, Sourcebooks).

In April 2007, Simon & Schuster published Deen's memoir, It Ain't All About the Cookin'. She launched a lifestyle magazine called Cooking with Paula Deen in November 2005.^[12] which claimed a circulation of 7.5 million in March, 2009.^[13]

Food Network[link]

Deen's relationship with Food Network began in 1999, when her friend Erin Lewis introduced her to Gordon Elliott, who then introduced her to her current agent, Artist's Agency owner Barry Weiner.^[14] Elliott took her through the city for a series of Doorknock Dinners episodes. She also appeared on Ready, Set, Cook!. Deen was invited to shoot a pilot named Afternoon Tea in early 2001. The network liked it, and eventually gave Deen her own show, Paula's Home Cooking, which premiered in November 2002. Paula's Home Cooking was originally taped in Millbrook, New York at the home of Gordon Elliott, the show's executive producer.^[15][16] Deen mentioned in an on the March 13, 2006, edition of The Daily Buzz that the next batch of episodes of her show would be taped at her home in Savannah, Georgia. According to the first of those episodes, actual production at her new Savannah home began in November 2005.

Deen throwing out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game in Washington, D.C.

Since then, Deen has been given two more Food Network shows, Paula's Party and Paula's Best Dishes.^[17] Paula's Party premiered on the Food Network in 2006 and Paula's Best Dishes debuted on June 8, 2008.^[18]

A televised biography of Deen was aired on an episode of the Food Network's Chefography program, in March 2006.^[19]

In December 2007, Deen teamed with Cat Cora and faced Chefs Tyler Florence and Robert Irvine in battle Sugar on the holiday special of Iron Chef America. At the end, Deen and Cora won.

Deen also helped Pat and Gina Neely get their first Food Network show, Down Home with the Neelys.^[20] During the summer of 2006, her sons, Bobby and Jamie Deen, featured the Neelys' Bar-B-Que Nashville location on their Food Network show Road Tasted. In September 2006, Paula ate at the Neelys' downtown Memphis restaurant and was impressed. In January 2007, the Neelys were invited to appear on Paula's Party,^[21] which eventually led to the Down Home show. In July 2008, the Neelys would also take over Road Tasted from the Deen brothers.

In May 2008, Deen announced at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show that she had signed a deal to host a talk show beginning in September 2009.^[22]

Deen has appeared in public service announcements for Civitan International.^[23]

On February 23, 2011, Deen appeared on the show Top Chef, and sat at the Judges Table.^[24]

Personal life[link]

In 2004, Deen married Michael Groover (born 1956), a tugboat captain in the port of Savannah, Georgia.^[25] Groover has two children from a previous marriage. The wedding was featured in a Food Network show in 2004. Their wedding took place at the Bethesda Home for Boys in Savannah.^[26]

Deen is a supporter of the Bethesda Home for Boys, and asked Old Savannah Tours to donate $1 to the organization for each ticket purchased for the Paula Deen Store ticket sale.^[26] In January 2012, she announced she has had type 2 diabetes for the last three years.^[27]

Other work[link]

Deen made her film debut in Elizabethtown, starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst in 2005. She played the aunt of Bloom's character, and her cooking was featured. A Food Network special, Paula Goes Hollywood, aired in conjunction with the film's premiere.^[28]

Awards and honors[link]

In June 2007, Deen won a Daytime Emmy Awards (Outstanding Lifestyle Host) for Paula's Home Cooking.^[29] In October 2010 she was selected as the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade, and presided over the 2011 Rose Parade before the Rose Bowl Game on January 1, 2011.^[30]

Criticism[link]

Deen has faced extensive criticism for the high amounts of fat, salt, and sugar in her recipes.^[31] She faced particularly strong objections with the release of Lunch-Box Set, a cookbook aimed at children, with Barbara Walters saying of the book, "You tell kids to have cheesecake for breakfast. You tell them to have chocolate cake and meatloaf for lunch. And french fries. Doesn't it bother you that you're adding to this?"^[32] Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain commented in 2011 that he "would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it's OK to eat food that is killing us."^[33]

On January 17, 2012, Deen announced that she had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years before, a disease for which a high calorie diet is a major risk factor.^[34][35] It was also disclosed that Deen is a paid spokesperson for the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.^[35] She was called a hypocrite for continuing to promote her high sugar diet while only disclosing her medical condition when it benefits her in representing the drug company to market their diabetes management program.^[36] Deen stated on the January 18, 2012 episode of The Chew that a portion of her compensation would be given to charities.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paula Deen

• Official website
• The Lady & Sons restaurant
• Cooking with Paula Deen magazine
• Paula Deen at the Internet Movie Database
• Paula Deen at TV Guide
• Paula Deen ... Answers Your Questions Archive at People.com