> The original definition of fighting words was laid out at a time when honor duels were still common, and that is the environment under which they were defined

> The original definition of fighting words was laid out at a time when honor duels were still common, and that is the environment under which they were defined. You're right that it's a very narrowly defined carve out that has since been narrowed further, but it's definitely from the 1940s from the cited Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fighting_words https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fighting_words