One of the preeminent linguists of our time examines the realms of language that are considered shocking and taboo in order to understand what imbues curse words with such power--and why we love them so much.
John H. McWhorter teaches linguistics, American studies, and music history at Columbia University. He is a contributing editor at The Atlantic and host of Slate's Lexicon Valley podcast. McWhorter is the author of twenty books, including The Power of Babel- A Natural History of Language, Losing the Race- Self-Sabotage in Black America, and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue- The Untold History of English.
"Nine Nasty Words is a deeply intelligent celebration of language
that teaches us how to see English in high definition and love it
as it really is, right now and in its myriad incarnations to
come."—The New York Times
"Rollicking, salty, learned, and intensely informative, John
McWhorter's Nine Nasty Words is a grand tour through the history of
the profanities we (sometimes) abhor and (sometimes) revel in (and
sometimes both), peppered with cameos by everyone from Geoffrey
Chaucer and Cole Porter to Tallulah Bankhead and the
too-little-known singer-songwriter Lucille Bogan, still making
people blush seventy-odd years after her death, God bless her. I
laughed frequently and learned plenty."—Benjamin Dreyer, New York
Times bestselling author of Dreyer's English
"Shakespeare’s Caliban spoke for the human race when he said 'You
taught me language, and my profit on’t is, I know how to curse.'
Taboo language combines our touchiest social emotions with the
poetic and metaphorical powers of language, and no one can explain
these more clearly and compellingly than John McWhorter."—Steven
Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University;
author of The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window Into
Human Nature
"Erudite and entertaining, McWhorter shows us foul language in its
wonderful, fertile variety. We see how speech taboos that once
applied to religion and the body now apply to groups of people—and
why there should be such power (and pleasure) in transgressing
them."—Aaron James, New York Times bestselling author
of Assholes: A Theory
"A treat for the mind and a gift of laughter."—Leo
Sopicki, Seattle PI
"A bawdy, bodacious, and brilliant excursion through the wonderful
world of profanity, filled with delicious tidbits (who knew that
Edna St. Vincent Millay practiced slinging the sh*t while darning?)
and linguistic amuse bouches. In other words, it’s a f***ing
great read."—Ross and Kathryn Petras, New York Times
bestselling authors of You’re Saying It Wrong
"A lively and informative study, not to mention wonderful cocktail
party material."—Kirkus Reviews
"Effing delightful. A treat for every adult who used to look up
swears in the dictionary (or still does)."—June Casagrande,
bestselling author of It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the
Worst of Sentences and Grammar Snobs Are Great Big
Meanies
"Dispensing his vast linguistic expertise with the lightest and
deftest of touches, John McWhorter shows brilliantly how the
‘nastiest’ words can teach us about the dynamic and unruly nature
of all language. Anyone interested in words (and not just the nasty
ones) should read this book."—Joe Moran, author of First You
Write a Sentence.
“Nine Nasty Words takes the reader round the back of the
English language, only to show—with irrepressible humor and a dash
of forbearance—how what we find there is central to who we
are.”—Rebecca Gowers, author of Horrible Words: A Guide to the
Misuse of English
"If you want to get down and dirty in the gutter of English (and,
be honest, who doesn’t?) you’d better go with a guide who knows his
sh*t. McWhorter gives a jovial, expert tour of the 'bedrock swears'
from the offensive and profane to the merely 'salty,' not just
where they came from, but how they have shifted and morphed in
force, meaning, grammar and in the effect they produce."—Arika
Okrent, author of In the Land of Invented Languages
"Call me old-fashioned, but goshdarnit this book has an
in-freaking-credible shipload of fizzy information. McWhorter's
delicate linguistic ear is put to indelicate and delectable use in
this deep dive into the linguistic muck."—M.Lynne
Murphy, Professor of Linguistics, University of Sussex, and
author of The Prodigal Tongue
"Only a kick-ass writer could wrest such erudite historical fun
from language’s sh*thouse. Damn, this is one hell of a book, and
this p***y will never curse the same again."—Ann Patty, author
of Living with a Dead Language
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