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Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing
Melissa Mohr
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Description for Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing
Paperback. A humorous, trenchant and fascinating examination of how Western culture's taboo words have evolved over the millennia. Num Pages: 336 pages, 17 b&w illus. BIC Classification: CBX; CFD. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 210 x 140. .
Almost everyone swears, or worries about not swearing, from the two year-old who has just discovered the power of potty mouth to the grandma who wonders why every other word she hears is obscene. Whether they express anger or exhilaration, are meant to insult or to commend, swear words perform a crucial role in language. But swearing is also a uniquely well-suited lens through which to look at history, offering a fascinating record of what people care about on the deepest levels of a culture-what's divine, what's terrifying, and what's taboo. Holy Sh*t tells the ... Read more
Almost everyone swears, or worries about not swearing, from the two year-old who has just discovered the power of potty mouth to the grandma who wonders why every other word she hears is obscene. Whether they express anger or exhilaration, are meant to insult or to commend, swear words perform a crucial role in language. But swearing is also a uniquely well-suited lens through which to look at history, offering a fascinating record of what people care about on the deepest levels of a culture-what's divine, what's terrifying, and what's taboo. Holy Sh*t tells the ... Read more
Product Details
Publisher
Oxford University Press Inc
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2016
Condition
New
Number of Pages
336
Place of Publication
New York, United States
ISBN
9780190491680
SKU
V9780190491680
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 4 to 8 working days
Ref
99-2
About Melissa Mohr
Melissa Mohr holds a Ph.D. in Renaissance Literature from Stanford. She won a Mrs. Giles Whiting Fellowship for her dissertation, Strong Language: Oaths, Obscenities, and Performative Language in Early Modern England.
Reviews for Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing
Informed, enlightening and often delightfully surprising.
Kirkus Reviews
Digressions on the art of equivocation and the etymology of some of the most infamous curses are highlights of the book, but those looking for a Devil's Dictionary of bad language should look elsewhere-this is some serious sh
t.
Publishers Weekly
Profanity - the language that offends us-tells a ... Read more
Kirkus Reviews
Digressions on the art of equivocation and the etymology of some of the most infamous curses are highlights of the book, but those looking for a Devil's Dictionary of bad language should look elsewhere-this is some serious sh
t.
Publishers Weekly
Profanity - the language that offends us-tells a ... Read more