Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever
- Nov 7, 2021
- 1 min read
★★★★☆
If you have any kind of love for, or fascination with, the English language, and, perhaps, in particular, the saltier side of our mother tongue, John McWhorter’s Nine Nasty Words is the book for you. McWhorter, brimming with bona fides, is a thoroughly knowledgeable and, equally importantly, enthusiastic guide, taking the reader through centuries of profane language, tracking down origin stories, tracing the evolution of words and meanings, referencing everything from James Joyce to The Jeffersons, all the while delighting with a crackling and conversational tone that belies the academia at the book’s core. If only we’d all had English teachers that made language so much fun.
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