Nine Nasty Words

English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever

De: John McWhorter

Narrado por: John McWhorter

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.

Profanity has always been a deliciously vibrant part of our lexicon, an integral part of being human. In fact, our ability to curse comes from a different part of the brain than other parts of speech - the urgency with which we say "f--k!" is instead related to the instinct that tells us to flee from danger.

Language evolves with time, and so does what we consider profane or unspeakable. Nine Nasty Words is a rollicking examination of profanity, explored from every angle: historical, sociological, political, linguistic. In a particularly coarse moment, when the public discourse is shaped in part by once-shocking words, nothing could be timelier.

©2020 John McWhorter (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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 70-odd years after her death, God bless her. I laughed frequently and learned plenty." (Benjamin Dreyer, New York Times best-selling author of Dreyer's 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)

"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)

how do Grammy nominations work?

john mcwhorter disarms the negativity of choice words by explaining the meaning (or interpretation?) out of them. you'll also learn that john 'gets you' as he reads his written word in a manner that exceeds the price of admission.

4 Stars

In a brilliant move, customers are now forced to write reviews if they want to rate books. This is a waste of time both for me and for whoever reads this

Entertaining and Educational

Definitely worth the time to listen. I love learning the origins of words and how the words changed over time and why. This book makes this very entertaining you will certainly enjoy.

"all bad b....... go to heaven"

This is Mcwhorter's whittiest book to date, and he is usually very witty. he makes studying linguistics so fun that I've started to fantasize about a second, more useless Masters in linguistics. He's also a great performer and has the best book to have in my pocket when I'm cleaning house or on a long commute. the title of this review is also the name of the very good rap song by a female artist who is appropriating the term. it's hard to listen to the chapter on the b word for me because I was called that very often in my childhood a. I am ambivalent about rap for that reason but have appropriated the term on many occasions to empower myself and make bad jokes

great

his narration is great couldn't be done by anyone else and mean the same thing

Even the cuss words are constantly changing

(as posted in Goodreads)
Those who know me well know that I am in love with language. I am the one who sat down and read a grammar book during high holiday services one year, only to receive puzzled looks at my apparent enjoyment and love of the activity. Coming from that vein, I also truly enjoyed this book. Of course, I'm also the one whose family spent one evening dinner (a long, long time ago) looking up swear words in the dictionary, so it isn't surprising that I really enjoyed _Nine Nasty Words_?
The book itself: it went over WHY nasty words are called "swearwords", and it went over some of what WAS and what IS CURRENTLY considered taboo, along with some of the history and a bit about language in general. It did not cover the current (in my mind stupid) religious implications, other than to say that a lot of the hype is self-contradictory…
The book is definitely a good addition to understanding the use of various unsavory language and what parts of speech we use it to enhance and how we actually use said words.

Scholarly & Hilarious

Outstanding exploration of profanity and its often random and funny evolutions. Whether you have genuine scholarly interest or if you just like to cuss, this is a GREAT read!

John McWhorter is so charming

I didn't like the book overall as much as Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing

by Melissa Mohr

but John's performance as a narrator was absolutely delightful. As an African American, John was also able to dive into racially charged words that Mohr was only able to skirt around.

learn and laugh

A hilariously erudite audio-read. Highly recommended! it also helps that John McWhorter is a killer narrator

John Mcwhorter is great, his performance adds to h

his erudition. great timing, great references, he is a talented linguist who illustrates everything well