swearing and cursing, Aussie pov

This was a bit more dry and academic than I expected, but I still enjoyed it. I thought it would be more of a history of swearing, or a sociological study of the way different groups curse. There's definitely some of that but most of the focus is on linguistics, which I really don't know much about.

In addition to the "dirty dozen" in English--fuck, cunt, shit, piss, bastard, bitch, ass, damn, hell, fart, crap, and dick, according to Wajnryb--this book also explores swearing in different languages and countries, and how various cultural taboos affect what words are considered bad or insulting. Those were the sections I found most interesting. The author also studies language from a feminist perspective, and devotes several chapters to exploring how swearing is gendered. For example, there are many more nasty names to call women than there are men, and most of these insults reflect society's misogyny. "Slut" and "whore" are obviously indicative of a fear of women's sexuality, and other terms are often meant to insult women's appearances. Meanwhile, even the many of the insulting words used commonly against men, such as "bastard" and "motherfucker", are jabs at women as much as the men they're directed at.

While this wasn't exactly what I was looking for, I did find some pleasantly interesting surprises like those sections I referenced above. I'm still looking for more of a pop culture type of nonfiction related to language though, rather than dense academia like this. ( )

I've been reading Expletive Deleted ($@*!) by Ruth Wajnryb for a long time. It's not a long book, but it's taken me months to get through it. It bears the subtitle: "A good look at bad language." This is more or less true, if by "good" we really mean "comprehensive beyond belief." However, I have to give Ruth an "A" for effort. She's taken an exhaustive look at something I've wanted clarity on for a long time, and though she hasn't exactly delivered what I needed, she gave me a lot to think about.

If you read this book, you may not emerge smarter or even more informed, but you'll get a sense of how much thinking Ruth's given to bad language: how it begins, how it evolves, how it derives its power from taboo, how that power shrinks from over-use. What fascinates me is how bad words are only bad as long as people think they are.

Since I didn't love this book, I don't recommend anybody read it. (I only recommend books that I love. There are far too many wonderful books out there to waste your time with those that are only okay.) It can be dry at points (mostly just between the two covers) and a little dull. Some fun facts clearly got cut in the editing process.

Read more at Invisible Lizard's Unusual Oranges ( )