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Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever
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58
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
41/100Critics
75/100Scholars
Author:
John McWhorter
Publisher:
Avery
Date:
May 4, 2021
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 powerâand why we love them so much.
What The Reviewers Say
McWhorter deftly models a way for us to think deeply and systematically about language while celebrating its wildness, its slipperiness and its silliness.
Two paradoxes within Nine Nasty Words make it a most enlivening read. The first is of profanity embraced by the masses while also being held in puritanical quarantine in certain quarters. The second is McWhorter’s personal anecdotes and guy-on-the-next-barstool’s witty and often cheeky asides juxtaposed with his brilliant, erudite, dizzying command of the English language.
In the sections I found most intriguing, McWhorter takes deep dives into derogatory terms for minorities (women, people of color, non-straight people). McWhorter does a magnificent job of uprooting English’s ugly past when people in places of privilege uttered these taboo terms to dehumanize others.
... high on amusement, if short on salient findings.
