Book description
Why do so many swear words involve sex, bodily functions and
religion? Why are some words rude and others aren't? Why can launching
into expletives be so shocking - and sometimes so amusing?
Steven Pinker takes us on a fascinating and funny journey through
the world of profanities, taken from his bestselling The Stuff of
Thought, to show us why we swear (whatever our language or
culture), how taboos change and how we use obscenities in different
ways. You'll discover that in Qu becois French the expression
'Tabernacle' is outrageous, that the Middle Ages were littered with
four-letter words, that 'scumbag' has a very unsavoury origin and that
in a certain Aboriginal language every word is filthy when
spoken in front of your mother-in-law.
Covering everything from free speech to Tourette's, from
pottymouthed celebrities to poetry, this book reveals what swearing
tells us about how our minds work. (It's also a bloody good read).
Steven Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of
Psychology at Harvard University. Until 2003, he taught in the
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. He conducts research
on language and cognition, writes for publications such as the 'New York
Times', 'Time' and 'Slate', and is the author of six books, including
'The Language Instinct', 'How the Mind Works' and 'The Blank Slate'.
