Full name: Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing

Author: Melissa Mohr Year: 2013 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History, Non Fiction, Humor, Historical fiction Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780199742677 9780190491680 0199742677 019049168X

Holy Sh*t tells the story of two kinds of swearing--obscenities and oaths--from ancient Rome and the Bible to today. With humor and insight, Melissa Mohr takes readers on a journey to discover how "swearing" has come to include both testifying with your hand on the Bible and calling someone a *#$&!* when they cut you off on the highway. She explores obscenities in ancient Rome and unearths the history of religious oaths in the Middle Ages, when swearing (or not swearing) an oath was often a matter of life and death. Holy Sh*t also explains the advancement of civility and corresponding censorship of language in the 18th century, considers the rise of racial slurs after World War II, examines the physiological effects of swearing and answers a question that preoccupies the FCC, the US Senate, and anyone who has recently overheard little kids at a playground: are we swearing more now than people did in the past? A gem of lexicography and cultural history, Holy Sh*t is a serious exploration of obscenity. Similar books: The Secret Life of Words by Henry Hitchings The Language Wars by Henry Hitchings The Story of Ain't by David Skinner Language Visible by David Sacks A is for Ox by Lyn Davies Bunk by Kevin Young A History of Language by Steven Roger Fischer The Language of Food by Dan Jurafsky The Pun Also Rises by John Pollack The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal Inventing English by Seth Lerer The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg Globish by Robert McCrum Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue by John McWhorter Biting the Wax Tadpole by Elizabeth Little Terry Jones' Barbarians by Terry Jones Bad Days in History by Michael Farquhar Napoleon's Privates by Tony Perrottet Quackery by Lydia Kang A Treasury of Royal Scandals by Michael Farquhar