Welcome to Litsy!

Any recommendations for favorite nonfiction audio books with good performers and engaging content? Favorites of the past year have been: The Art Thief, Anthropocene Reviewed and Born A Crime. Thanks!

I started this last year, but something about chapter 1 bothered me and I set it aside. I finally picked it back up and really enjoyed the rest of it! But I do question how on earth he could have written a chapter about motherfucker without mentioning Samuel L Jackson one single time.

3.5 ⭐️ - McWhorter‘s linguistic journey through the nine nasty words was rich in information and history, complete with touches of humor and context that helped this lay person keep up. (Bonus: he completed his undergrad at Rutgers! R-U-Rah-Rah)
February #bookspin

Babe Ruth‘s parents had a rocky marriage.
#firstlinefridays

If the goal was to write a boring book about the origins of curse words, mission accomplished. Perhaps its because I‘m not a Columbia University Professor that I just couldn‘t get through it. I thought this would be much more interesting and at some level it is. The redundancy just drains the enjoyment that you should get from this book out of it. I really wanted to like this book.

Book club time.

Hi, hello, I am reading for book club and am obsessed with the sentence “To wit, profanity first involved the holy, and only later the holes.”

🎧 A very clinical look at basically 9 nasty words through out the ages. Their origins, non-nasty uses, etc.

Interesting & informative on an educational level but also a little cringeworthy due to the nastiness. It‘s a little bit dry & boring.

This includes offensive words like the N word. Interested? Then this could be for you.

I‘m really mystified why there‘s such a long wait for this book. I feel like I‘m missing something. Shit.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Soubhi, you‘re the best! I just love everything! I‘m super excited for the books and plan to start with the tagged book. The towels are so much fun and I love the bookmarks, especially the one with the book stack. 😍 And the soap! I adore fun soaps, and this one both smells awesome and is gorgeous! Thank you so much, my friend.

Hard Bail!!!

Didn't like the writing style.

Don't agree with some of the linguistic facts and the research.

The former linguistics student in me wanted to see this through.
The current armchair linguist knows that there are better books to be read.

@squirrelbrain @Cinfhen

This week I listened to this book as I worked alone on some farm jobs. I am always fascinated by books about the ever changing English language, and this was no exception. John McWhorter has the perfect style in discussing this topic with a combination of humor and serious consideration. He describes how what we consider profanity has changed over time and the etymology and usage of specific words.

#Audiobook #Nonfiction #BooksOnTheFarm

This was great!! Perfect for hiking in Arches National Park!

I‘m really sorry @julesG but I‘m bailing (or at least hibernating) on our #buddyread. I‘ve actually found the book interesting and funny, when it goes in to my brain, but I think the audio just isn‘t working for me. I‘m hearing about one sentence in ten - the rest I‘m drifting off somewhere else.

So it‘s not the book, it‘s me! And I‘m actually quite proud of myself as I *never* bail but it was stressing me out, and who needs that?!

My only 5⭐️ in May was Nine Nasty Words, but it was a pretty decent month! I read some stuff I don‘t normally gravitate toward. Some I loved, some not so much.

#mayreads #maywrapup

“Slurs are today‘s true obscenity.” In addition to being a linguistics professor, John McWhorter is African American, giving his viewpoint on the “N-word” — one of the nine nasty words of the title — even greater weight. He narrates his own #audiobook with humour and obvious passion for his subject and makes learning about the etymology, history and culture of curse words an absolute delight.

Profanity affords us a window into English as she is truly spoken.

“I‘m going to fire your ass.” […] ‘your ass‘ means ‘you,‘ and thus ‘your ass‘ is a pronoun.

‘Bitch‘ joined the legions of words in English referring to women that have drifted into contempt. Not all of them became profane. The tendency is even broader. Housewife […] became hussy. A mistress was once what it looks like: a female master. Now it‘s something else & ickier. A tart started as a jam tart, meaning ‘good looking woman‘ but after a while it got shorter & nastier & wound up out on the pavement.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Curse words are versatile as shit. McWhorter explores the etymology and evolution of nine of the most commonly spoken nasty words (with a little hat tip to “hell” and “damn” which aren‘t really bad these days). In addition to knowing his shit, McWhorter is very fucking funny. Perfect audio! And an extremely poignant point? Slurs are the worst current-day obscenities. 100% true. This fascinating study is one of my top reads of the year!

#BookMail arrived.

It's smaller than I had anticipated. Looking forward to our #buddyread @squirrelbrain - which doesn't have to start right away.

This reminds me, I'm dreaming of a shelf with books about swearing. 😁😁😁

I couldn‘t help but think of Wordslut as I read John‘s take on the nine nasty words, but this book is geared towards all genders and cussing specifically (as opposed to women and general language).

John has a wonderful way with pronunciation of English and other languages as he gets to the historical roots of swearing. He also discusses the evolution of what is taboo from religion to body parts to slurs. I recommend going with the #audiobook!