num_pages: 271
description: Nearly everyone swearswhether its over a few too many drinks in reaction to a stubbed toe or in flagrante delicto. And yet we sit idly by as words are banned from television and censored in books. We insist that people excise profanity from their vocabularies and we punish children for yelling the very same dirty words that well mutter in relief seconds after they fall asleep. Swearing it seems is an intimate part of us that we have decided to selectively deny.Thats a damn shame. Swearing is useful. It can be funny cathartic or emotionally arousing. As linguist and cognitive scientist Benjamin K. Bergen shows us it also opens a new window onto how our brains process language and why languages vary around the world and over time.In this groundbreaking yet ebullient romp through the linguistic muck Bergen answers intriguing questions: How can patients left otherwise speechless after a stroke still shout Goddamn! when they get upset? When did a cock grow to be more than merely a rooster? Why is crap vulgar when poo is just childish? Do slurs make you treat people differently? Why is the first word that Samoan children say not mommy but eat shit? And why do we extend a middle finger to flip someone the bird?Smart as hell and funny as fuck What the F is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to know how and why we swear. 
language: English
title: What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves
publisher: Basic Books