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coleycole's review
4.0
Totally enjoyable and edifying read. As a profligate curser and giant nerd, a linguistic history of cursing is pretty perfect for me.
songsaboutghosts's review
1.0
For an academic, her writing is appalling. The amount she repeats herself is ridiculous, tedious and pointless. She also lacks some very basic grammar points, such as how to use a semi colon or reference a website. You'd think these things would deserve extra attention in a book about language. she also seems to strive to maintain a particular writing style that she seems to regard as eloquent but frequently confuses her sentences so that they just plain don't make sense.
The first and last chapters were interesting, but that was about it. As an atheist and an academic, I can't help but think it stupid for her to talk about events in the Bible as if they actually happened. It should be simple enough to talk about the events recorded in the Bible, but no; she doesn't talk about how oaths are written in the Bible, she talks about what God says. It should be basic knowledge to anyone talking about language use that unless it's recorded in a permanent format at the time, one is unlikely to remember words perfectly, so even if the writers of the Bible witnessed God talking to Abraham personally, it's unlikely they'd be able to record God verbatim unless they'd had a tape recorder on them at the time - which they obviously didn't.
She also ladens too much of this book with her own judgement on words and how they should be used, which is frankly inappropriate and no professional would sink to it.
The first and last chapters were interesting, but that was about it. As an atheist and an academic, I can't help but think it stupid for her to talk about events in the Bible as if they actually happened. It should be simple enough to talk about the events recorded in the Bible, but no; she doesn't talk about how oaths are written in the Bible, she talks about what God says. It should be basic knowledge to anyone talking about language use that unless it's recorded in a permanent format at the time, one is unlikely to remember words perfectly, so even if the writers of the Bible witnessed God talking to Abraham personally, it's unlikely they'd be able to record God verbatim unless they'd had a tape recorder on them at the time - which they obviously didn't.
She also ladens too much of this book with her own judgement on words and how they should be used, which is frankly inappropriate and no professional would sink to it.
krpollard's review
4.0
A brilliant history of swearing. A bit dry at times, but Mohr sprinkles some funny prose and stranger-than-fiction facts throughout to keep things interesting. She has clearly done her research.
avieherman's review
4.0
Dragged on a drop in some places, but over-all fascinating read! Illuminated so much about history and life now.
bookherd's review
5.0
A history of foul language, from the ancient Romans to modern USA and Britain, with lots of examples of what was considered foul under what circumstances and why. It's a fascinating, hilarious and sometimes cringe-inducing read.
lneff514's review
4.0
Very interesting read. Actually skimmed most of it since it was due back at the library... But I was fascinated by the science of profanity - the physical responses to swearing. I hope to go back and read more in the future.