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What the F: What Swearing Reveals about Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves

AUTHOR Bergen, Benjamin K.
PUBLISHER Basic Books (04/03/2018)
PRODUCT TYPE Paperback (Paperback)

Description
"A sneaky--charming, consistently engrossing--introduction to linguistics." --New York Times Book Review
Everyone swears. Only the rare individual can avoid ever letting slip an expletive. And yet, we ban the words from television and insist that polite people excise them from their vocabularies. That's a fucking shame. Not only is swearing colorful, fun, and often powerfully apt, as linguist and cognitive scientist Benjamin K. Bergen shows us, the study of it can provide a new window onto how our brains process language. How can patients left otherwise speechless after a stroke still shout out "Goddamn "? Why did Pop Francis say "fuck" in the middle of a speech? When did a cock cease to be a rooster? Why is "crap" vulgar when "poo" is just childish? And what are we doing when we give someone the bird?
What the F? Let me effing tell you.
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Product Format
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9781541617209
ISBN-10: 1541617207
Binding: Paperback or Softback (Trade Paperback (Us))
Content Language: English
More Product Details
Page Count: 304
Carton Quantity: 20
Product Dimensions: 5.50 x 1.00 x 8.30 inches
Weight: 0.55 pound(s)
Feature Codes: Bibliography, Index, Price on Product, Illustrated
Country of Origin: US
Subject Information
BISAC Categories
Science | History
Science | Linguistics - General
Science | Social Psychology
Dewey Decimal: 401.9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019295684
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
publisher marketing
"A sneaky--charming, consistently engrossing--introduction to linguistics." --New York Times Book Review
Everyone swears. Only the rare individual can avoid ever letting slip an expletive. And yet, we ban the words from television and insist that polite people excise them from their vocabularies. That's a fucking shame. Not only is swearing colorful, fun, and often powerfully apt, as linguist and cognitive scientist Benjamin K. Bergen shows us, the study of it can provide a new window onto how our brains process language. How can patients left otherwise speechless after a stroke still shout out "Goddamn "? Why did Pop Francis say "fuck" in the middle of a speech? When did a cock cease to be a rooster? Why is "crap" vulgar when "poo" is just childish? And what are we doing when we give someone the bird?
What the F? Let me effing tell you.
Show More
List Price $17.99
Your Price  $17.81
Paperback