San Antonio College Library

The author views language as complex systems of grammar and human behavior and demonstrates the ways in which they interact through extensive examples, while exploring such questions as why certain words make us blush or wince, why men and women speak differently, why nursery rhymes in vastly different societies possess similar rhyme and rhythm patterns, and what slang, riddles and puns secretly have in common.

"Smart as hell and funny as fuck, this book explains why we can't stop swearing and what it tells us about our language and brains. 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...