Swearing is a fascinating thing. Almost everyone does it, or worries about not doing it, from the two year old who has just discovered the power of the potty mouth to the grandma who wonders why every other word she hears is obscene. But more than its cultural ubiquity, swearing is also
interesting for what it tells us about language and society, today and in the past. It is a record of what people care about on the deepest levels of a culture - what's divine, what's terrifying, and what's taboo.
Holy Sh*t tells the story of two kinds of swearing - obscenities and
oaths - from ancient Rome and the Bible to today. With humor and insight, Melissa Mohr takes readers on a journey to discover how "swearing" has come to include both testifying to the truth with your hand on the Bible and calling someone a *#$&!* when they cut you off on the highway. Mohr explores
obscenities in ancient Rome - remarkably similar to some of the things you might hear on the street today - and unearths the history of religious oaths in the Middle Ages, when swearing was a matter of life and death. Holy Sh*t also explains the advancement of civility and corresponding censorship
of language in the 18th century; considers the rise of racial slurs after World War II; and answers a question that preoccupies the FCC, the U.S. Senate, and anyone who has overheard little kids at a playground recently - are we swearing more now than people did in the past?
A gem of
lexicography and cultural history, Holy Sh*t is a serious exploration of obscenity - and might just expand your repertoire of words to choose from the next time you shut your finger in the car door.
Introduction
1. Romana Simplicitate Loqui: To Speak with Roman Plainness
2. On Earth as It Is in Heaven
3. Tearing God to Pieces: The Middle Ages
4. The Rise of Obscenity: The Renaissance
5. How Trousers Became Unmentionable and Legs Disappeared Altogether: The 18th and 19th
Centuries
6. The Law and Science of Swearing: The Twentieth Century
Conclusion
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Melissa Mohr holds a Ph.D. in Renaissance Literature from Stanford. This is her first book.
The F-Word - Edited by Jesse Sheidlower
Foreword by Lewis Black
Bad Language - Edwin Battistella
OK - Allan Metcalf
Medieval Grammar and Rhetoric - Edited by Rita Copeland and Ineke Sluiter
