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Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing 1st Edition

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Melissa Mohr (Author)
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Melissa Mohr (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 66 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0199742677
ISBN-10: 0199742677
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (April 29, 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0199742677
  • ISBN-13: 978-0199742677
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 1.2 x 5.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
A bleeping good looking at a fraking offensive subject
By PAUL MCNEIL on May 6, 2013
Format: Hardcover
Kaylee: Come on, admit it. It's true.
Simon: No, I won't, because it's not. I use swear-words, like anybody else.
Kaylee: Oh really? See, I never heard you. So when is it that you do all this cussin'? After I go to bed, or...
Simon: I swear... when it's appropriate
Kaylee: Simon, the whole point of swearin' is that it ain't appropriate.
(From Firefly, Ep. 4)

We often wonder where certain swear words come from, and there are quite a few etymologies out there, some of them humorous and most of them false. What we wonder about less is how swear words have even come to exist, and why we have our particular batch of naughty words, or even what was considered bad language 50, 100, or 2000 years ago. Luckily, Melissa Mohr has come to the rescue with Holy S***: A Brief History of Swearing, which takes us from Roman times, through the Bible and up through the Middle Ages and to the modern age to get to our present take on swearing in English. Along the way, we get a fascinating look at how "swearing" has historically dealt with two main types of taboos- the "holy," including God and biblical injunctions against swearing, and the "s***," or words related with feces, sex and sexual organs, and other physical taboos. We see how different eras had stronger ties to different sides of the equation, so people in Middle Ages England used references to Christ's body to swear, while some of those same people had last names that would make most people today blush and/or laugh out loud. Class and gender play a role as well, with the phrase "swearing like a lord" being a former equivalent to today's "swearing like a sailor.Read more ›
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A fun and engaging look into swearing throughout the ages
By Mary C on April 1, 2013
Format: Hardcover
If you like to learn cool facts and to be entertained, this is a book for you. There are so many interesting and insightful stories about vulgar language and oath swearing in this book. I've gone through life swearing and not thinking about why I swear. Now I know why we do it and I've learned a few new words along the way.

The author explains swearing trends through the ages by painting a picture of society during various eras in history. Through swearing, she retells us how they lived, reveals class systems, what they valued, believed, and feared. Not only will you learn about what comes out of someone's mouth and why, but you'll also learn about toilet practices throughout the ages (middle ages were disgusting). The Roman and Bible chapters were a fun too. There are a lot of amazing facts -- just take a look at the preview.

The book is concise and well researched. The tone is clever and approachable. It's a really fun read and you won't feel like you've wasted your time reading this. If you want to have something interesting to say about our language at the next dinner party, read this book. Or, to expand your swearing vocabulary, go to the archives of our language in this book and pick out a zinger and swear away and express yourself in a new-old way.

I'm going to recommend this for my book club. It's guaranteed to make for an entertaining discussion.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A Real Book of Curses
By Wayne A. Smith VINE VOICE on September 16, 2013
Format: Hardcover
This is a fascinating book that delves into a subject everyone is familiar with (swearing and cursing) but almost none know anything about.

The author covers two strains of impolite conversation: swearing or oath taking (saying things at odds with God or religion) and using curse words (Think most of George Carlin's list and then some). What I found interesting, and I think is a compliment to the author, is that she manages to print and discuss all the naughty body part words without seeming prurient or salacious.

To the naughty bits first. The book starts with Roman times and the various treatments of sexual acts and behaviors. She provides an interesting etymology of words we take for granted and offers some of the surprising roots of these words. Her discourse also offers a fascinating picture of human life and habitation. From ancient times up through the the 1700's or so most families lived in one room. And, in villages that offered little privacy. Thus, sexual relations were frequently observed and heard during everyday living. This tended to render some of what are considered today's most vile body part and function names relatively tame or at the most bawdy instead of obscene.

The real obscenity for much of the period covered was swearing or oath taking. Swearing until relatively recently was considered an offense against God. It was thought that a swear ("By God's bones" for example) would cause God to actually suffer pain at the swear. In a monolithic religious culture as existed in Europe during the Middle Ages, this was a high offense and caused much more angst and distress upon listeners than hearing or using slang for body parts and relations.Read more ›
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Excellent, with plenty of little surprises
By D. Brown on July 2, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition
I've long held the philosophy that swear words - like all words - are just words. By this `just a word' philosophy sh*t is as profane as cat. Yet, I don't say `cat' when I drop a cup or trap my finger in the drawer or stub my toe. So, can the `just a word' philosophy stick? This seemed like the perfect book to help me find out.

This is really an absolutely fascinating look at the history of swearing - the obscenities and the oaths - and I was incredibly impressed by the depth of research that has clearly been undertaken. Mohr looks at the differences between swearing (obscenely) and swearing an oath, how these arose and the history of certain words. Unsurprisingly, some words that we find offensive now were considered perfectly acceptable previously, yet some words that we use commonly would have caused an 18th century girl to blush.

My conclusion upon finishing Holy Sh*t was that my `just a word' philosophy kind of sticks. If it didn't, how could the insult of this generation be the tame slang of the next? What makes an obscenity obscene (to me) seems to be less about language and more about tone, expression and body language. It's also about knowing what will impact, however. In that respect, it has to be more than just a word. Mohr shows that swearing is very much an evolving aspect of language and behaviour, constantly shaped and revised by our culture and history.

If you love language, culture or history, this is an excellent read with some real surprises in store.

**I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I did not receive any additional compensation and all views are my own.**
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Entertaining and enlightening

I've always been a fan of micro-histories that explore language or aspects of culture. Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing was a fascinating trip through what many today think... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Archetype
Holy Sh*t is wonderfully researched and beautifully written

Holy Sh*t is wonderfully researched and beautifully written. Funny and scholarly at the same time. Read it and travel a chronological path filled with interesting side-paths of... Read more

Published 3 months ago by John D. Littlefield
Scholarly look a scatology and profanity. By the time ...

Scholarly look a scatology and profanity. By the time you finish this book, the words will have become meaningless (about the same as if you had joined the army).

Published 3 months ago by MedCrest
well written and fun

i dig it. its informative, so lots of facts, historical and contextual, but also plenty of fun for folks interested in language, how it works, where it comes from, and how it... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Rob Perez
Very Interesting!

My coworkers give me occasional good-natured ribbing about my colorful language. This was the perfect book for someone (me) who is a (very) amateur etymologist. Read more

Published 6 months ago by C. Johnson
Great book

entertaining read as well as informative and educational. Well written, fully documented, yet not boringly "academic".

Published 6 months ago by Jacques Plumart
A good read for the armchair linguist

If you doubt that discussing offensive language can be both entertaining and thoughtful, leave your doubts here. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Ingeborg S. Norden
Five Stars

Item as described.

Published 7 months ago by George C. Rankin
Five Stars

Gift for my son who really enjoyed it.

Published 7 months ago by Julia Quilts
This book was a fun read. What was and is considered vulgar or ...

This book was a fun read. What was and is considered vulgar or obscene was an interesting topic, and one I enjoyed.

Published 7 months ago by W in MI

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