I cannot be the only one who giggled all through the Shit chapter. ( )

The etymologies are fun, and McWhorter's voice is just so affable, but I'm actually kind of sick of curse words with exhaustingly overloaded meaning. I just won't ever want to talk like that, so I will never learn to talk like that.

Most interesting etymology: "science" and "sh-t" are surprisingly closely connected, both deriving from a verb meaning something like "to cut".

I think McWhorter is so caught up in language that he loses track of the fact that some peole just like to know a few generic insults that they can call other people and that "racist" has become that thing, that all-purpose generic insult. It is a question whether it will last, though. ( )

Delightful. ( )

Good, not great. I love reading about words, foul words are interesting of course, but not really all that much more interesting than other common words, in the end. The chapter about the “n-word” was interesting, he uses the actual word of course. ( )

The history of these words and how their usage changed over time was interesting especially the distinction between merely vulgar and profane.. I also liked the different grammar roles (pronounce in many cases) these words and phases have filled. ( )