Nine nasty words

English in the Gutter — Then, Now, and Forever

By John McWhorter

John H. McWhorter, adeptly brings together a multifarious lexicon of gutter talk under the flag of nine. Less a why and more a how we pepper our speech with profanity or the Pollyanna versions of it. Tracing words along the lightning rod of acceptability, and — of interest to me — what their misuse says about their meaning. I enjoyed the book and would have, gosh darn, liked more.