A trigger warning of sorts: this newsletter is about swearing, and it swears, though it will not use hate language. It is inspired by a piece in the New York Times by Rebecca Roach, “The Secret Power of Swearing.” Turns out that Roach, a Lecturer in philosophy at the University of London, has written an entire academic study of the subject,
Thanks for the tip, Michael. I had to check to see whether my library purchased a copy, and I see that they did not but do make it available at the database Oxford Scholarship Online Complete which also includes standard texts of such renowned swearers as Jonathan Swift. So far I have not gone beyond the contents page, where I was delighted to see the author's response to an earlier classic of linguistics: J.L. Austin's "How to do Things with Words" (1955 lectures published 1962). Her ninth chapter explores "How to do things with swearing."
Thanks for the tip, Michael. I had to check to see whether my library purchased a copy, and I see that they did not but do make it available at the database Oxford Scholarship Online Complete which also includes standard texts of such renowned swearers as Jonathan Swift. So far I have not gone beyond the contents page, where I was delighted to see the author's response to an earlier classic of linguistics: J.L. Austin's "How to do Things with Words" (1955 lectures published 1962). Her ninth chapter explores "How to do things with swearing."