"Erudite and entertaining, McWhorter shows us foul language in its wonderful, fertile variety. We see how speech taboos that once applied to religion and the body now apply to groups of people--and why there should be such power (and pleasure) in transgressing them."--Aaron James, New York Times bestselling author of Assholes: A Theory

"A treat for the mind and a gift of laughter."--Leo Sopicki, Seattle PI

"A bawdy, bodacious, and brilliant excursion through the wonderful world of profanity, filled with delicious tidbits (who knew that Edna St. Vincent Millay practiced slinging the sh*t while darning?) and linguistic amuse bouches. In other words, it's a f***ing great read."--Ross and Kathryn Petras, New York Times bestselling authors of You're Saying It Wrong

"A lively and informative study, not to mention wonderful cocktail party material."--Kirkus Reviews

"Effing delightful. A treat for every adult who used to look up swears in the dictionary (or still does)."--June Casagrande, bestselling author of It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences and Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies

"Dispensing his vast linguistic expertise with the lightest and deftest of touches, John McWhorter shows brilliantly how the 'nastiest' words can teach us about the dynamic and unruly nature of all language. Anyone interested in words (and not just the nasty ones) should read this book."--Joe Moran, author of First You Write a Sentence.

"Nine Nasty Words takes the reader round the back of the English language, only to show--with irrepressible humor and a dash of forbearance--how what we find there is central to who we are."--Rebecca Gowers, author of Horrible Words A Guide to the Misuse of English

"If you want to get down and dirty in the gutter of English (and, be honest, who doesn't?) you'd better go with a guide who knows his sh*t. McWhorter gives a jovial, expert tour of the 'bedrock swears' from the offensive and profane to the merely 'salty, ' not just where they came from, but how they have shifted and morphed in force, meaning, grammar and in the effect they produce."--Arika Okrent, author of In the Land of Invented Languages

"Call me old-fashioned, but goshdarnit this book has an in-freaking-credible shipload of fizzy information. McWhorter's delicate linguistic ear is put to indelicate and delectable use in this deep dive into the linguistic muck."--M.Lynne Murphy, Professor of Linguistics, University of Sussex, and author of The Prodigal Tongue

"Only a kick-ass writer could wrest such erudite historical fun from language's sh*thouse. Damn, this is one hell of a book, and this p***y will never curse the same again."--Ann Patty, author of Living with a Dead Language