ISBN:
9780190665081
Language:
English
Pages:
1 online resource (273 pages)
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als
DDC:
394
Keywords:
Electronic books
Abstract:
Swearwords have an almost magical power to shock and offend. What explains this? What can we learn when we take a close, serious look at swearwords and how they work? What do we find when we explore, for example, what exactly it is we're doing when we swear, or why people are more tolerant of f***--when they know full well what it stands for--than they are of the swearword it refers to? Philosopher Rebecca Roache takes readers on an illuminating and entertaining search for answers to these and other puzzling questions about swearing. As she argues, swearing is uniquely powerful because unlike other etiquette breaches it is designed to offend. But that is not all that swearing can do. It has the power to bring people together, help them accept one another, and relate to one another as equals.
Abstract:
Cover -- For F*ck's Sake -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Why give a shit about swearing? -- 1. What is swearing? -- Swearing = offensiveness -- Swearing = offensiveness + emotion -- Swearing = offensiveness + emotion + linguistic anarchy -- Swearing and the brain -- 2. Swearing's secret offensive ingredient -- What we say . . . -- . . . and how we say it -- The taboo of taboo-breaking -- 3. There is no secret ingredient -- Context is (almost) everything -- Offence escalation -- The recipe for offensiveness -- 4. Different kinds of wrong -- When is swearing inappropriate? -- Speaker intentions -- Inappropriate swearing, wrongness, and offence -- Swearing and moral character -- Is swearing wrong? -- 5. Taboo, aggression, and harsh sweary sounds -- Swearing and taboo, again -- The sound that swear words make -- Offence and expressing emotion -- Offensiveness beyond words -- 6. How to be a really offensive swearer -- Some background: nuisances -- Tone and body language -- Direct and indirect swearing -- Accidental or deliberate -- Repetition -- 7. You talkin' to me? -- Swear power -- Setting an example -- Won't somebody think of the children? -- 8. A regulatory fucking mess -- Who cares what we do with swearing? -- A lack of clear fucking guidelines -- A way forward: the nudity analogy -- 9. How to do things with swearing -- Acts, effects, intentions, predictions -- Sweary acts -- Beyond speech acts -- 10. Fairer swearers -- Putting the brakes on bias -- Educating our intuition -- Sweary self-improvement -- 11. Swears vs. slurs -- The journey to offensiveness -- Slurs and the feeling of offence -- Becoming offensive, becoming inoffensive -- Slurs, oppression, and desert -- Comparing slurs -- 12. Cunt and cocksucker -- Offensiveness and misogyny -- When etiquette gets it wrong -- A dilemma for sweary feminists.
Note:
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources
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