Holy Sh*t
A Brief History of Swearing
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Narrated by:
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Napoleon Ryan
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By:
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Melissa Mohr
About this listen
Almost everyone swears, or worries about not swearing, from the two-year-old who has just discovered the power of potty mouth to the grandma who wonders why every other word she hears is obscene. Whether they express anger or exhilaration, are meant to insult or to commend, swear words perform a crucial role in language. But swearing is also a uniquely well-suited lens through which to look at history, offering a fascinating record of what people care about on the deepest levels of a culture - what's divine, what's terrifying, and what's taboo.
Holy Sh*t tells the story of two kinds of swearing - obscenities and oaths - from ancient Rome and the Bible to today. With humor and insight, Melissa Mohr takes listeners on a journey to discover how "swearing" has come to include both testifying with your hand on the Bible and calling someone a *#$&!* when they cut you off on the highway. She explores obscenities in ancient Rome - which were remarkably similar to our own - and unearths the history of religious oaths in the Middle Ages, when swearing (or not swearing) an oath was often a matter of life and death.
Holy Sh*t also explains the advancement of civility and corresponding censorship of language in the 18th century, considers the rise of racial slurs after World War II, examines the physiological effects of swearing (increased heart rate and greater pain tolerance), and answers a question that preoccupies the FCC, the US Senate, and anyone who has recently overheard little kids at a playground: are we swearing more now than people did in the past?
A gem of lexicography and cultural history, Holy Sh*t is a serious exploration of obscenity - and it also just might expand your repertoire of words to choose from the next time you shut your finger in the car door.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2013 Melissa Mohr (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Part biography, part cultural history, The Creation of Anne Boleyn is a fascinating reconstruction of Anne’s life and an illuminating look at her afterlife in the popular imagination. Why is Anne so compelling? Why has she inspired such extreme reactions? What did she really look like? Was she the flaxen-haired martyr of Romantic paintings or the raven-haired seductress of twenty-first-century portrayals? (Answer: Neither.) And perhaps the most provocative questions concern Anne’s death more than her life.
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Most Enjoyable Biography--Win!
- By Roswatheist on 03-29-14
By: Susan Bordo
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The Alphabet Versus the Goddess
- The Conflict Between Word and Image
- By: Leonard Shlain
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 24 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Who changed the sex of God? This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values.
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Can't Even Get Started
- By Marie on 02-08-19
By: Leonard Shlain
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The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
- By: Stephen Greenblatt
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Bolder even than the ambitious books for which Stephen Greenblatt is already renowned, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve explores the enduring story of humanity's first parents. Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole long history of our fears and desires, as both a hymn to human responsibility and a dark fable about human wretchedness.
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For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return
- By Darwin8u on 02-11-18
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The Cheese and the Worms
- The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller
- By: Carlo Ginzburg, Anne C. Tedeschi - translator, John Tedeschi - translator
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The Cheese and the Worms is an incisive study of popular culture in the 16th century as seen through the eyes of one man, the miller known as Menocchio, who was accused of heresy during the Inquisition and sentenced to death. Carlo Ginzburg uses the trial records to illustrate the religious and social conflicts of the society in which Menocchio lived.
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entertaining history
- By Preston Moore on 10-02-19
By: Carlo Ginzburg, and others
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The Lost Gospel
- Decoding the Ancient Text That Reveals Jesus' Marriage to Mary the Magdalene
- By: Simcha Jacobovici, Barrie Wilson
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript of the early Church, copied by an anonymous monk. The manuscript is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century, Jesus' lifetime. And now, The Lost Gospel provides the first-ever translation from Syriac into English of this unique document that tells the inside story of Jesus' social, family, and political life. The Lost Gospel takes listeners on an unparalleled historical adventure through a paradigm-shifting manuscript.
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Very well-crafted but uses lot of sketchy material
- By Leifen on 01-09-18
By: Simcha Jacobovici, and others
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Martin Luther
- Renegade and Prophet
- By: Lyndal Roper
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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On October 31, 1517, an unknown monk nailed a theological pamphlet to a church door in a small university town and set in motion a process that helped usher in the modern world. Within a few years, Luther's ideas had spread like wildfire. His attempts to reform Christianity by returning it to its biblical roots split the Western Church, divided Europe, and polarized people's beliefs.
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The purpose of this book is not to be a biography
- By LionsCalling09 on 01-25-18
By: Lyndal Roper
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Women & Power
- A Manifesto
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Mary Beard
- Length: 1 hr and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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At long last, Mary Beard addresses in one brave book the misogynists and trolls who mercilessly attack and demean women the world over, including, very often, Mary herself. In Women & Power, she traces the origins of this misogyny to its ancient roots, examining the pitfalls of gender and the ways that history has mistreated strong women since time immemorial.
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Short and fabulous
- By André C. on 03-13-20
By: Mary Beard
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The Rational Bible: Genesis
- By: Dennis Prager
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Many people today think the Bible, the most influential book in world history, is not only outdated but irrelevant, irrational, and even immoral. This explanation of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, demonstrates clearly and powerfully that the opposite is true. The Bible remains profoundly relevant - both to the great issues of our day and to each individual life. It is the greatest moral guide and source of wisdom ever written.
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So glad I bought this!
- By Alex Martinez on 06-10-19
By: Dennis Prager
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Before We Were Trans
- A New History of Gender
- By: Dr. Kit Heyam Ph.D
- Narrated by: Dr. Kit Heyam Ph.D
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Heyam looks to the past to uncover new horizons for possible trans futures.
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The history we need right now
- By Daniel Hebert on 04-11-23
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The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
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Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
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Jewish Comedy
- A Serious History
- By: Jeremy Dauber
- Narrated by: Jeremy Dauber
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In a major work of scholarship both erudite and very funny, Jeremy Dauber traces the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from Biblical times to the age of Twitter. Organizing his book thematically into what he calls the seven strands of Jewish comedy - including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar - Dauber explores the ways Jewish comedy has dealt with persecution, assimilation, and diaspora through the ages. He explains the rise and fall of popular comic archetypes such as the Jewish mother, the JAP, and the schlemiel and schlimazel.
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Not funny
- By supermantwo on 08-31-20
By: Jeremy Dauber
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Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World
- By: Leo Damrosch
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Jonathan Swift is best remembered today as the author of Gulliver’s Travels, the satiric fantasy that quickly became a classic and has remained in print for nearly three centuries. Yet Swift also wrote many other influential works, was a major political and religious figure in his time, and became a national hero, beloved for his fierce protest against English exploitation of his native Ireland. What is really known today about the enigmatic man behind these accomplishments? Can the facts of his life be separated from the fictions?
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JOHNATHAN SWIFT AND POWER OF THE PEN
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 09-30-14
By: Leo Damrosch
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The Wordy Shipmates
- By: Sarah Vowell
- Narrated by: Sarah Vowell
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Sarah Vowell's special brand of armchair history makes the bizarre and esoteric fascinatingly relevant and fun. She takes us from the modern-day reenactment of an Indian massacre to the Mohegan Sun casino, from old-timey Puritan poetry, where "righteousness" is rhymed with "wilderness," to a Mayflower-themed waterslide. Throughout, The Wordy Shipmates is rich in historical fact, humorous insight, and social commentary by one of America's most celebrated voices.
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I love Sarah Vowell
- By Audiophile on 10-25-09
By: Sarah Vowell
What listeners say about Holy Sh*t
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Buddy
- 04-23-15
Fascinating
This was a fascinating study of what historical and contemporary societies consider profane, taboo, sacred, and holy.
The narration is the biggest downside. The narrator reads so slowly that I had to listen at 1.25 speed, which creates issues with clarity when listening in the car when traffic is loud. The author is a woman, so some her autobiographical anecdotes (such as her understanding of urinal etiquette only via hearsay) was somewhat jarring.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mark
- 03-14-21
Great book, good performance, poor sound quality.
Delightful book, but the narrator sounded like he was recording with his head in a bucket.
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- briofiamma
- 07-10-15
A great listen
While the narrator's voice takes just a bit of time to acclimate to, this book is great. Fantastic details, good storytelling, and very entertaining. Obviously, you won't like it if you can't stand to listen to "curse words" in an academic context.
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1 person found this helpful
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- SAMA
- 03-30-15
Be careful where you listen to this
This audiobook is full of colorful words and nasty phrases, and although it gives a good insight into the underbelly of major European civilizations in the past, it doesn't hold back with the swear words. So if you're sensitive about what you want to hear, or have any kids or easily offended people around, you might want to reconsider this.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Reba Zatz
- 02-09-22
The narration makes it so much better.
The book is already delightfully profane, but paired with the soothing, deep British narrator saying these vulgar words? *chefs kiss*
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- Jordan
- 01-11-23
Loved it!
I found this a very interesting insight into the continuity and differences of the human experience over our history.
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- Rose Harless
- 04-06-18
Fun and Fact Filled
Very informative and entertaining! The ideas a culture deems taboo tell you a lot about it.
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- J. Janca
- 06-03-23
Great Background on Swearing
I really enjoyed the sections on Roman and ancient common speech and swearing, and later how it was problematic for translation in societies that had taboos on the use of such language. This makes me want to explore more history on some of these periods.
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- Ubookquitous
- 10-23-15
Entertaining and Enlightening
Any additional comments?
I've always been a fan of micro-histories that explore language or aspects of culture. Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing was a fascinating trip through what many today think is a recent phenomenon. Mohr sets the record straight, however, with a discussion of Ancient Rome and their use of language which shared much with the current way we use obscene words and how we swear. She then brings us through the history of the English language (with a few other European languages thrown in for comparison) and the British and American cultures.
Mohr does a great job of illustrating how our concepts of swearing are related to those larger societal concepts such as religion, privacy, class, and shame. Her examples come from law, literature, and other documents as well as more contemporary media such as film, television and radio. (Yes, George Carlin and Rhett Butler are in here...) She also puts to bed some myths about word origins including a famous one for the F word and one for Sh*t.
An entertaining and enlightening read - especially for someone like me who enjoys using a colorful range of expletives.
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4 people found this helpful
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- justin
- 07-08-14
WHERE IS THE REFERENCE MATERIAL PDF????
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
THE INTRO CLEARLY STATES WE CAN DOWNLOAD THE ACCOMPANYING PDF REFERENCE GUIDE....SO WHERE IS IT AUDIBLE???
ANOTHER BAD REVIEW FOR A AUDIOBOOK THAT LIKELY DOES NOT DESERVE IT...BLAME IT ON AUDIBLE
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11 people found this helpful