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Damn! A Cultural History of Swearing in

Modern America
a
Ilgin Aktener
a
Heriot-Watt University
Published online: 06 Mar 2015.

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To cite this article: Ilgin Aktener (2015) Damn! A Cultural History of Swearing in Modern America,
Australian Journal of Linguistics, 35:3, 288-290, DOI: 10.1080/07268602.2015.1019327

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 288 Book Reviews
representations, i.e. on the cognitive constraints on how semantic, syntactic and
pragmatic information are put together, could benefit from an examination of them
in the light of new findings in cognitive science. Despite the authors’ assertion that
linguistic and philosophical analysis need not always be combined, I am much in
favour of examining the issue of how the theory of mirror neurons can interact
with a theory of knowledge-how (a step in the direction of integrating philosophy
and cognitive science). In general, it might be of help if the authors could, in the
near future, focus on the matter of clinical pragmatics and its connections with
cognitive science.
There is one further issue that could benefit from Pennisi and Falzone’s analysis. I
have claimed elsewhere that there is a certain redundancy in pragmatics, in that
pragmatic inferences could work either through genuine principles of rationality
(used in combination with reasoning triggered by specific contexts) or through being
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conventionalized. It would be interesting to attempt to point out the physiological/

psychological/modular correlates of this difference between genuine pragmatic
inference and conventionalized pragmatic inference. Could a weakly modular theory
of mind accommodate such ideas, and what shape should this theory have to take in
order to do so? (In various places in the book, the authors say they favour a weak
modular theory of the mind.)
Summing up, my judgment of this book is very positive, as the main line of
argument is of great theoretical interest, and it has a coherent structure and contains
solid argumentation. I believe that other readers are also likely to applaud it.

References
Bruner J 1966 Towards a Theory of Instruction Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Capone A 2013 ‘On the tension between semantics and pragmatics’ RASK 37: 5–39.
Duranti A 1997 Linguistic Anthropology Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jaszczolt K 2005 Default Semantics Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lewis D 1969 Convention Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Stainton R 2006 Words and Thoughts Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Damn! A Cultural History of Swearing in Modern America

ROB CHIRICO
Durham, NC: Pitchstone Publishing, 2014
Reviewed by ILGIN AKTENER, Heriot-Watt University

Defined as language which enables emotional release (Allan & Burridge 2006;
Andersson & Trudgill 1992), swearing serves many purposes, one of them being to
create humorous effect (Andersson & Trudgill 1992). Given this link between
swearing and humour, using the latter is perhaps the best way to approach the
former, and this is exactly what Rob Chirico does in his Damn! A Cultural History of
Swearing in Modern America (Damn! henceforth).
 Book Reviews 289
With a foreword by Keith Allan, Damn! recounts the history of swearing and
changes in the offensiveness of swear words throughout American history. Chirico
refers not only to academic works but also to interesting historical facts and popular
culture, making the book engrossing for all kinds of readers. Furthermore, with his
humorous language, which is at times created with the use of swear words, he
constructs a delightful reading experience.
The core idea in Damn! is that swearing has become more common and acceptable
in the US, particularly since the 1960s. It has come to be present in almost every
domain of the cultural industries, from literature to music, from TV to Hollywood.
Not only have ordinary people been using swear words freely, but famous names—
politicians, sports figures, musicians, actors, actresses and others—have also sworn in
front of public audiences. The prevalence of swearing makes it an important subject
to explore, and Chirico does so by dealing with different aspects of it in separate
Downloaded by [New York University] at 08:38 28 July 2015

chapters.
The different topics that Chirico examines can be brought together under three
general themes. First, he looks at the various media outlets and artistic industries in
which swear words frequently occur, including TV, newspapers and magazines, radio,
the film and music industries and literature. He mainly discusses how they handle the
use of swear words. He also mentions governmental attempts to prohibit the use of
swear words in these industries. His narrative is embellished with interesting facts; for
example, fuck was used for the first time in a major American movie—namely
M*A*S*H—in 1970.
Second, Chirico talks about different users of swear words. For instance, in one of
his chapters, he looks into the use of swear words in the army. He claims that,
starting with World War II and the Korean War, soldiers picked up the habit of using
swear words and continued to do so after their service. In his fourth chapter, entitled
‘Swearing, a game anyone can play’, Chirico gives examples of a wide range of users
of swear words, including American presidents, other politicians, singers, actors,
writers and characters from movies. The final group of users Chirico addresses is
children. Speaking from personal experience, Chirico explains how, as a child, he
thought adults did not know about swear words because in the 1950s, parents
censored their language in front of their children. Today, he notes, this is no longer
the case, and as a consequence, children start using swear words at an earlier age. He
concludes this discussion by indicating that children can process swear words and
that it is only natural for them to do so, as the world in which they live is more
accepting of the use of them.
Third, Chirico explores different (types of) swear words. For example, in the
second chapter, he investigates the word fuck and its origins, concluding that as a
swear word it has lost its sexual meaning. This conclusion is reflected in the last
chapter, in which Chirico explains how swear words related to sexuality and
excrement were once the most taboo words but have now been replaced in this
respect by racial or ethnic slurs and gender stereotypes. He further investigates this by
looking into the words nigger and cunt and suggests that the feelings of taboo
 290 Book Reviews
associated with these words could be dispelled by using—rather than avoiding—them.
In this way, he argues, these words will lose their power. He also briefly discusses
street language.
Chirico concludes Damn! with an appendix in which he talks about the middle
finger. He carries his humorous style over to this appendix by giving us a visual
middle finger himself. The book is able to keep one’s interest all through the reading
experience. By giving special attention to various swearing-related topics across
different chapters, Chirico manages to capture the broadness of the subject. At the
same time, he adeptly conveys the main message of the book: swear words are widely
used in contemporary American society and there is nothing wrong with this
situation; on the contrary, it makes swearing an important subject to discuss.

References
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Allan K & K Burridge 2006 Forbidden Words: taboo and the censoring of language Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Andersson LG & P Trudgill 1992 Bad language London: Penguin Books.

Theory and Practice of Specialised Online Dictionaries: Lexicography versus

Terminography
PEDRO A. FUERTES-OLIVERA AND SVEN TARP
Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2014, ix + 272 pp.
Reviewed by XIANGMEI CHEN, Xiamen University

In this book it is proposed that writing specialized dictionaries is a theory-plus-

practice activity. The body of it can be divided into three parts: Chapters 1–7 are on
lexicographical theory, practical analysis is dealt with in Chapters 8 and 9, and
Chapter 10 is the conclusion.
In Chapter 1 (‘Introduction’) the authors state the main topics of the book: the
discipline itself and its academic status; the Function Theory of Lexicography and
various arguments against it; competing theories, especially those of terminography;
various aspects of methodology; special problems related to online lexicography; and
criticism of a number of existing specialized online dictionaries. Chapter 2 (‘What is
specialised lexicography?’) is concerned with definitions of specialized dictionary and
specialized lexicography, and thus deals with what the latter field covers and the fuzzy
boundary of the former with general dictionaries. The authors also classify specialized
dictionaries; the types are Copycats (‘photographed or scanned copies of already
existing printed dictionaries’ (p. 13)), Faster Horses (electronic dictionaries with
definitions which ‘are static and modelled on corresponding articles in printed
dictionaries’ (p. 14)), Stray Bullets (which are flawed by information overload and fail
to cater to readers’ specific needs), Model T Fords (dictionaries made following the