Overview

An attention-grabbing, thought-provoking exploration of the life of the word asshole, by a renowned linguist and author

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9781322354330

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Reviews

Kirkus Reviews What exactly does it mean to call someone an asshole? When did the epithet come to prominence as a social and now political invective? Who are some of the biggest assholes in the public eye today? These are just a few of the questions that linguist Nunberg explores in this often raucously funny account of what seems to be America's most popular insult. The author avoids many potential hazards, including an overly academic and pretentious tone or, conversely, an exceedingly snarky or droll satire. In other words, he avoids, by his own surmising, being an asshole himself, thereby rendering a skillful narrative.... A witty and politically charged analysis of a potent obscenity in its modern and contemporary context. Booklist Only an asshole would say this book is offensive. Sure, it uses the A-word a lot, but this is no cheap attempt to get laughs written by a B-list stand-up comic. The author ... undertakes a serious examination of not just the word, but also the concept surrounding it (known as assholism, a type of behavior with, it seems, pretty clear markers).... An intelligent and wide-ranging study of linguistics, ideas, and social trends. PublishersWeekly.com An engaging blend of linguistics, analysis, and social commentary that breaks down the important place the word asshole occupies in our language and culture.... In the end, Nunberg makes an entertaining and thought-provoking case for the importance and power of a 'dirty' word. San Francisco Chronicle In this delightfully and devilishly trenchant and provocative book, Nunberg traces the use of common and coarse language by well-bred, well-educated critics of Victorian prudery in the 1920s; the spread of the A-word by returning World War II servicemen (and novelist Norman Mailer in The Naked and the Dead ); the penchant for obscenities by dissenters in the 1960s and '70s; and, most importantly, changes in ideas about civility, compromise and soci

Author Information

Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist, is a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information. Since 1987, he has done a language feature on NPR's Fresh Air, and his commentaries have appeared in the New York Time s and many other publications. He is the emeritus chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary and a winner of the Linguistic Society of America's Language and the Public Interest Award. His previous books include Talking Right and Going Nucular. Nunberg lives in San Francisco.

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