
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


John McWhorter, author of Nine Nasty Words: English In The Gutter - Then, Now and Forever , sits down for a fascinating and fun conversation with Bridget. They discuss the appeal of swear words, the evolution of language, the rise of "like" and "literally," the arc of curse words from blasphemy, to the body, to slurs, and evaluate Critical Race Theory from both sides of the argument. They examine the difference between teaching people to think and telling them what to think, how the term "racist" is now being used as a bludgeon to enforce a kind of ideological lockstep, why the victimization mindset has become so popular, share their stories of their first curse words, and discuss why you can't get what you want by calling people white supremacists on Twitter. Check out John's writing at johnmcwhorter.substack.com.
Support the show
By Conversations with people from all walks of life.4.8
12441,244 ratings
John McWhorter, author of Nine Nasty Words: English In The Gutter - Then, Now and Forever , sits down for a fascinating and fun conversation with Bridget. They discuss the appeal of swear words, the evolution of language, the rise of "like" and "literally," the arc of curse words from blasphemy, to the body, to slurs, and evaluate Critical Race Theory from both sides of the argument. They examine the difference between teaching people to think and telling them what to think, how the term "racist" is now being used as a bludgeon to enforce a kind of ideological lockstep, why the victimization mindset has become so popular, share their stories of their first curse words, and discuss why you can't get what you want by calling people white supremacists on Twitter. Check out John's writing at johnmcwhorter.substack.com.
Support the show

2,273 Listeners

1,508 Listeners

2,881 Listeners

2,126 Listeners

798 Listeners

2,154 Listeners

370 Listeners

570 Listeners

3,827 Listeners

170 Listeners

800 Listeners

8,717 Listeners

170 Listeners

239 Listeners

426 Listeners