A Cursing Brain

Author : Howard I. Kushner
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674039866
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A Cursing Brain? The Histories of Tourette Syndrome written by Howard I. Kushner and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Cursing Brain? traces the problematic classification of Tourette syndrome through three distinct but overlapping stories: the claims of medical knowledge, patients' experiences, and cultural expectations and assumptions.

Author : Benjamin K. Bergen
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 0465096484
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.80/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book What the F written by Benjamin K. Bergen and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It may be starred, beeped, and censored -- yet profanity is so appealing that we can't stop using it. In the funniest, clearest study to date, Benjamin Bergen explains why, and what that tells us about our language and brains. Nearly everyone swears-whether it's over a few too many drinks, in reaction to a stubbed toe, or in flagrante delicto. And yet, we sit idly by as words are banned from television and censored in books. We insist that people excise profanity from their vocabularies and we punish children for yelling the very same dirty words that we'll mutter in relief seconds after they fall asleep. Swearing, it seems, is an intimate part of us that we have decided to selectively deny. That's a damn shame. Swearing is useful. It can be funny, cathartic, or emotionally arousing. As linguist and cognitive scientist Benjamin K. Bergen shows us, it also opens a new window onto how our brains process language and why languages vary around the world and over time. In this groundbreaking yet ebullient romp through the linguistic muck, Bergen answers intriguing questions: How can patients left otherwise speechless after a stroke still shout Goddamn! when they get upset? When did a cock grow to be more than merely a rooster? Why is crap vulgar when poo is just childish? Do slurs make you treat people differently? Why is the first word that Samoan children say not mommy but eat shit? And why do we extend a middle finger to flip someone the bird? Smart as hell and funny as fuck, What the F is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to know how and why we swear.

Author : Timothy Jay
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9027221863
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Why We Curse written by Timothy Jay and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Neuro-Psycho-Social Theory of Speech draws together information about cursing from different disciplines and unites them to explain and describe the psychological, neurological, cultural and linguistic factors that underlie this phenomenon.

Author : Keith Allan
Publisher : Oxford Handbooks
ISBN 13 : 0198808194
Total Pages : 465 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Taboo Words and Language written by Keith Allan and published by Oxford Handbooks. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together experts from a wide range of disciplines to define and describe tabooed words and language and to investigate the reasons and beliefs behind them. In general, taboo is defined as a proscription of behaviour for a specific community, time, and context. In terms of language, taboo applies to instances of language behaviour: the use of certain words in certain contexts. The existence of linguistic taboos and their management lead to the censoring of behaviour and, as a consequence, to language change and development. Chapters in this volume explore the multiple types of tabooed language from a variety of perspectives, such as sociolinguistics, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, historical linguistics, and neurolinguistics, and with reference to fields such as law, publishing, politics, and advertising. Topics covered include impoliteness, swearing, censorship, taboo in deaf communities, translation of tabooed words, and the use of taboo in banter and comedy.

Author : Emma Byrne
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 1324000295
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language written by Emma Byrne and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2018-01-23 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An irreverent and impeccably researched defense of our dirtiest words. We’re often told that swearing is outrageous or even offensive, that it’s a sign of a stunted vocabulary or a limited intellect. Dictionaries have traditionally omitted it and parents forbid it. But the latest research by neuroscientists, psychologists, sociologists, and others has revealed that swear words, curses, and oaths—when used judiciously—can have surprising benefits. In this sparkling debut work of popular science, Emma Byrne examines the latest research to show how swearing can be good for you. With humor and colorful language, she explores every angle of swearing—why we do it, how we do it, and what it tells us about ourselves. Not only has some form of swearing existed since the earliest humans began to communicate, but it has been shown to reduce physical pain, to lower anxiety, to prevent physical violence, to help trauma victims recover language, and to promote human cooperation. Taking readers on a whirlwind tour through scientific experiments, historical case studies, and cutting-edge research on language in both humans and other primates, Byrne defends cursing and demonstrates how much it can reveal about different cultures, their taboos and their values. Packed with the results of unlikely and often hilarious scientific studies—from the “ice-bucket test” for coping with pain, to the connection between Tourette’s and swearing, to a chimpanzee that curses at her handler in sign language—Swearing Is Good for You presents a lighthearted but convincing case for the foulmouthed.

Author : Faith G. Harper, PhD, LPC-S, ACS, ACN
Publisher : Microcosm Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1621060403
Total Pages : 156 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Unfuck Your Brain written by Faith G. Harper, PhD, LPC-S, ACS, ACN and published by Microcosm Publishing. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our brains are doing our best to help us out, but they can be real assholes sometimes. Sometimes it seems like your own brain is out to get you—melting down in the middle of the grocery store, picking fights with your date, getting you addicted to something, or shutting down completely at the worst possible moments. You already told your brain firmly that it isn't good to do these things. But your brain has a mind of its own. That's where this book comes in. With humor, patience, and lots of swearing, Dr. Faith shows you the science behind what's going on in your skull and talks you through the process of retraining your brain to respond appropriately to the non-emergencies of everyday life. If you're working to deal with old traumas, or if you just want to have a more measured and chill response to situations you face all the time, this book can help you put the pieces of the puzzle together and get your life and brain back.Here's an excerpt from the book:Knowing what’s going on up in your brain is HUGE. So much of how we interact with the world around us is a completely normal response when we take into account our past experiences and how our brains work. • Freaking the fuck out • Avoiding important shit we need to take care of • Feeling pissed off all the time • Being a dick to people we care about • Putting shit in our bodies that we know isn’t good for us • Doing shit we know is dumb or pointlessNone of these things are fucking helpful. But they all make sense.Your brain has adapted to the circumstances in your life and started doing things to protect you, bless it. It’s not TRYING to fuck you over (even though it totally is, at times).As we navigate the world, nasty shit happens. The brain stores info about the nasty shit to try to avoid it in the future. Sometimes these responses are helpful. Sometimes the responses become a bigger problem than the actual problem was. It’s called a trauma reaction.And even if you aren’t dealing with a specific trauma? Adaptive coping strategies, bad habits, and funky behaviors all wire in similar ways. And research is showing that these issues are actually some of the easier ones to treat in therapy … if we address what’s really going on, rather than just the symptoms.

Author : Ruth Langer
Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 0199783179
Total Pages : 396 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Cursing the Christians? written by Ruth Langer and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2012-01-12 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ruth Langer offers an in-depth study of the birkat haminim, a Jewish prayer for the removal of those categories of human being who prevent the messianic redemption and the society envisioned for it. In its earliest form, the prayer cursed Christians, apostates to Christianity, sectarians, and enemies of Israel. Drawing on the shifting liturgical texts, polemics, and apologetics concerning the prayer, Langer traces the transformation of the birkat haminim from what functioned without question in the medieval world as a Jewish curse of Christians, through its early modern censorship by Christians, to its modern transformation within the Jewish world into a general petition that God remove evil from the world. Christian censorship played a crucial role in this transformation of the prayer; however, Langer argues that the truest transformation in meaning resulted from Jewish integration into Western culture. Eventually, the prayer shed its references to any specific category of human being and lost its function as a curse. Reconciliation between Jews and Christians today requires both communities to confront a long history of prejudice. Ruth Langer shows through the birkat haminim how the history of one liturgical text chronicled Jewish thinking about Christians over hundreds of years.

Author : John McWhorter
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593421388
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Nine Nasty Words written by John McWhorter and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-10-10 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller now in paperback. One of the preeminent linguists of our time examines the realms of language that are considered shocking and taboo in order to understand what imbues curse words with such power--and why we love them so much. Profanity has always been a deliciously vibrant part of our lexicon, an integral part of being human. In fact, our ability to curse comes from a different part of the brain than other parts of speech--the urgency with which we say "f&*k!" is instead related to the instinct that tells us to flee from danger. Language evolves with time, and so does what we consider profane or unspeakable. Nine Nasty Words is a rollicking examination of profanity, explored from every angle: historical, sociological, political, linguistic. In a particularly coarse moment, when the public discourse is shaped in part by once-shocking words, nothing could be timelier.

Author : Melissa Mohr
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199742677
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Holy Sh*t written by Melissa Mohr and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-05-30 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A humorous, trenchant and fascinating examination of how Western culture's taboo words have evolved over the millennia

Author : Ali Hazelwood
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593336852
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Love on the Brain written by Ali Hazelwood and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-08-23 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Instant New York Times Bestseller A #1 LibraryReads and Indie Next Pick! From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis—with explosive results. Like an avenging, purple-haired Jedi bringing balance to the mansplained universe, Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project—a literal dream come true after years scraping by on the crumbs of academia—Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward. Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. And sure, he caught her in his powerfully corded arms like a romance novel hero when she accidentally damseled in distress on her first day in the lab. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school—archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away. Now, her equipment is missing, the staff is ignoring her, and Bee finds her floundering career in somewhat of a pickle. Perhaps it’s her occipital cortex playing tricks on her, but Bee could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas…devouring her with those eyes. And the possibilities have all her neurons firing. But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there’s only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?