{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947793268?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"1947793268","authors":["Katherine Dunn"],"book_id":"9781947793262","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/on-cussing-9781947793262","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781947793262.jpg?v=3be3060c2ded531d","description":"F uck the Fuckity Fuckin’ Fucker. Readers of Katherine Dunn won’t be surprised that this was her father’s favorite sentence, or that, as a young girl, she heard it as a kind of profane poem, a secret song. For many of us, the language of Geek Love carries a similar staying power, born of Dunn’s agile use of language and her strange, beautiful diction. And as a true exegete of the expletive, she remained undividedly devoted to obscenity—both as scholar and practitioner. In On Cussing , Dunn sketches a brief history of swear words and creates something of a field guide to their types and usages, from the common threat (“I’ll squash you like a shithouse mouse”) to the portmanteau intensifier (“Fan-fucking-tastic”). But she also explores their physiology—the physical impact on the reader or listener—and makes an argument for how and when to cuss with maximum effect. Equal parts informative and hilarious, this volume will delight Dunn’s legion of fans, but it’s also a must-have for anyone looking to more successfully wield their expletives, be it in writing or in everyday speech.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781947793262","publication_date":"20190326","publisher":"Zando","slug":"on-cussing","subtitle":"Bad Words and Creative Cursing","title":"On Cussing"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"LAN009050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Sociolinguistics","score":0.7129,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":0.7119,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Fiction Writing","score":0.7072,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"LAN009050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Sociolinguistics","score":0.7129,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":0.7119,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Fiction Writing","score":0.7072,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"LIT004020","confidence_band":"high","label":"American Lit Crit","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LIT024060","confidence_band":"high","label":"21st Century Literature","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Sociolinguistics","score":0.7129,"slug":"sociolinguistics"},{"label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":0.7119,"slug":"writing-nonfiction-memoir"},{"label":"Fiction Writing","score":0.7072,"slug":"fiction-writing"}],"reader_fit":["Readers seeking guidance on using expletives in writing or everyday speech"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Jess Zafarris"],"book_id":"9781399808217","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781399808217.jpg?v=586f48016de42fe6","score":0.7144,"title":"Words From Hell","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781399808217"},{"authors":["Liz Gotauco","Jade Gotauco"],"book_id":"9781324106333","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781324106333.jpg?v=a5f8cb056fa9234b","score":0.6425,"title":"F*cked Up Fairy Tales","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781324106333"},{"authors":["John McWhorter"],"book_id":"9781592404940","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781592404940.jpg?v=8ec60ab7cfedace5","score":0.6405,"title":"Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781592404940"},{"authors":["Florence Ashley"],"book_id":"9781955904933","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781955904933.jpg?v=37e3404ac505ba5e","score":0.639,"title":"Gender/fucking: the Pleasures and Politics of Living in a Gendered Body","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781955904933"},{"authors":["Eugene Ehrlich"],"book_id":"9780062701909","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062701909.jpg?v=5bde67162cdfc62c","score":0.6374,"title":"The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062701909"},{"authors":["Elizabeth Little"],"book_id":"9780385527743","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780385527743.jpg?v=6fc127504100472b","score":0.635,"title":"Biting the Wax Tadpole","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780385527743"},{"authors":["Beth Hicks","Jenni Nuttall","Penguin Audio","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9780593299579","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593299579.jpg?v=918ea91e02673d16","score":0.6245,"title":"Mother Tongue","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593299579"},{"authors":["Valerie Fridland"],"book_id":"9780593298329","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593298329.jpg?v=a4229552141ed55c","score":0.6234,"title":"Like, Literally, Dude","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593298329"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:american literature"],"label":"Literature","score":0.057,"slug":"literature"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:literary criticism"],"label":"Literary","score":0.0312,"slug":"literary"},{"evidence_refs":["phrase_map_match"],"label":"Short Stories","score":0.0216,"slug":"short-story"},{"evidence_refs":["phrase_map_match"],"label":"Book Club","score":0.0215,"slug":"book-club"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Swear-word history and usage, Physical effects of profanity, Creative cursing.","Themes: Literature, Literary, Short Stories.","Reading lane: Sociolinguistics and Writing Nonfiction & Memoir."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.94,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers seeking guidance on using expletives in writing or everyday speech"],"themes":["Swear-word history and usage","Physical effects of profanity","Creative cursing"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":521,"goodreads_reviews_count":92,"quality_score":0.8998}}